Eleanor Raymond (1887–1989) was an architect whose work in Modern design included early explorations of environmentally responsive architecture. While Modern architecture in New England is most often associated with European émigrés Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, Raymond, a Massachusetts native, was the first to bridge the gap between the region’s traditional architectural vernacular and the bold […]
On any given morning in 1834, women of all ages could be seen coming and going from Otis House on the corner of Lynde and Cambridge streets in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. What had once been the home of Harrison Gray Otis was now split into two rental units. Physician Elizabeth Mott was […]
Edith Stevens was a pioneering cartoonist of the Jazz Age who carved out a place for herself in the male-dominated newspaper industry. Beginning in the late 1920s at The Boston Post, she launched Us Girls, a witty cartoon series offering lighthearted commentary on fashion and social manners. Remarkably, it was one of the few features […]
Much of what circulates online about Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler—the first Black woman to earn an MD in the United States—rests on a fragile evidentiary chain. Her story has been shaped by retellings of anecdotes that cannot always be traced back to historical accounts. As a Black woman, Crumpler has also been underrepresented in both […]
Sustaining Our Past, written by Historic New England’s Director of Sustainability Joie Grandbois, explores Historic New England’s climate action efforts and highlights how we’re adapting historic sites to meet the challenges of a changing environment. Through project updates, partnerships, community engagement—and the occasional reflection on sustainability in our communities and our daily lives—Joie shares how […]
In this month’s installment of Behind the Exhibition, Curator of Collections Erica Lome explores what needlework can tell us about the impact of the American Revolution on young women. This is one of the stories included in Myth and Memory: Stories of the American Revolution, opening May 15, 2026, at the Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts, as […]
Historic New England’s collections support exhibitions, publications, and research around the world, extending the reach of our historic sites and stories around the world. In the first post in a two-part series, we share how loans from our object collection helped tell powerful stories about queer history, childhood, and community from Boston to Los Angeles […]
As you go about your day, whether on familiar streets or traveling through new spaces, you might notice something unfamiliar set into the ground: a square of granite topped with brass, bearing a name and a date. This is a Stopping Stone. Stopping Stones is a memorial project that honors enslaved people by marking the […]
In 2026, the United States marks its semiquincentennial and Black History Month celebrates its 100th year. Black History Month honors the voices, struggles, and contributions of Black Americans—stories that have often been left out of the broader narrative of our nation. To mark this milestone, we are revisiting a 2021 post on the history of […]
In this month’s installment of Behind the Exhibition, our resident myth-buster, Curator of Collections Erica Lome, looks into the how a lock of George Washington’s hair may have ended up in a brooch now owned by Historic New England. Its story is one of the many included in Myth and Memory: Stories of the American Revolution, opening […]
Sustaining Our Past, written by Historic New England’s Director of Sustainability Joie Grandbois, explores Historic New England’s climate action efforts and highlights how we’re adapting historic sites to meet the challenges of a changing environment. Through project updates, partnerships, community engagement—and the occasional reflection on sustainability in our communities and our daily lives—Joie shares how […]
To help mark the occasion of Historic New England’s 115th anniversary in 2025, we are sharing some of our favorite collection stories from Historic New England magazine—which turns twenty-five this year. For our final installment in the series, we indulge in nostalgia for an elegant winter mode of transportation: the horse-drawn sleigh. This sleigh, with its sleek […]
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