An Exhibition at the
Boston Public Library and
Massachusetts Historical Society
Curator: Paul Lewis
Research: Sean Cahill, Kristin L. Canfield, Nicholas Clements, Dan Currie, Kelsie Dorn, Elizabeth Gavin, Ryan Galvin, Kristen House, Harrison Kent, Alexandra Mitropoulos,
Erica Navarro, Matthew Onstott, Tracy Rizk, and Meidema Sanchez
Editing: Sophie Hagen
Photography: Kerry Burke (MTS, Boston College)
Graphics: Winslow Colwell (WColwell Design), Nicholas Peter Cokonis (MTS, Boston College), Robert Segal (SegalDesign)
Website Development: Tim Lindgren (Instructional Design and eTeaching Services, Boston College), Brad Mering, The Flores Group Branding and Design
Music (Performers): James Chubet,
Sarah Cornacchio, Kristin Drew,
Jeremiah McGrann, Lauren Okada,
Charles Stewart, and Jessica Trainor
Hesperus,“Early American Roots,” Maggie’s Music © 1997, Barry Phillips and Friends, “The World Turned Upside Down, Gourd Music © 1992.
Audio: Recording, Editing, Mixing, and Mastering: Jonathan Sage (MTS, Boston College);
Editing: Emily Ferola (MTS, Boston College);
Recording Engineers: Harrison Boone,
Alexandra Larson, Andre Lawrence,
Evan Springsteen, Peter Toporzycki;
Announcer: Maura V. Sage
This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the American Antiquarian Society, Boston Public Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, and the following units of Boston College: the American Studies Program, College of Arts & Sciences, Institute for the Liberal Arts, and Newton College Alumnae Chair in Western Culture.
Website development was funded by an Academic Technology Innovation Grant from Boston College and the project was managed by Instructional Design and eTeaching Services.
Special thanks to the following for their assistance and support: Anne E. Bentley, Thomas Blake, Bridget J. Burke, Cara Burke, Judith Canty, Sean Casey, Tracy Downing, Peter Drummey, Susan Dunn, Lesley Ginsberg, Susan Glover, Ronald Grim, Lauren Hewes, Vincent Golden, Cristina Joy, Mairead Kennelly, Charlotte Kolczynski, Clara Lewis, Wendy Lewis, Joelle Long, Carolie McLaughlin, Linda Michel, Heather S. Nathans, Jaclyn Penny, Gina Perille, Jeanne Po, Beth Prindle, Brendan Rapple, Kimberly Reynolds, Carlo Rotella, Amy E. Ryan, Emily Tenney, Lad Tobin, Evan Thornberry, Stuart Walker, Suzanne Matson, David Quigley, Thomas Wall, and Judith Wilt.
Created by Boston College faculty, students, and staff, and drawing on the collections of the Boston Public Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the American Antiquarian Society, this exhibition explores stories about Boston’s literary history that have faded from memory. Chapter One exhumes Charles Sprague, the poet buried on Boston Common. Chapter Two considers a problem faced by African American, women, and Irish authors. Chapter Three shares poems buried in early Boston magazines, some powerful enough to be treasures, some awkward enough to be turkeys. Chapter Four follows the rise of children’s literature in Boston. Chapter Five explores a little-known episode from Edgar Allan Poe’s career-long obsession with the Boston literati. And Chapter Six, at the Massachusetts Historical Society, looks at the first seasons of the Federal Street Theatre, 1794–98. Throughout, the exhibition follows the rise and fall of reputations, recovers out-of-print materials, and walks the streets of Boston in the heyday of its literary achievement.
The exhibition includes letters, manuscripts, and early editions of works by Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley, Judith Sargent Murray, Susanna Haswell Rowson, William Charles White, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Charles Sprague, Lydia Maria Child, George Pepper, Benedict J. Fenwick, S. J., Edgar Allan Poe, Margaret Fuller, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Sarah Josepha Hale, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Gilmore Simms, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Nathaniel Hawthorne, Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Charles James Sprague, Jacob Abbott, Henry David Thoreau, and Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne.
An Exhibition at the
Boston Public Library and
Massachusetts Historical Society
March 28–July 30, 2012
The streets of Boston are haunted
by the ghosts of forgotten
writers and editors….read more
The streets of Boston are haunted by the ghosts of forgotten writers and editors. Unnoticed in the rush of pedestrians and traffic, they beckon us out into the city: to Federal Street where Boston’s first professional theater opened; to Court Street where a trendsetting magazine shaped the future of children’s literature; off Boylston Street where the man once known as the “banker-poet of Boston” is buried; to Devonshire Street where a Catholic newspaper turned to literature at a time of upheaval; and all along Washington Street, where the publishers of books, magazines, newspapers, and broadsides set up shop between the Revolution and the Civil War.
Created by Boston College faculty, students, and staff, and drawing on the collections of the Boston Public Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the American Antiquarian Society, this exhibition explores stories about Boston’s literary history that have faded from memory. Chapter One exhumes Charles Sprague, the poet buried on Boston Common. Chapter Two considers a problem faced by African American, women, and Irish authors. Chapter Three shares poems buried in early Boston magazines, some powerful enough to be treasures, some awkward enough to be turkeys. Chapter Four follows the rise of children’s literature in Boston. Chapter Five explores a little-known episode from Edgar Allan Poe’s career-long obsession with the Boston literati. And Chapter Six, at the Massachusetts Historical Society, looks at the first seasons of the Federal Street Theatre, 1794–98. Throughout, the exhibition follows the rise and fall of reputations, recovers out-of-print materials, and walks the streets of Boston in the heyday of its literary achievement.
The exhibition includes letters, manuscripts, and early editions of works by Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley, Judith Sargent Murray, Susanna Haswell Rowson, William Charles White, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Charles Sprague, Lydia Maria Child, George Pepper, Benedict J. Fenwick, S. J., Edgar Allan Poe, Margaret Fuller, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Sarah Josepha Hale, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Gilmore Simms, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Nathaniel Hawthorne, Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Charles James Sprague, Jacob Abbott, Henry David Thoreau, and Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne.