Boston Public Library Logo Sports Temples Logo

About The Sports Temples of Boston

 A Note from the Curator
 Boston has a rich history in many areas including government, culture and of course, sports! Some of the greatest victories, most accomplished athletes and exciting teams have made history in Boston. From the earliest days of the colony, sports have been a part of the social fabric. And by the 19th century, the playing of sports was an accepted part of life as more sports became with local sports clubs being founded and professional leagues formed.

As sports grew in popularity, venues were built where the games could be played. In 1872, the first baseball park in Boston was built in the South End. It was the first building built specifically for the viewing of sporting events. Fans could now sit and watch the game from grandstand seats and the team could charge a small admission fee.

Over time more elaborate buildings were erected for the playing and watching of sports and at the dawn of the 20th century, sports had become a sort of religion with a devoted and loyal following (the word fan is short for fanatic). The ballparks, arenas, stadiums and racetracks where sports were regularly played became centers of the community and social life of Boston. Older 19th century buildings like the Cyclorama in the South End and Mechanics Hall on Huntington Avenue which had been built for other purposes, became important temples for the worship of sports. Buildings such as the Boston Garden were built for a variety of major events, but sports were the center and soul of their purpose.

Many of these sports temples no longer exist. Thanks to the diligent care of the many participating institutions, these images survive to provide evidence of the great events and great happenings experienced by so many fans and athletes over the years in Boston’s Sports Temples.

It is our hope that this assortment of images will provide enjoyment to sports fans of all ages, as well as serve as a useful resource for historical, societal and architectural research. Think of it as a virtual scrapbook, filled with the memories of a hundred years of Boston sports.

Technical Specifications for Scanning:
With the exception of those owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, the original images represented on this site were scanned by Boston Photo Imaging, Boston, MA. All the images scanned by Boston Photo Imaging were scanned at 250dpi at 8"x10" with the exception of oversized images (11"x14" and larger) which were scanned at close to actual size. The images were saved as .tiff files, grayscale for black & white, RGB for color images. A derivative .jpeg at 72dpi was created from the tiff files for use on the website. The original images were scanned with the following equipment:
  • A Phase One scanning back on a 4"x5" view camera was used to scan all images on paper including photographic prints, postcards, maps, etc.
  • A SciTex flatbed scanner was used to scan glass-plate negatives and odd-sized film negatives.
  • A Kodak PhotoCD scanner was used to scan all standard sized sheet film including 35mm and 4"x5" negatives.

Top

How the Images Were Selected:
Sports Temples of Boston is not meant to be a comprehensive representation of the history of sports in Boston or a "brick by brick" record of the sports architecture of Boston.  The project focuses on the architectural sites in Boston with the richest history of both the playing and viewing of professional and amateur sports. All of the sites represented were either built specifically for sporting events, or held annual or recurring sporting events over the course of many years. In addition, all the sites selected hosted sporting events that were of interest to people all over Boston and beyond.

The following are the criteria used to select images for the Sports Temples of Boston:

  • The Sports Temples had to be located within the geographical limits of the City of Boston.
  • All of the Sports Temples had to be constructed for the viewing of public events, including sporting events. With the exception of the Cyclorama Building and the Charles River Speedway, the buildings included had permanent stands or seating for the viewing of events.
  • Images published in books or multiple-page publications, like event programs, were not considered for the project. In addition, images that were copies of original images from other sources were not included.
  • The images selected include images of events not related to sports, in order to give a broader view of the historical uses for the Sports Temples.

Top

A Note on Scanning the Original Images:
The original images used in Sports Temples of Boston were scanned full frame with no cropping. The original tiff files are uncompressed in order to retain the maximum amount of information from the original scan. No digital retouching was done on any of the scans and while approximately 15-20 of the images were digitally altered to ensure readability, every effort was made to ensure the fidelity of the scan to the original image. When a scan is made from an original object, it records all the information that the scanning equipment is able to “read,” including signs of damage or deterioration of the object. As a result, some of the images displayed in the Sports Temples of Boston will show tears, discoloration, crop-lines, stamps and other markings.

The original images show the inevitable signs of their history and use. As historical images, these signs are part of the individual history of each image and do not necessarily detract from the aesthetic or informational value of the image. In some cases, these signs can enhance the quality of an image that would otherwise be forgettable. Digital imaging technology makes it possible to take a photograph and upload it directly into a digital environment, but in the case of historical images the online version of the image is just a representation. The image is tethered to an object that at this moment sits in a box in a room somewhere.

Digitizing historical collections provides wide and easy access to “digitally” published images, while the original image can be stored safely, studied by researchers or displayed in exhibitions. The image can be used without endangering the original object. The mission of the Boston Public Library and the other institutions participating in this project is to both keep and safeguard their collections while making the material available to the public. Digitizing original images makes it possible to fulfill these sometimes contradictory missions.

Top

Boston Public Library Collections Represented in the Sports Temples of Boston:
The Research Library’s collection is made up of many small collections kept in different departments. For information on the collections represented, click on the links below.

