Boston by Manuscript
The following web presentations of selections from the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) relate to Boston history, places, and events. This list has been assembled for a program at MHS for Boston By Foot docents.
The following primary sources offer details and perspectives that should complement and supplement the existing knowledge base Boston experts have already established regarding the events and history of the city.
Boston (the setting circa 1722 and 1775)
Map of Boston by Captain John Bonner; rare original of third state, probably printed in 1725
Map of Boston by Captain John Bonner; facsimile
Paul Revere House
Revere's deposition also describes his activities on 18-19 April 1775; (this deposition probably written at the request of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
Letter from Rachel Revere to Paul Revere in April 1775 (after his famous ride)
Advertising card of Revere and Son Bell and Cannon Foundry (and link to manuscript list by Paul Revere listing bells that were cast by the Revere family business)
Old State House
John Rowe describes hearing the Declaration of Independence
Abigail Adams describes hearing the Declaration of Independence on 21-22 July 1776:
State Street, 1801 (painting depicts Old State House)
Boston Massacre
Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre
Legal notes assembled by John Adams relating to the Boston Massacre Trials:
Pamphlet about the Boston Massacre from the Tory perspective
Pamphlet about the Boston Massacre from the Patriot perspective
Old South Meeting House
Old Corner Bookstore (site of Anne Hutchinson’s house and location of Ticknor and Fields)
Two colonial governors write about Anne Hutchinson
Daguerrotype of Annie Fields (wife of James T. Fields)
Faneuil Hall
About a town meeting in 1767 held after the Townsend Revenue Act
About a play British soldiers put on at Faneuil Hall in December 1775
Menu for the Fourth of July Feast held in 1844
Bunker Hill
Letter from William Prescott to John Adams
Letter from John Bromfield to Jeremiah Powell
Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams
Letter from John Quincy Adams to Joseph Sturge
Letter from Waller to Unidentified (written by a member of the British marines)
Letter from Peter Brown to Sarah Brown (shares perspective from the ranks)
Beacon Hill
Lithograph depicting the memorial column circa 1811-1812
Lithograph depicting the removal of soil from Beacon Hill circa 1811-1812
Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
Various Boston topics and views
Boston fire 1872, (stereo cards with before views on one side, and after views on the other side)
Description of Boston in fall 1774 in letter from Hannah Fayerweather to Mercy Otis Warren
Boston Tea Party
Earthquake of 1755
- John Adams describes earthquake in his diary on 18 November 1755
- Broadside reminding readers that the hand of God was at work in the natural environment
Evacuation of Boston
- Letter from John Sullivan to John Adams, Preparing for the departure of the British troops in Spring 1776
- Lyrics to Two songs about the Evacuation of Boston ("Great Howe is a Miserable Wretch" )
Federal street church, circa 1812
Benjamin Franklin remembers the Boston of his Youth
Siege of Boston, eyewitness accounts
Additional MHS websites to explore:
Battle of Bunker Hill (section from the Coming of the American Revolution website)
Boston Massacre (section from the Coming of the American Revolution website)
Coming of the American Revolution
Silence Dogood: Benjamin Franklin in the New-England Courant
Adams family
- Overview to Adams resources
- Digital edition (authoritative transcriptions)
- Digital collection (digitized manuscripts and literal transcriptions)
The MHS is an independent research library that collects, preserves, makes accessible, and communicates manuscripts and other materials that promote the study of the history of Massachusetts and the nation--a mission it has pursued since 1791.