New Collections Added to the Digital Commonwealth in July and August

Posted on by

These past two summer months, Digital Commonwealth has added some new collections. Check them out!

Cereus, by Mrs. Duffield.
Cereus, by Mrs. Duffield. From the new Botanical Prints collection, from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Library.

Phillips Academy Andover

Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection at Phillips Academy : 2 items added to existing collection

Massachusetts Archives

Massachusetts Metropolitan Water Works Photograph Collection : 92 items added to existing collection

Massachusetts Horticultural Society Library

Botanical Prints : 756 items

Bridgewater State University, Maxwell Library

204 items added to existing collections

Pine Manor College

Pine Manor College Photograph Collection : 2,923 items

Hatfield Historical Museum

Hatfield Historical Museum Civil War Collection : 2 items

Holyoke Public Library

Holyoke History Newsprint Collection : 2 items

Holyoke Public Library Books and Pamphlets : 2 items

Boston Public Library

Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts Collection : 2 items added to existing collection

Alphonse Legros (1837-1911). Prints and Drawings : 22 items

Stereograph Collection : 823 items added to existing collection

Mural Cycles at the Central Library in Copley Square : 56 items

Looking at Eyeglasses

Posted on by

Philadelphia Phillies player examines his glassesAugust is National Eye Exam Month, which seemed like a good enough reason to go looking through the Digital Commonwealth for pictures of eyeglasses — and there’s a lot to see.

The photo on the left shows Philadelphia Phillies player Morrie Arnovich examines his glasses in front of the dugout at Braves Field. It was taken in 1939 by news photographer Leslie Jones and is from the Leslie Jones Collection of the Boston Public Library. There are some other eyeglass photos in the Leslie Jones Collection, including an undated woman with giant eyeglasses (perhaps from a trade show?), a 1932 photograph of Commandant Finlay, Quincy Yacht club, wearing new type of glasses (which look like a cross between eyeglasses and binoculars, a fish wearing glasses and smoking cigar and a dog playing piano wearing glasses.
Continue reading →

MBLC Celebrates 125 Years of Service

Posted on by

Technical services librarians at the Newton Free Library

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is celebrating 125 years of service this year. Established in 1890 as the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, the MBLC is the oldest state library agency in the country. To honor the past and look forward to the future, the MBLC has created MBLC Celebrates 125 Years, a site with pages for each of the 125 years, giving highlights of Massachusetts library history and notes on historical, social and cultural events of each year to provide context. There are also lots of great images from the Digital Commonwealth and other sources, including the photograph of Technical services librarians at the Newton Free Library from the Newton Free Library, Old Main Library, Centre Street, 1880-1971, collection shown above, and the 1893 Massachusetts library map from the collection of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library shown below.

You can follow this site a year a day on Twitter or Facebook, or visit it anytime and browse your way through the decades — there’s a lot of interesting information here!

MBLC Celebrates 125 Years

Free public libraries of Massachusetts