The papers of 20th century journalist and urban planning activist Leticia Kent are now available! Kent’s papers document her career at the Village Voice, her urban planning activism, and her relationship with friend and mentor Jane Jacobs. 🔗 https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/993

Suffragette and Irish Nationalist Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington co-founded the Irish Women’s Franchise League in 1908. By 1912, it was Ireland’s largest suffrage organization. This photo postcard shows members of the organization at a suffrage rally. For more: findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

#otd in 1737, a group of largely protestant, Irish immigrants in Boston founded the Charitable Irish Society. Over two centuries later, JFK (not a Protestant!) joined, showing the org's evolution. His membership card lives in the society's records at Burns. findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

The BC Chronicle interviewed Burns Scholar Ray Cashman before his lecture on Wednesday, April 8! issuu.com/bcchronicle/...

Happy Birthday to Leonard Nimoy, born on this day in 1931! Raised in Boston’s West End, Nimoy supported the arts and arts education at many Boston educational and cultural institutions, including Boston College. Here he is on campus in 1974. library.bc.edu/iiif/view/BC...

Kierkegaard's in this? I'm sold

We're celebrating Women’s History Month with these recently digitized photographs of Cuala Press workers. Established in Ireland in 1908, by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and Lily Yeats, Cuala Industries promoted Irish crafts and employed Irish women. 🧵

The Commonwealth of Ladies denounces women who drink, gamble, and generally do as they please, but it also reveals the surprisingly feminine social fabric of 1600s England. Read our blog post for more! https://bit.ly/commonwealthofladies

Otd in 1770, British soldiers in Boston fired on a crowd, killing 5 civilians. Surprisingly, when the soldiers went on trial, future US President John Adams defended them We recently digitized a trial transcript, Read it for yourself here: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/103271253

Visiting post-doc Zoë Van Cauwengerg aided students from Prof. Jim Smith's class in a visit to the Burns Library, where they examined early 19th-century Irish books (by Edgeworth, Owenson, Young, Brooke, etc.) as part of a class discussion on Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent. @burnslibrary.bsky.social

We're wrapping up #BlackHistoryMonth with art by Bostonian Allan Rohan Crite. Crite lived in the South End and graduated from English High and the School of the MFA. He worked as a draughtsman and artist for the Charlestown Navy Yard and the Boston Naval Shipyard, while also creating his own art.

On this day in 1822, Boston incorporated as a city. A century later, State St Trust Co published this commemorative booklet documenting the changes in the city's landscape and built environment over its first 100 years. @universalhub.com @hubhistory.com bc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...

We just processed a family photo collection that is full of images of pre-1930 cars! The Lyons family collected cars, donating two of them to the Smithsonian. Their photo collection contains nineteen images of cars owned by the family. Visit us to see more. findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

🥇 Megan Keller BC ‘19 scored the game-winning OT goal to help lift Team USA over Canada. Here she is on the ice during her senior year playing for @bostoncollege.bsky.social

Giddy up, its the year of the horse. Fair Day at Castlewellan, farmers "hit hands" to complete a horse sale, County Down, 1980s, Bobbie Hanvey photographic archives, MS-2001-039. findingaids.bc.edu/repositories... Accessed February 13, 2026.

Did you know that you can read Wuthering Heights in Irish? Visit us to check out our 1933 edition, translated by Seán Ó Cíosáin. bc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...

In 1968, author Robert Short published “The Parables of Peanuts.” Despite its heavy use of Peanuts comic strips as illustrations, Short’s book delved into weighty theological topics and explored the work of Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Soren Kierkegaard, and Martin Luther!

On Nov 23, 1967, civil rights activist and SNCC member James Forman spoke at the Western Regional Black Youth Conference in LA. A longtime member of SNCC, Forman hoped to encourage greater alliances between Black and white radicals and was working to negotiate a merger with the Black Panthers.

Step back in time to the 1920s when BC held a Winter Sports Carnival! The carnival drew attendees from off campus and included skiing, skating, and a toboggan slide. The carnival is documented in this scrapbook, findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

Happy Birthday to suffragist and Irish revolutionary Constance Markievicz, depicted on this postcard as Joan of Arc. Did you know we have two collections with records documenting Markievicz?'s life? See more here: findingaids.bc.edu/agents/peopl... @bc-irish-studies.bsky.social

If you live in Boston, you’ve seen snowplows clearing the street, but have you ever seen them clear above ground #MBTA tracks? This catalog from the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Co lives in our collection and shows railway snow plows used to plow rail and trolley tracks in Mass and beyond!

We’re kicking off #BlackHistoryMonth with a very cool Black History book. In 1855, Robert Morris, Boston civil rights leader and the country’s second Black lawyer, purchased a copy of “The colored patriots of the American Revolution : with sketches of several distinguished colored persons"🧵

Martyr Alert! otd in 1649, England executed Charles I. But while he waited in prison for his final day, Charles wrote a lengthy justification for his life and deeds. Published only days after his execution, it moved many to sympathize with the former king. We hold a copy. Visit to to check it out.

We recently hosted an evening with the BC Printers Guild! Guild members spent a cozy evening in our conservation lab learning hot press techniques from the BC Libraries Conservator, Nora Dempsey. We’re looking forward to more of these creative evenings with the Printers Guild community!

In 1978 27 inches of snow fell on the Boston College campus and these students put it to good use. What are you creating with today’s snowfall?

