Boston Public Library

Out of the Card Catalog Closet

Librarians gathered in 1970 to challenge Library of Congress classifications and catalog subject headings that aligned homosexuality with deviance. 
House Democrats applaud after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signed the Inflation Reduction Act, August 12, 2022

Do You Trust Your Democratic Representatives?

Scholars of politics and media have been tracking an ongoing collapse of trust in representative democracy's core institutions. What's at stake?
Close-up Vintage Wooden Hourglass on Wooden Background, Sand running through the bulbs for measuring the passing time

The Meaning of Time in The Hour Glass

Writings from a women's prison in the 1930s grapple with philosophical questions on time and life. “The mere lapse of years is not life.”
Mam-speaking women drink coffee after a group meeting on February 12, 2017 in Cajola, Guatemala

The Mam In Oregon

Guatemalan immigrants, bringing with them unique skills and knowledge, are adapting to their new homes and communities in the Pacific Northwest.
An illustration for a 1957 Kotex magazine advertisement

The Feminine Art of Bow Hunting

Although hunting is often styled as a sport of men, American magazines marketed bow hunting to women in an attempt to legitimize and civilize the sport.
Portrait of Frances Theresa Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox by Peter Lely, 1662

The Woman Famous for Not Sleeping With a King

As a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of England, Frances Stuart was known as much for her ability to fend off the advances of King Charles II as for her beauty.
Igbo women

Women Leaders in Africa: The Case of the Igbo

In the precolonial Igbo states of West Africa, power was often wielded by male chiefs or elders, but women had their own forms of authority as well. 
King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort take part in an address in Westminster Hall on September 12, 2022 in London, England.

Royal Succession, Reformed

British history is witness to a long struggle to curtail the power of monarchs and redefine the regulations governing succession to the throne.
Group of strawberry pickers in a strawberry field in Bell, California, ca.1910

Internationalism and Racism in the Labor Movement

A commitment to internationalism helped build multi-ethnic campaigns within the more radical and anti-authoritarian side of the US labor movement.
The exhumation of a body believed to be a vampire

Vampires and Public Health

At the end of the nineteenth century, the people of Rhode Island were drained by a mysterious force that caused them to slowly waste away.