 Guide to the Image Record Fields:
The following is a description of the informational content of the record fields for the Sports Temples of Boston database. The fields listed below contain information related directly to each image included in the project. The Sports Temples of Boston uses Dublin Core Metadata Standards for the image records. All the fields listed below correspond to Dublin Core Metadata Elements. For more information on the database structure, please contact us.
  • Image Number
    The image number consists of a 5-digit number preceded by "st" (lower case). The first number in the series is: st10001. The numbers are assigned consecutively to the images as they are scanned.
  • Title
    The title of the images is in most cases the title that the creator of the image gave to it or the title by which the image is popularly known. Often the title was recorded directly from the back or the mount of the image. In this case, the title would be recorded in quotation marks. If the title from the original is lengthy and descriptive, the title used is taken from the most relevant section of the original title and is recorded in quotes. In some cases, the title field information is completely fabricated and the title from the original recorded verbatim in "Description" field. In these cases, the title is entered without quotes.
  • Creator
    The creator can be a photographer, engraver, lithographer or artist. In some cases the creator will be the same as the publisher with prints and with postcards. The creator can also be either an individual or an organization.
  • Description
    As noted above, the description field can include information taken directly from the physical original or from the cataloguing records of the original. This information appears in quotes. In addition, pictorial information from the image that is not part of the title has been added in some cases to the description field. For example, a photograph may be titled "Fenway Park" but examination of the image may show that the left field wall is pictured and that the hated Yankees are on the field. This information was then recorded in this field.
  • Publisher
    In some cases the publisher is the same as the creator. For example, the publisher of a postcard might also have created the image so the publisher name is entered in both fields.
  • Date of Original
    The date is the original creation date of the image, for example the day, month and year that a photograph was taken. When the exact date is not known, the date has been recorded as an approximation using "circa" or as a range.
  • Original Format
    This field contains a description of the medium of the image, including dimensions and physical type.
  • Source
    The source is the institution or organization that holds the original image in its collection.
  • Department
    The department or division within the source institution that holds the image within their collection.
  • Collection
    If the image is part of a named or distinct collection within the department or institution, the collection name is entered into this field.
  • Rights
    The rights field contains the source institution’s standard rights language for use of collection images. In addition, specific information as to copyholders and use restrictions is sometimes provided.
  • Notes
    The notes field is an additional information field. Information related to the image but not connected to it physically or from its pictorial content is entered in this field. For example, if it is known that a photograph had once decorated the walls of a saloon near the South End Grounds, that information would be entered in this field. Another example, if there is writing on the back of a postcard that refers to the site pictured, the information would be entered verbatim.

Top

How to View the Original Images:
If you are interested in viewing any of the original images represented on this site from the Boston Public Library’s collection or the collection of any of the participating institutions, please contact the appropriate institution or Boston Public Library department indicated in the "source" or "department" fields of image record. For contact information, go to the Participating Institutions page.

Gifts to the Collections:
The institutions participating in the development of the Sports Temples Online Exhibit accept gifts that support their collections development programs and supplement their existing collections.

Individuals or organizations interested in donating materials are encouraged to contact the Boston Public Library or any of the Participating Institutions.

Acknowledgements:
  • Aaron Schmidt, Project Director
  • Alice Kane, Website Design
  • Joe Fisher, Database Design
  • Evelyn Francis, Data Entry/Quality Control
  • Linda DeSimone, Christina McIntosh and Regina Cotter, Data Entry
Thanks to BPL Staff:
Completing the Sports Temples of Boston website was a team effort. The following BPL staff helped the project cross the finish line:
Jan Chadbourne, Fine Arts Department; Mary Beth Dunhouse, Special Collections; Bobbie Zonghi, Rare Books Department; John Dorsey, Research Library; Katherine Dibble, Mary Frances O’Brien and Cindy Phillips, Community Library Services Office; Carolyn Coulter, Jean Antoine , Systems & Services; Ed Maheigan and Diane Collins, Business Office; Sean Monahan, Accounting; Jennifer Latchford and Kathleen Kirleis, President’s Office; Cate Zannino, Mary Bender and Camille White, Communications Office; Marta Pardee-King, Social Sciences; Jane Duggan, Print Department.

Participating Institutions:
The participation of the contributing institutions greatly enhanced the richness and comprehensiveness of the project. We would like to thank the following people for their effort and time in searching their collections for great images and helping us add them to the project:
Sally Pierce, Catharina Slautterback and Lina Coffey, The Boston Athenaeum; Nancy Richard and Anne Vosikas, The Bostonian Society; Dick Johnson, New England Sports Museum; Lorna Condon, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities; Betsy Lowenstein, State Library of Massachusetts; Nicholas Graham, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Special Thanks:
Many people contributed their knowledge and expertise during the course of the project. A special thanks go out to the following people:
Mel Klayman; P.A. d’Arbeloff; Glenn Stout; Gregor Trinkaus-Randall; Walter Barrett, Jr.; Jennifer Goold.
 
If you have additional questions, comments or if you are searching for a particular topic of photo, please feel free to e-mail your question or comment about the Sports Temples of Boston

BPL Logo		 Copyright © 2003   Boston Public Library
All Rights Reserved