Going forward, and with thanks to the Repository team here at BPL, we’ll be sharing some statistics on new collections being shared for the first time on DigitalCommonwealth.org. Below is our first update, for March 2025.
Hosted collections added:
Boston Public Library:
The Boston Traveler (1,776 items; issues of the daily newspaper from 1925-1931)
The following message was sent via email to all Statewide partners institutions on March 26, 2025, and also shared via the MBLC All-Regions email list. We’re sharing it here to ensure all our partners and community members have access to this information about Statewide services and the decision to end the formal BPL-Digital Commonwealth, Inc. partnership.
We want to share an important update regarding Boston Public Library’s statewide digital services. BPL and Digital Commonwealth Inc. (the non-profit organization that has provided education and outreach services) have made the decision to end our formal partnership as we each pursue our distinct organizational missions. This change will enable BPL to enhance our statewide digitization and digital repository services while creating clearer pathways for institutions to engage with these resources.
To be absolutely clear: There will be no impact to the statewide digitization service, digital repository, or statewide digital collections site. All services operated by BPL as the Library for the Commonwealth that comprise “Digital Commonwealth” will continue uninterrupted. For a refresher on how Digital Commonwealth works and the services BPL provides, check out our guide to statewide services.
BPL remains fully committed to providing these valuable statewide digital services and to supporting Massachusetts cultural institutions in preserving and sharing their collections. To address any questions you may have and share more about our vision for the future, we invite you to join us for a Statewide Digital Town Hall on Thursday, May 1 at 1:00 PM via Zoom. Register here for the town hall. In the coming months, we will also be reaching out with additional opportunities for you to provide input as we continue to develop and improve these services.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us at digital@bpl.org. We value our partnership with your institution and look forward to continuing our work together.
Sincerely,
Michael Colford
Director of Library Services
Boston Public Library
Valentines in the American Antiquarian Society’s Collection
There are over 230 institutions that have contributed historical materials to Digital Commonwealth’s online collections. These institutions have selected materials that they have determined would be appropriate to enhance the whole of what is available on the Digital Commonwealth website. But in many cases, the collection or collections that they have elected to share with Digital Commonwealth are only a taste of their entire holdings.
The American Antiquarian Society is a perfect example. “The AAS library today houses the largest and most accessible collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, periodicals, music, and graphic arts material printed through 1876 in what is now the United States, as well as manuscripts and a substantial collection of secondary texts, bibliographies, and digital resources and reference works related to all aspects of American history and culture before the twentieth century.” AAS selected 140 maps not duplicated in Boston Public Library’s Leventhal Map Center collection, out of their 10,000 maps, to be made available as a Digital Commonwealth collection.
That said, “the American Antiquarian Society has a collection of over 3,000 valentines ranging in date from the 1830’s to 1900. The collection includes both manuscript and printed designs, with a strong representation of locally-produced cards made in Worcester.” AAS has created an online exhibition, “Making Valentines: A Tradition in American.”, providing an overview of their extensive collection. “Victorian Valentines: Intimacy in the Industrial Age”, a collaborative student project between AAS and the Smith College Department of Art, provides an additional opportunity to explore the collection.
Worcester was the home of two of the pioneers in the production of commercial valentine cards in the nineteenth century.
Esther Howland (1828-1904) was considered the “Mother of the Valentine.” Howland was a cousin of Emily Dickinson; she set up her business in a workroom in her family home. With the help of a number of local girls, her business thrived for 30 years, with sales of $75,000 per year.
“True Love” with Piper. Worcester:Esther Howland, ca. 1860.
Another Worcester native, George Whitney established a valentine manufacturing company that prospered from 1866 to 1942. It was considered one of the largest valentine publishers in this country, with offices in New York, Boston and Chicago.
A portion of AAS’s valentine collection includes a sub-genre, the comic valentine, also known as the Vinegar Valentine. “In sharp contrast to the sweet and sentimental valentine, caricatures were often cruel and the humor venomous, expressing everything by love.” “Lyre (liar)” is an example of this kind of valentine.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the Boston lithograph firm, Louis Prang & Company, was also in the greeting card business. “Commissioning the country’s best illustrators and creating design competitions, Prang sold beautiful cards that were unmatched for years. He also created fun and interesting cards for almost every holiday of the year,” including Valentine cards.
