Gina Perille |Communications Manager
Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
617.859.2273
www.bpl.org |
gperille@bpl.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EB Branch of BPL puts treasures
on digital display; Works of Frederick Leonard King featuring
clipper ships and more
EAST BOSTON – Earlier this summer, the Boston
Public Library put some of its greatest treasures on display in
Copley Square and online in the Cool + Collected exhibit. Now, the
East Boston Branch of the Boston Public Library is following suit.
With help from Friends of the East Boston Library, the brightest
treasures of the East Boston Branch are now available for all to
see, both in person and online.
The Friends of the East Boston Library recently received a grant
from the East Boston Foundation to have the branch’s collection of
14 ship paintings by Frederick Leonard King professionally
photographed and appraised. The paintings, from a series titled “The
History of Shipping,” are on permanent display at the branch at 276
Meridian Street. Portraits of the artwork, which were photographed
by Alex Quesada, have now been digitized and placed on the Boston
Public Library’s flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/collections/).
Four of the paintings have been posted at the branch’s web page at
http://www.bpl.org/branches/eastboston.htm
“I am very pleased that these important community treasures, which
concern our East Boston heritage, are now proudly displayed on the
branch web site and the Boston Public Library's flickr page,” said
Susan Parker Brauner, a member the Friends of the East Boston
Library who assisted in coordinating the project.
Frederick Leonard King (1879-1947) was a Massachusetts artist who
painted mostly landscapes and ships. Images owned by the branch
include his depictions of clipper ships, frigates, and ocean liners.
The branch has owned the artworks since their original commissioning
in order to decorate the branch in 1935. The East Boston branch is
open during the summer on Monday (12p-8p), Tuesday-Thursday
(10a-6p), and Friday (9a-5p).
“From beautiful paintings like those in East Boston to fifteenth
century illuminated manuscripts at Copley Square, every branch of
the Boston Public Library has treasures to share. I am delighted
that East Boston is the first of our branches to extend the ideas
behind the Cool + Collected exhibit further into the community,”
said Amy E. Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library.
# # #
Chapter 1 of the Cool + Collected: Treasures of the Boston Public
Library exhibit in Copley Square celebrates over 160 years of
collecting by featuring some of the most beautiful, rare, and
unexpected holdings from the BPL’s rich special collections. It is
currently on display in the Johnson Lobby of the Central Library,
700 Boylston Street. Chapter 2 debuts in October 2009 and runs
through February 2010, and Chapter 3 continues from February 2010
through June 2010. Each of the three chapters will feature all new
items; visitors are encouraged to return to see each rotation of the
exhibition as it is installed.
# # #
About the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: For more than 160 years, the Boston
Public Library has pioneered public library service in America with
revolutionary ideas and famous firsts. Established in 1848, the BPL
was the first publicly supported municipal library in America, the
first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch
library and the first to have a children’s room. Today, the BPL
boasts a Central Library, 26 neighborhood branches, free Internet
access, two unique restaurants, an award-winning website www.bpl.org
and an on-line store featuring reproductions of the BPL’s priceless
photographs and artwork. Each year, the BPL hosts nearly 12,000
programs, answers more than one million reference questions and
serves millions of people in its National Historic Landmark McKim
Building in Copley Square. All of its programs and exhibits are free
and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just
the beginning.
