Boston & Beyond: A Bird's Eye View of New England
will celebrate one of the world's pre-eminent collections of bird's eye views and its recent preservation.

Unlike conventional flat maps, bird's eye views are a fascinating kind of specialty map that presents an urban area as if the observer hovered over the community at an elevation of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The town "below" appears as if in a kind of imaginative snapshot of an historical moment, revealing the factories, homes, parks, cemeteries, churches, even details of vernacular architecture. The story told in the exhibit is of the growing economic vitality and urbanization of the Boston and New England region during the last half of the 19th century, when industrialization and immigration were the primary engines of urban growth.

This free exhibit at the Boston Public Library, Copley Square will run daily from January through June 2008. A virtual tour of Boston and Beyond will appear on our website when the exhibition opens in January 2008. In April 2008 you will be able order beautiful reproductions of maps on our website.

Teachers! To schedule a free guided tour for your class, please call 617-859-2387 or email us at maps@bpl.org.

Book a free guided tour of Boston & Beyond

Massachusetts Catalogue for Philanthropy

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library is honored to be featured in the 2007 prestigious Massachusetts Catalogue for Philanthropy. This year 390 charities applied for the new, competitive listings, and 54 were selected, as "examples of excellence" in all fields of Massachusetts philanthropy: the environment, culture (arts and education), human services and international. According to George McCully, President of the Catalogue, "Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library was chosen because they are a great example of 'private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of life' in Massachusetts, and because they are both excellent and cost-effective. We urge donors, especially in the Boston area, to consider adding the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center to their giving list this year."

The purpose of the Catalogue, now in its 11th year of annual publication, is "to strengthen the culture of philanthropy in Massachusetts through donor education." "The Catalogue is designed as a showcase for Massachusetts philanthropy," 100% of every donation goes to the designated charities or fields of philanthropy. Since 1997, charitable giving in the state has more than doubled, from about $2 billion to $4.4 billion — a record high for Massachusetts — in 2005, the latest numbers available.