Boston Children’s Museum Scrapbooks from the American History Collection (1 item)*
Boston Public Library
Coast Guard Heritage Museum
Historical Society of Old Yarmouth Archives and Local History Collection (3,257 items)*
Jamaica Plain Historical Society
Doyle’s Cafe Memorabilia (24 items) *
* items ingested into existing collection
Written by Patricia Feeley
The holiday season was celebrated at Digital Commonwealth by adding some interesting collections. Our biggest contributors, Boston Public Library and the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, of course, did their bit. But let’s highlight our other two contributors.
The Jamaica Plain Historical Society performed a good deed for all Bostonians by sponsoring the digitization of the Doyle’s Café memorabilia. When that 137-year-old institution closed in October 2019, many of the pub’s decorations and ephemera were auctioned off. JPHS made sure a record was made before they all disappeared into private collections. Thank you!
The Lawrence Public Library has been a frequent and welcome contributor. This month’s collection, the Phyllis Tyler Paper Doll Collection, is another set of seldom seen ephemera. If the fashions didn’t give away the fact that this set is from the 1940’s, the celebrity dolls – Betty Grable and Ava Gardner – would. Perhaps most striking is the WAFS (Women’s Air Force) pilot dolls in both military and mufti (left and right respectively). Yes, women did their bit in World War II, too.
My very first post on the Digital Commonwealth blog was an interview with Louise Sandberg of the Lawrence Public Library. She was knowledgeable, encouraging and funny. She was a perfect first interview. I’ve interviewed other members since and they have been universally enthusiastic about their collections and digitizing through DC.
I am grateful to all of them, although maybe a little more grateful to Alison Basset and Sarah Hayes of the Trustees for introducing me to one of my favorite images (Studio portrait of unidentified woman in black dress and monocle with cigarette posing with Great Dane; whip and globe on floor, which has as great a backstory as it is a photo.) and to Dick Rowley of the Granville Public Library, a dedicated correspondent and proof, if you need it, that a small library can have a big impact thanks to social media crowdsourcing, the Granville Historic Image Library, partnering with local history organizations and more.
It’s been an honor to be editor of this blog for three years and it is a joy to know I’m passing the editorship on to someone who loves the collections and finds our members just as fascinating as I did. (Good luck, Anne!)
You were all inspirational to me. I hope I did you some justice in these postings.
Boston Public Library
Paintings and Fine Arts Collection at the Boston Public Library – 10 items added to existing collection
Jamaica Plain Historical Society
Doyle’s Cafe Memorabilia – 111 items
Lawrence Public Library
Phyllis Tyler Paper Doll Collection – 258 items
University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries Special Collections and University Archives
27 new collections; 23,055 new items re-harvested
Let us give thanks for November’s new collections. And additions to existing collections. But I was most taken with two of our new collections: Boston Children’s Museum Lantern Slides and the Washington Historical Commission Collection.
Many of the lantern slides are hand-colored, giving unnaturally rosy cheeks to all captured in the image. I never knew the Children’s Museum started in Jamaica Plain, but you can see in the image at left that it was still there in 1940. Not that the museum was parochial – you’ll see Images of international exhibits on Egypt, China and Scandinavia for a few.
The Washington Historical Commission Collection is a wonderful collection of images, texts and ephemera. The Reward of Merit (Below right) is something I’ve never seen. Apparently, they were handed out by teachers to students. Who wouldn’t settle down to their studies if they were given certificates like this?
Boston Children’s Museum
Boston Children’s Museum Lantern Slides – 350 items
Boston Public Library
Paintings and Fine Arts Collection at the Boston Public Library – 5 items added to existing collection
Harvard Law School Library
Sacco-Vanzetti Collections -153 items added to existing collection
The Medford Historical Society & Museum
The Medford Historical Society Civil War Collection – 320 items
The Medford Historical Society Civil War Photograph Collection – 95 items added to existing collection
Southeast Asian Digital Archive – 4 collections, 337 items re-harvested
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library – 80 items re-harvested
Washington Historical Commission
Washington Historical Commission Collection – 573 items