State Library Of Massachusetts: News Boston Common [Lithograph By James Kidder]

Press release from the State Library of Massachusetts:

11/01/2021

November's Collection Spotlight!

Boston Common

By James Kidder (Boston: Abel Bowen,1829)

This month, our Collection Spotlight features a lithograph of one of our favorite views in Boston - looking up from the Common to the State House. Boston Common was drawn by James Kidder and published by Abel Bowen in Boston in 1829. It shows the State House and its neighbors atop Beacon Hill, with a swath of the Common in the foreground. Adults and children are shown strolling paths, cows graze on the grass, and young trees are shown in growing supports, all of which combine to create a bucolic scene in the middle of downtown Boston.

A noticeable difference between this view of the State House and the current State House is that it is a good deal smaller! This image shows the original building as designed by Charles Bulfinch and completed in 1798; the addition to the back was not completed until 1889 and the wings were not added until 1917. Another difference is that Beacon Hill has a lot fewer structures here than it has now, except that one building that existed in 1829 that does not stand today is the Hancock Manor, which is shown to the left of the State House.

Read more about this lithograph in our blog, and the next time you are on the Common, imagine what it looked like in 1829!

This press release was produced by the State Library of Massachusetts. The views expressed here are the author’s own.