1918
HAV-01-403-Z-L-404
GUSN-373846
Photograph album with black cloth cover and tied binding. Front cover shows the word "Photographs" in gold lettering. The album contains twenty-one (21) black-and-white photographs adhered to black-paper pages. Photographs are approximately 7.5 x 10 inches in size. Photographs show the 1918 celebration of Bunker Hill Day in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The albums pages include small, handwritten labels adhered under photographs. Labels identify some people who participated in the celebrations and locations. Several labels at the end of the album remain unfilled.
The photographs show members of Massachusetts government and military personnel delivering orations, reviewing grandstands, watching parades, and riding in automobiles. There are several photographs of large crowds listening to speeches at Monument Square in Charlestown, near a statue of Colonel William Prescott. Some photographs depict portions of Charlestown high school (erected 1907).
There are photographs of large crowds at "Sullivan Square Playground," enjoying midway areas, and watching matches of "Gaelic Football." Some of these photographs also show portions of Bostons rapid transit Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown, parts of the elevated railroad, and train cars.
Photographs show people in uniforms and formal attire and band members with musical instruments. Labels indicate that parade participants include members of the Boston Fire Department, several branches of the United States military, the Coast Artillery Corps, veterans of the Spanish-American War, and "Mothers, Wives, Daughters, and Sisters of Officers and Enlisted Men." Photographs show the parades taking place on unidentified cobblestone streets marked with railroad tracks and lined with bars, homes, hotels, and stores while crowds watch from sidewalks and windows.
Named participants taken from labels include:
Lieutenant Governor Calvin Coolidge
Brigadier General William H. Oaks, Chief Marshall
Honorable Andrew James Peters, Mayor of Boston
Commandant Rush
Honorable Peter F. Tague M.C. [Master of Ceremonies?]
black-and-white photography
photograph albums
families
automobiles
streets
storefronts
elevated railroads
parades
officers (military officers)
armed forces
soldiers
soccer
midways
black-and-white photographs
photograph albums
1 album, 27 pages : black-and-white photographic prints ; 11 x 15.5 inches
PC009
Photograph albums collection
PC009.319
Photograph album with black cloth cover and tied binding. A label on the inside cover reads "City of Boston / Public Celebrations / Bunker Hill Day / 1918". Photographs depict members of local government and military personnel delivering orations, reviewing grandstands, watching parades, and riding in automobiles. Photographs also depict large crowds of people at playgrounds, midways, and sporting events. Some photographs depict Sullivan Square elevated rail station and the railroad with rail cars.
Library & Archives Purchase
Purchase,
Charlestown (Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts) [neighborhood]
Bunker Hill (Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts) [neighborhood]
black-and-white photographs
photograph albums
Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933
Peters, Andrew J, Hon., 1872-1938
Tague, Peter Francis, Hon., 1871-1941
Parades
Boston (Mass.). History
Bunker Hill, Battle of, Boston, Mass., 1775
United States History Revolution, 1775-1783
Government
Holiday
Military
Fire departments
Veterans
Battle of Bunker Hill
There are no restrictions on access.
Album was re-housed for long term preservation
Item
HAV-01-403-Z-L-404
Materials are in English
On June 17, 1775, New England soldiers faced the British army in a pitched battle. Though the British forces claimed the field, the casualties inflicted by the soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire were staggering. Of the nearly 2,400 British soldiers and Marines engaged, almost 1,000 were wounded or killed.
The Battle of Bunker Hill has inspired generations to consider what it takes to stand up for one's liberties. Abolitionists, suffragists, labor activists, and others have referred to the battle and its monument in their own fight for liberty and justice.
Bunker Hill Day [June 17] commemorates the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill with annual parades and public events; the tradition dates back to at least 1786.
James E. Arsenault & Company. (n.d.). Bunker Hill Day in 1918 with World War 1 Overtones. JamesAresenault.com.
Boston Globe. (1987, May 20) Charlestown High School Repurposed as Condos. Getty Images. \n gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-mows-grass-near-the-bunker-hill-monument-across-the-news-photo/869471056
Boston Mass, Vintage. (2025, January 29). Aerial photograph (approximately 1929) of the old Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown. The Schraffts Candy Factory would have been under construction [Facebook]. facebook.com/groups/513744017561133/posts/824325689836296
Charlestown Historical Society. (n.d.) Timeline of Charlestown / The 1900s. History. charlestownhistoricalsociety.org/history/historic-timeline\n
National Park Sersvice (n.d.) The Battle of Bunker Hill. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-battle-of-bunker-hill.htm
Digital Commonwealth from Boston Public Library, Leon Abdalian Collection. (n.d.). Bunker Hill Monument, Monument Square, Charlestown, Mass. www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:37720k178\n \n \n
Andrew J. Peters. (2025, August 4). In Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_J._Peters\n
Picryl. (n.d.). Sullivan Square south view, postcard. picryl.com\n
Society of Architectural Historians. (n.d.)Monument Square. Archipedia. sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-CH6\n
Sullivan Square Station. (2025, May 16). In Wikipedia.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Square_station\n \n
Peter Francis Tague. (2025, August 4). In Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Francis_Tague\n \n
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