U.S. History

Global Boston is a digital project chronicling the history of immigration to greater Boston since the early nineteenth century. Examining different time periods and ethnic groups, the site features capsule histories, photographs, maps, documents, and oral histories documenting the history of a city where immigrants have long been a vital force in shaping economic, social and political life. To get started, try clicking on the Eras of Migration box below to explore different time periods in the region’s history.

The records of the Boston Overseers of the Poor include administrative records, almhouse records, temporary home records, and some miscellaneous and unidentified material. Administrative records (1738-1916), include financial records, warning-out books, memoranda, correspondence, and casebooks. Almshouse records (1735-1911), consist of admission and discharge registers, lists of inmates, deaths, indentures, accounts, and memoranda. Temporary home records (1862-1925), include lists of admissions, children and foundlings records, and adoptions. Miscellaneous material (1733-1901) includes City of Boston accounts of payments to various charities, partial lists of Boston residents, and legal material.

Two disbound photograph albums of original contact prints by unknown photographers, produced by Keystone View Company and Underwood & Underwood between 1895 and 1915. Scenes depict Boston-area points of interest such as Bunker Hill, Charlestown Navy Yard, Harvard University, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and the Public Garden.

Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an independent research library and a very important resource for Boston and Massachusetts history, life, and culture. If you plan to visit the MHS (1154 Boylston Street, Boston), do some preparatory research by consulting its catalog: Abigail

MIT Libraries collects, preserves, and fosters the use of unique and rare materials such as tangible and digital archives, manuscripts, ephemera, artists’ books, and more.

Large archival collections documenting Boston history, especially social justice organizations serving minority populations.

Collects materials related to the university's history, as well as materials that reflect the university's urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records related to urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations and local history related to neighboring communities.

Online exhibit created in 2003 by staff in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department.

Almost all that has ever happened, been built, made, said, or done in Boston – curated by historians and compiled by the entire community.

Something like a mini-DPLA for Massachusetts, this site draws together records from archives and historical societies all over Massachusetts. Searchable by place name, subject, title, or creator.

Interface in English. Content in English or other languages.
Digitized collections from the Library of Congress, includes manuscripts, books, photos, maps, audio recordings, and more. Strongest between the 17th and 21st centuries. Content dating back to B.C.E.
Open Access.

Analyze Boston is the City of Boston's open data hub. Includes information on the city's movement toward carbon neutrality, rental prices, approved buildings, information on taxation, and more.

Deloitte, Datawheel, and Cesar Hidalgo, Professor at the MIT Media Lab and Director of Collective Learning, came together to understand and visualize the critical issues facing the United States in areas like jobs, skills and education across industry and geography. This is the Boston portal.

Includes a document center, data, maps, and more. Also includes a research department with publications, inquiries, and more.

QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more. This is the Boston portal.

Information on the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. Find data on state aid, schools, government and more.

Crime statistics for Massachusetts counties and towns

Research & Statistics

Planning commissions for every region of the state. Each commission has data on their region.

Collection of population, housing, and socioeconomic data in Massachusetts.

Community statistics from the Boston Globe

Wikipedia does not host the Directories, but does list which service (Athenaeum, Hathi Trust, or Internet Archive) does.

"The Boston Directory appeared in 1789 and was published irregularly until 1825, when annual publication started. Various publishers were involved over the many decades of its existence: John Norman (1789); John West (1796-1803); Edward Cotton (1805-1818); Charles Stimpson (1820-1846); George Adams (1846-1857); Adams, Sampson & Co. (1858-1865); Sampson, Davenport & Co. (1865-1884); Sampson, Murdock & Co. (1885-1903); Sampson & Murdock Co. (1904-1930); R.L. Polk & Co. (1944-1981)."

Maps of Boston from 1700 to the present day in the Library of Congress.

Interesting selection of maps and images

This wonderful collection of maps provides access to hundreds of maps of Boston dating from 1630. As they are listed in chronological order it is easy to scroll to a desired period. The website also provides numerous ways to filter to locate more specific maps.

A number of historical maps of Boston (from the University of Texas at Austin).

This site has a fascinating map that is an overlay of a 1640's map on top of a map of today's downtown Boston.

Several interesting maps from the University of Alabama Map Center.

A number of interesting historic maps of Massachusetts and Boston from the Massachusetts Historical Society.

"The book includes both historical maps of the city and maps showing the gradual emergence of the New England region from the imaginations of explorers to a form that we would recognize today. Each map is accompanied by a full description and by a short essay offering an insight into its context...A highlight of the book is a series of new maps detailing Boston's growth."

