Boston History Resource Guide: Museums and Historic Structures

The Boston Athenaeum is "one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries in the United States. It was founded in 1807 by members of the Anthology Society. Today its collections include over half a million volumes, with particular emphasis on Boston history, New England state and local history, biography, English and American literature, and the fine and decorative arts. Includes an art gallery.

The Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum is closed for renovations until 2010. The Museum will be nearly double its original size, and two tall ships (replicas of the Dartmouth and the Eleanor) will be added to the current Brig Beaver.

Located in Waltham on the Charles River in the 1814 Boston Manufacturing Company textile mill, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as America's first factory. Here Francis Cabot Lowell established America's first capitalized corporation, the Boston Manufacturing Company. The Museum contains a re-created machine shop, special mechanical exhibits, a library, speakers’ series, and more.

Provides information on Boston’s sixteen historic burying grounds and three larger garden-style cemeteries which date from 1630 through 1892. The Historic Burying Grounds Initiative (HBGI) is a public/private program established within the Boston Parks and Recreation Department with the mission of restoring and conserving these historic burying grounds. Visit the Granary Burial Ground to see the tombstones of John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Samuel Adams.

The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum is dedicated to the memory of our nation's thirty-fifth president. The website includes online speeches and exhibits, a photo gallery, biography, teacher resources, and more. Offers an online newsletter and event information.

Provides a few virtual tours of current exhibits, as well as links to the Massachusetts Archives and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

The Old North Church is an active Episcopal (Anglican) parish founded in 1723. It became nationally known for its role in the American Revolution. The church offers visitors different tours to address the needs of varying age groups or grade levels.

This National Historic Landmark building has an unusually ornate design. The building, formally known as the “New” Old South Church, is the third location of the congregation, which was began in 1669. The building was completed in 1875. Famous people related to Old South Church include: the first minister, Rev. Thomas Thacher and Samuel Sewall, a judge who publicly recanted the error of his rulings as one of the Salem witch trial judges. The site includes links to History of the Old South Church by Hamilton Hill, Volume I and Volume II.

On December 16, 1773, 5,000 colonists gathered at the Old South Meeting House to protest a tax and initiated a revolution with the Boston Tea Party. Built in 1729, the Old South Meeting House was the largest building in colonial Boston. Tours, hours, and admission costs are available on the website.

"The Old State House, the oldest surviving public building in Boston, was built in 1713 to house the government offices of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It stands on the site of Boston's first Town House of 1657-8, which burned in 1711."

On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere left his home in Boston's North End and began a journey that would make him a legend. The home was first built about 1680. When Paul Revere bought the home in 1770, a third story had been added to the 90-year-old building. Today Revere's home is still standing at 19 North Square and has become a national historic landmark.

Located adjacent to USS Constitution, the USS Constitution Museum offers "hands-on exhibits, displays of historic artifacts, computer simulated re-enactments, and public programming."

This website offers a a detailed account of the life of 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Links to photos, private soldier letters, book excerpts, and more.

Provides information on famous trials, including source documents, images, audio files, and commentary. Produced by Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School. Includes trials which took place in the Boston area, such as the Sacco-Vanzetti Trial (1921), the Boston Massacre Trials (1770), the Salem Witchcraft Trials (1692), the Lizzie Borden Trial (1893), and the Amistad Trials (1839-1840), in which John Quincy Adams argued the case before the Supreme Court.

The opening screen presents a description of "This Day in Boston History." Also includes information on Boston architecture through the years, public art and places, biographies of a few notable Bostonians, and details on notable events in the city's history.

Produced by the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and MPublishing, University of Michigan Library
The Center for the History of Medicine collaborated with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a study of the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) in American cities during the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic. The Encyclopedia is the result of this collaboration. It includes documents, images, and reports from 50 American cities. Includes Boston.