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history

Postcard from the Back Bay

July 11, 2015

Back Bay

Looking up Boylston Street from the corner of Berkeley in the 19th century. At right is the New England Museum of Natural History, a predecessor of the Boston Museum of Science. (The building is now occupied by Restoration Hardware — sigh.) To its left is the Boston Institute of Technology, now MIT. The tower at the far left is Old South Church in Copley Square. (via) I work nearby and pass this spot every day.

Filed Under: Boston Tagged With: Back Bay, history, postcards

The First Flight

August 30, 2014

The first successful powered flight by the Wright brothers, 1903.

The Atlantic has posted a series of remarkable photos of the Wright brothers’ early experiments in flight. Above:

First flight: 120 feet in 12 seconds, on December 17, 1903. This photograph shows man’s first powered, controlled, sustained flight. Orville Wright at the controls of the machine, lying prone on the lower wing with hips in the cradle which operated the wing-warping mechanism. Wilbur Wright running alongside to balance the machine, has just released his hold on the forward upright of the right wing. The starting rail, the wing-rest, a coil box, and other items needed for flight preparation are visible behind the machine. Orville Wright preset the camera and had John T. Daniels squeeze the rubber bulb, tripping the shutter.

Filed Under: Odds & Ends Tagged With: airplanes, history

Flickr Find of the Day

June 5, 2014

The Back Bay in progress. Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, looking west toward the intersection of Dartmouth Street, ca. 1872. The photo seems to have been taken from the tower of the First Baptist Church, on the corner of Clarendon Street. From the wonderful Flickr stream of the Boston Public Library.

Filed Under: Boston, Photography Tagged With: Back Bay, Flickr, history

Boston rapid transit map, 1954

June 2, 2014

Boston Rapid Transit map 1954

Click image to view full size. Via Cartographia.

Filed Under: Boston Tagged With: cities, history, maps

Boston, 1940

February 11, 2013

Boston, Valentine's Day Blizzard, 1940

The 1940 Valentine’s Day Blizzard. Cars on Washington Street in Boston stalled out in the heavy snow, Feb. 14, 1940. (Via Boston Globe)

Filed Under: Boston Tagged With: history

Today’s paper

November 7, 2012

Boston Globe after Obama's re-election

Filed Under: Odds & Ends Tagged With: Barack Obama, Boston Globe, history, newspapers, politics

Demolition of Boston’s West End

September 22, 2012

West End

Chambers and Barton Streets, July 19, 1959 (via).

Filed Under: Boston Tagged With: cities, history, The Strangler, West End

Antietam, 1862

September 18, 2012

Antietam

Alexander Gardner, “A lone grave on the Antietam battlefield” (1862) (via Slate)

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Alexander Gardner, Civil War, history, war

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