The West End Museum is pleased to announce its doors will reopen to the public on Wednesday, July 29 after four-and-a-half months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Museum will be open for its regular pre-pandemic hours, although at reduced capacity per city and state directives. As always, admission is free, but donations Read More…
During the West End Museum’s closure due to COVID-19, no scheduled events will take place, regardless of their previous announcement. The Museum will do their best to reschedule all canceled events once they reopen. The West End Museum presents “Reflections on Boston’s West End: The Origins & Lessons of Urban Renewal,” a lecture series that Read More…
The West End Museum is hosting a lecture series titled “Reflections on Boston’s West End: The Origins & Lessons of Urban Renewal.” The first talk in the series will be “Urban Renewal & the People of the West End Demolition” on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. $20 per lesson ($10 Read More…
The West End Museum is hosting author Lorenz Finison who will give a talk combining material from his first two books, Boston’s Cycling Craze and Boston’s 20th Century Bicycling Renaissance, on Saturday, February 22, 2020 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Finison will discuss African-American cycling from tricycling and high wheel racers in the 1880s Read More…
The West End Museum is hosting a talk by prizewinning historian and author Lizabeth Cohen to discuss her book: Saving America’s Cities: Ed Louge and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age. The talk will take place on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the West End Read More…
Join the West End Museum on December 19 at 7 p.m. for a talk on Burlesque. As early as 1858, Adah Isaacs Menken — the highest paid actress of her day — would set the stage for what would become modern burlesque. Lydia Thompson and her import of British Blondes would soon follow, along with Read More…
The West End Museum will be showing the documentary “Vaudeville: Voice of the City” on December 5 at 7 p.m. Vaudeville at the Old Howard Theatre grew out of early variety theater and minstrel shows. Tony Pastor would later coin the term and use it as a moniker for family entertainment. Much of vaudeville’s early Read More…
The West End Museum will premiere a new exhibit, “The Old Howard Theatre” on Tuesday, September 24 in celebration of Boston’s oldest playhouse, which once stood at the heart of Scollay Square. A show reception will take place on Thursday, October 17 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Concurrent programs—a film screening, an author talk, and an evening of Read More…
Join the West End Museum on Saturday, May 4 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. for their free, public event: Jane’s Walk at The West End Museum. Author, urbanist, and activist, Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) caused quite a stir in the field of city planning with her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Read More…
Ed Quill, an author and former journalist at the Boston Globe, will read from and discuss his new book, When Last the Glorious Light: Lay of the Massachuset, on Tuesday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the West End Museum. Relating the story of the Native American tribe for which the Commonwealth is named, the Read More…
The West End Museum is hosting The Housing Act of 1949, a re-configured and updated exhibit that examines the path to the destruction of the Boston’s West End. It explores Democrat Harry S. Truman’s re-election in the face of a mounting housing demand, which prompted him to put urban renewal on the national agenda and set in Read More…
Join the West End Museum on Thursday, December 6 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. to hear a firsthand account of the demolition of the West End from Tom Hynes, an individual who spent his college summers working on the West End demolition team for Duane Wrecking. Hynes will speak about his memories—the sights, smells, Read More…