Brighton-Allston Heritage Museum
Veronica Smith Senior Center
20 Chestnut Hill Ave
Brighton, MA
Open from 12 - 4 pm
Tuesday though Friday and
Second and Fourth Saturday of every month
Admission is free
BAHS President Bill Marchione and Boston Mayor Tom Menino tour the Museum
Boston's newest museum opened on
February 24, 2007 at 20 Chestnut Hill Avenue, just outside of Brighton Center,
to mark the official start of Brighton's year long Bicentennial celebration.
The Brighton-Allston Heritage Museum, being planned and organized by the
Brighton-Allston Historical Society, will be a permanent institution that will
provide creative interpretations of the history on one of Boston's most diverse
and interesting neighborhoods.
The museum has two major exhibitions:
A permanent exhibition, in Gallery A, highlights the
historical themes that have contributed to the varied and rich history of
Brighton and Allston, a community that represents a microcosm of our national
experience.
This exhibition: "Brighton Transformed: From Native
American Settlement to Urban Diversity," mounted in the Museum's larger
gallery, includes historical photographs, artifacts, books, maps,
signage,
letters, portraits, interactive web-based stations, oral history
stations,
models, dioramas and historical ephemera. Most of the objects on
display come from the Brighton-Allston Historical Society's own
collection.
Gallery A is organized around six main themes: Early
History, Transportation, Agriculture & Horticulture, Industry &
Commerce, Suburbanization, and Institutional History.
Photograph by Richard Sullivan
Physical artifacts on display in Gallery A include an
Ionic capital that once sat atop a column fronting Brighton;s handsome 1841
Greek Revival Town Hall, pieces of Paul Revere pottery, manufactured in
Brighton in the 1916 to 1940 period, and a beautifully crafted sterling silver
trumpet used by Brighton's Fire Chief to direct 19th century fire fighting operations.
Most of the photographs and objects appearing in the Museum
have never before been exhibited.
The Inner Gallery, designated "The Winship Gallery" to
commemorate the family that founded both of Brighton and Allston's signature
industries---the Cattle Trade and Horticulture---and intended to accommodate a
series of rotating exhibits, house, as its first exhibition a display of
historical material entitled: "Bull Market: the Rise, Prominence and Decline of
New England's Cattle Industry." This exhibition traces the rise and eventual decline of New England's cattle trade in the
period 1776 to 1960, when Brighton was its most important center. It
includes a multi-media presentation and interactive stations to orient visitors
to the fascinating and little known history of Brighton as "America's first
cattle town." The central motif of
the "Winship Gallery" is a magnificent portrait of Captain Jonathan
Winship, the son of the founder of the cattle industry and the man who, in
1820, founded the local horticultural industry.
Photograph by Richard Sullivan
To discuss a donation or loan of an historical item related
to Brighton or Allston's history, please email us at bamail@bahistory.org
To see
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