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Watertown

In July of 1630, an English expedition established a colony on the homelands of the Pequossette and Nonantum groups of the Massachusett people. First known as Saltonstall Plantation, Watertown was one of the earliest Massachusetts Bay Colony settlements. While primarily…

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Quincy

From the 1820s until the mid-20th century, thousands of skilled immigrant stonecutters found jobs in Quincy's granite industry. Shown here are quarrymen coming up in a "boat" for dinner in the Granite Railway Quarry, ca. 1920-1930. Courtesy Thomas Crane Public…

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Immigrant women medical pioneers of JP

In the late 19th century, Jamaica Plain was home to two immigrant women who were pioneers in the medical profession. Dr. Marie Zakrzewska (1829-1902) and Dr. Mary Morey Pearson (1861-1931) exemplify the bold part immigrant women have played in developing…

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Global Eats

Cast members of the theatrical production “One Sunday Afternoon” celebrating at the Russian Bear Restaurant on Newbury Street in December 1933, just days after the end of Prohibition. This restaurant opened a year earlier under the ownership of Mrs. L.B…

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An Irish Shoeworker’s Story

The following account is one of the earliest oral histories with an immigrant shoeworker in Lynn. The interviewee, who is unnamed, was born in 1859 and came to the US in 1866. He was interviewed in 1938 by Jane K…

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Lynn

Immigrant neighborhood in downtown Lynn, looking up Amity Street from Washington Street, ca 1900. Courtesy of Lynn Public Library.

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A 1922 postcard of the Central Square in Cambridge Mass. The postcard shows a busy street with many people waiting to board the streetcar in the middle of the street. On either side of the street are businesses and individuals walking on the sidewalks.

Cambridge

Central Square became Cambridge's largest commercial center in the early 20th century, serving growing immigrant communities from Ireland, Canada, Portugal, and the West Indies. After World War II, the Square and an adjoining area known as "the Port" would become…

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Anti-Asian Violence

After the Vietnam war, thousands of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia were resettled in the greater Boston area. Many were traumatized by their experiences, only to face more hostility from white neighbors in their new homes. To help end this…

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