X-Nico

7 unusual facts about Boston Public Library


Bela Pratt

When Saint-Gaudens' uncompleted group for the entrance to the Boston Public Library was rejected, Pratt was awarded a commission for personifications of Art and Science.

Boston Public Library

The New York Public Library is the only other public library that is a member of the ARL.

Boston Public Library, McKim Building

McKim also exploited up-to-date building technology, as the library represents one of the first major applications, in the United States, of the system of thin tile vaults (or catalan vaults) exported from the Catalan architectural tradition by the valencian Rafael Guastavino.

The library, for example, holds one of the major collections of watercolors and drawings by Thomas Rowlandson.

Frederick O. Prince

After serving as mayor, Prince became a trustee of the Boston Public Library and served as president of its board of trustees for 11 years.

Henry Elliott Hudson

In 1901 the various volumes of his manuscript collection were privately sold, though it is now publicly available at the National Library of Ireland, the Boston Public Library, and the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Henry's brother William Elliot Hudson (1796-1853) was a barrister noted for his philanthropy and his support of the Irish language.

William P. C. Barton

The Barton Collection at Boston Public Library is named after Benjamin Smith Barton's son Thomas Pennant Barton (1803–1869), who was William Barton’s first cousin.


Jonathan Leo Fairbanks

Some of Fairbanks’ artwork is owned by institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Boston Public Library, the Wye House and Myrtle Grove on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the Alhambra in southern Spain.

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center launched in 2004 as a public-private venture between the Boston Public Library (BPL) and map collector-philanthropist Norman B. Leventhal.

Paddy Conneely

Collector Henry Hudson (1798-1889) collected the greatest number of Conneely's tunes, his music manuscripts are now house in the National Library of Ireland, the Boston Public Library, and the University of Notre Dame's library.

Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller

According to the Biographical Cyclopedia of U.S. Women, her family was prominent in the Boston area, and her ancestor Joshua Bates gave $50,000 in 1853 and later 30,000 volumes to the city of Boston toward the establishment of the Boston Public Library.


see also

Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Photograph by A.H. Folsom, 1893 (Boston Pictorial Archive, Boston Public Library)

Justin Winsor

In 1877, following a struggle with Alderman Hugh O'Brien over the professionalism of library management, Winsor left Boston Public Library to become librarian of Harvard University, where he served until his death.

Machado and Silvetti Associates

Machado and Silvetti's notable projects include the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, The Getty Villa, the Boston Public Library's Honan-Allston Branch, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Mint Museum, and One Western Avenue at Harvard University.

Norman B. Leventhal

In 2004 Leventhal, a collector of historic maps, partnered with the Boston Public Library creating The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library (BPL).