Explore a Google Map interface, limiting by date ranges, and then link out to appropriate digitized historical maps from the various partner collections (including the British Library, the New York Public Library, and others).

Browse Harvard's raster and vector map data and preview them superimposed over current google map interface.

A database of more than 1.6 million images drawn from museums, libraries, archives, photographers, artists, and more.

A digital tool that superimposes historic city maps over more recent ones.

Catalog of news content from WHDH, Cambridge Community Television, WCVB, and WGBH from the 1960s–1990s. Some is available streaming.

The Massachusetts Historical Society presents the complete four volume set of Revolutionary-era Boston newspapers and pamphlets collected, annotated, and indexed by Harbottle Dorr, Jr., a shopkeeper in Boston.

The Archives is committed to an on-going effort to collect records which deal with the historical experience of the Archdiocese of Boston.

"Find out more information about your family history. Learn how to research genealogy records and access online genealogical data."

The Bostonian Society is dedicated to studying, and preserving Boston’s uniquely important history, embodied in materials, records, and structures such as the Old State House, and in sharing an understanding of the revolutionary ideas born here.

Has the Boston Society of Natural History records and papers of associated naturalists.

It's strongly recommended that you visit the main branch of the Boston Public Library (700 Boylston St. -- Copley Square). Not only is it interesting both aesthetically and historically, it's also a very important repository of material that is potentially useful in this course.

Includes the History of Nursing Archives which holds papers of prominent nurses, records of nursing schools and organizations, early textbooks and other books and the Pascal Collection which includes 150 books by and about Blaise Pascal.

The City of Boston Archives preserves and provides access to Boston’s municipal archival records. Much diverse historical material.

An online system that merges information about its immense collections of museum artifacts, archival documents, books, and periodicals in a single searchable database.

Houghton is the primary repository for Harvard's rare books and manuscripts. Much material pertaining to Boston history.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is one of fourteen Presidential Libraries within the National Archives and Records Administration. The Library is also the primary repository for the papers of Ernest Hemingway.

Some might wish to make a trip to Worcester and visit the Massachusetts Historical Society. The collections of the AAS’ comprise some four million items related to American history, literature, and visual culture, the collections offer perspective on everyday lives, community developments, and the history of printing.

Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an independent research library and a very important resource for Boston and Massachusetts history, life, and culture. If you plan to visit the MHS (1154 Boylston Street, Boston), do some preparatory research by consulting its catalog: Abigail

Repository for the official records of the Commonwealth. Nearly all the collections are represented in ArchiveGrid by series-level descriptions together with numerous agency history records.

MIT Libraries collects, preserves, and fosters the use of unique and rare materials such as tangible and digital archives, manuscripts, ephemera, artists’ books, and more.

Located in Waltham, MA, they hold the permanent records of Federal agencies and courts located in the six-state New England region: CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
They also house some federal military records pertaining to New England-based installations and units.

Founded in 1845, New England Historic Genealogical Society is a leading resource for family history research. NEHGS provides expertise and research in nearly all aspects of family history, from 17th-century colonial New England through twentieth-century immigration research.

Large archival collections documenting Boston history, especially social justice organizations serving minority populations.

Includes records for the Boston Black United Front records, 1932 (photocopy), 1950–2002 (bulk dates 1968–1973); Franklin Park Coalition Records, 1945–2006, bulk 1977-1989; Massachusetts Experimental School System (M.E.S.S); Melvin King Papers, 1983 Mayoral Campaign, 1972–1988.

Holdings include the Charities Collection (1790s to about 1950): annual reports and other publications of private charities, public welfare agencies, and hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts, the eastern United States, and England.

Located on the 3rd floor of the State House. It contains the most complete collection of state documents, a large collection of material on Massachusetts, and on public policy in general.

The Adams Papers have been digitized by the Massachusetts Historical Society and are available electronically.

Read the diary entries (unverified transcriptions) of Charles Francis Adams (the son of John Quincy Adams, and grandson of John Adams) a key US diplomat in Great Britain during the US Civil War.

The letters exchanged between Mercy Otis Warren and Hannah Winthrop provide a remarkable window into the daily lives of families living through the challenges of revolution and nation building.

Web presentations of 185 items selected from the extensive Saltonstall Family Collections at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The Lydia Maria Child Papers consist of ninety mostly personal and at times provocative letters dating largely from 1831 to 1894. The bulk is letters from Lydia Maria Child to her wealthy Boston abolitionist and philanthropic friends, the Lorings, between 1839 and 1859. They concentrate on the period of Child's distress with the institutional politics of antislavery, her editorship of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, her growing attachment to New York Bohemia, and the publication of "Letters From New York." The correspondence documents her day to day finances, friends, and family.