Founded in 1848, by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts, the Boston Public Library was the first large free municipal library in the United States. It quickly outgrew its quarters in a former schoolhouse.
The library soon moved to a new building built for it on Boyston Street, and in 1895 to its current home at Copley Square.
The library has 8.9 million books and 26 branch libraries.
Selected Boston Public Library images:
-
Greetings from Maine, ca. 1935
-
Light House, at night, on Lake Cobbosseecontee, ca. 1935
-
Bubble Pond, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, ca. 1935
-
Cuba Island, Lake Cobbosseecontee, ca. 1935
-
St. Mary's Church and rectory, Augusta, c. 1935
-
Cony High School, Augusta, ca. 1935
-
Greetings from Maine, ca. 1935
-
Maine sign post, Lynchville, ca. 1940
-
Greetings from the Pine Tree State, ca. 1935
-
Toll House at Kittery on the Maine Turnpike, ca. 1947
-
Maine Turnpike at Biddeford, ca. 1941