LibGuides: BOS 101: The Lens of Boston: Great Fire of Boston

Newspapers

The Boston Public Library (BPL) allows all residents of Massachusetts (including Simmons students) to obtain an eCard for use of their electronic resources. It is highly recommended that you register for one so that you can use their historic newspaper collections. Click here to register.

BPL Historical Newspapers
Scroll down the page to find historic newspaper collections, some encompassing the year of the Great Fire. Note that many fires from that time period were referred to as "great fires," so be sure to include location and year in your search!
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Remember that you must register for a BPL eCard to access these resources.
Library of Congress: Chronicling America
Search for your keywords to find mentions of the Great Fire of Boston and related figures in newspapers around the country. Note: Do not limit to Massachusetts in your search.
New York Times

Spotlight on Digital Collections

Black, James Wallace. Militia soldiers at the Boston fire, 1872. 1872. Web. 28 Aug 2019. <https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:bz60dn678>

Boston Athenaeum: James Wallace Black Collection
View the Boston Athenaeum's collection of James Wallace Black's photographs.
Digital Commonwealth
This site provides access to photographs, manuscripts, books, audio recordings, and other materials of historical interest that have been digitized and made available by members of Digital Commonwealth, a statewide consortium of libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies from across Massachusetts.
Historic New England: James Wallace Black Collection
View the entire James Wallace Black collection of photographs from the 1872 fire using the links on the page.

Find Articles

The easiest way to find articles about the Great Fire is to use the Simmons Library Advanced Search.

Click on Advanced Search. Then, uncheck Simmons Library Collection.

Type in your keywords string (for example: boston fire 1872) and you should get a few articles and books about the topic. Use the date slider and other limiters on the left-hand side of the page to narrow your search!

JSTOR
Find additional articles on the Great Fire of Boston in JSTOR. Search as you would on the library page.

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BOS 101: The Lens of Boston: Great Fire of Boston

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