In the 1930s, the Junior Philomatheia Club, a women’s booster organization for BC, sponsored a Winter Sports Carnival for its friends and members.  Gentlemen welcome and bridge for those who prefer!

Mr Verdent Green review posted!!

In 1983, Congress established MLK Jr. Day as a federal holiday. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil supported the bill and its implementation, stating that Dr. King would be honored on 2 days, "one in January; the other on election day, when the millions of black Americans exercise their right to vote."

Happy Snow Day, Boston. Devlin Hall, Gasson Hall, Saint Mary's Hall, and Bapst Library from reservoir in winter, by Clifton Church, library.bc.edu/iiif/view/BC...

Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk, a theologian, an activist, an author, a poet, a photographer, - and he sketched. This sketch, drawn in the mid-1960s, lives in the Boston College Collection of Thomas Merton. Visit us to see more.

In 1799, in the midst of a complex conflict for the freedom of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Toussaint Louverture penned a letter to the people of France. Read more about the letter and Louverture in our blog post commemorating Haitian Independence Day: https://bit.ly/liberty-in-saint-domingue

Happy First Day of Class, Eagles! We're so glad you're back. Newton College of the Sacred Heart records, Box: 57, Folder: 14. BC-1988-031. John J. Burns Library.

#otd in 1798, the Massachusetts State House was dedicated. From its earliest days, the building's dome was an attraction for visitors to Boston. Visitors who climbed to the dome for a birds eye view of Boston used guides like this 1851 booklet to identify buildings and landmarks.

In a recent Spanish class at Burns, students examined a 1680 volume documenting a famous Auto de Fé in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor. Under the Spanish Inquisition, the Crown and the Church held Auto de Fés where they publicly tried and condemned individuals accused of crimes against the Catholicism. 🧵

Did you know that Burns Library holds a collection of photographs and albums belonging to Irish activist, printer, and camogie player Máire Gill? They live in our Loretta Clarke Murray Collection and we’ve just digitized them! https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/254/digitized

Happy Birthday to Isaac Asimov, who sent this letter to Father Francis Sweeney after Sweeney asked him to lecture at Boston College. Asimov never made it to Boston College, but he carried on a lively correspondence with Sweeney. HIs letters live here: findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

We at Burns Library will be reflecting on Temperance for the next few weeks "The Octopus of the Nation, Temperance", 1900 November-1904 May, M. H. Smith papers, MS-1986-102. findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

Established in 1911, Pine Manor College served 1st gen and low income students for over a century. For most of its history, it was a women’s college, becoming co-educational in 2014. In 2020. PMC integrated into BC. Its yearbooks document its rich history and now live at Burns. Visit to browse!

We’re sharing one of our favorite illuminated poems this Christmas Eve, published in the 1880s. We wish all of our followers a peaceful and hopeful holiday season.

In the 1880s, the Alcott family used their former home to host a summer philosophy school. Lecturers included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Julia Ward Howe and other transcendentalists.  We recently digitized materials related to the school: https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/509/digitized#

In 1971, Daniel Berrigan SJ penned poetry in his cell in the federal penitentiary in Danbury, Connecticut while he served a sentence for pouring homemade napalm on federal government draft documents. A copy of his published work lives at Burns Library. Contact us to see it.

T riders know the Green Line is down for the replacement of the 1890s wooden catenary wire “trough." In the early 1900s, these BER cars used that infrastructure to ferry people above and below ground. The cars are long gone, but the trough remained! https://library.bc.edu/iiif/view/MS2016-041-87030

In 1773, Bostonians protested taxation w/o representation by dumping tea in the harbor. 150 years later, BC students reenacted the event in a “thrilling” performance in Old South Church. A thank you from Mayor Curley lives in one of our scrapbooks. https://library.bc.edu/iiif/view/BC1986-020F-151714

#otd in 1799, Washington died at Mt Vernon. His tomb became pilgrimage site. This foliage was plucked from Washington’s tomb by Herman Lincoln of Boston. He gave it to his wife, Hetty, who put it in her commonplace book. View the digitized book here: https://library.bc.edu/iiif/view/BC2023-173-0001

We’re wishing all our students the best of luck #finalexams and papers! Need a place to concentrate or collaborate? BC Libraries offer quiet study areas, group rooms, and plenty of comfy seating. Here's a full list of study spaces: https://libguides.bc.edu/study-spaces

Study days are here! Are you looking for a study spot ? Check out your options for library study spaces in Boston College Libraries http://bit.ly/3RtdDc7

Solitude is where we hear ourselves think, where we befriend ourselves, and where we connect with the Divine. But solitude has been a difficult to find. Our new exhibit explores natural spaces as locations of creativity, solidarity and connection through solitude. bit.ly/flourishing_together

Before we had out of office replies, we had these postcards from playwright and activist (George) Bernard Shaw. Shaw used these pre-printed postcards to deal with the egregious amount of mail he received and when we look at our inboxes, we feel inspired.

Interested in researching at Burns? Apply for a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC) grant now thru 2/1 Unsure if we have materials that support your project? Reach out to us and we can give you feedback. We are happy to help! More info +application: www.masshist.org/fellowships/...

#onthisday in 1942, the deadliest fire in Boston’s history ignited at the Cocoanut Grove night club. The fire took 492 lives and left many survivors with severe burns.🧵 @universalhub.com @hubhistory.com