Event

Opening Our Doors

Register for 11:00 AM Victory Garden Tour

Register for 1:00 PM Tour inside the MHS

The MHS will participate in the Opening Our Doors program hosted by the Fenway Alliance. Stop by to explore the current exhibition, Boston Views: Through the Lens of Arthur A. Shurcliff. Our library staff will be on hand to answer questions about our collections throughout the day. At 11: 00 AM, join us for a walking tour of the neighborhood’s Victory Gardens and view related items from our collections. At 1:00 PM, MHS staff will lead a tour and talk about the work of the MHS.

Arthur Asahel Shurcliff (1870–1957), a landscape architect, created a collection of 1,295 glass lantern slides that depict cityscapes and buildings in Boston during the first decades of the 20th century, and much more. In addition to the views of Boston reproduced here, there are slides of historical maps and paintings, plans and drawings created by Shurcliff to illustrate urban growth and land use, and early aerial photographs of Boston and other cities. Both the content and arrangement of the collection suggest that Shurcliff used the lantern slides to illustrate presentations to state and city planning boards, as well as lectures before educational and civic organizations.