Happy Patriots’ Day and Marathon Weekend!

Did you know that April 19, 2025 is the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—and the start of the American Revolutionary War? In honor of this anniversary, Special Collections and the Leventhal Map & Education Center are collaborating on an open house to highlight items for their collections relating to this event, as well as other major events of the American Revolution in Boston.

Stop by the Leventhal Map & Education Center gallery to see our new exhibit, Terrains of Independence, which uses maps to highlight the geography of Boston and Massachusetts in the Revolutionary War. Then, head into our classroom to see related items from Special Collections across a variety of formats.

This open house will take place on both Saturday, April 19 and Tuesday, April 22 from 11 AM - 4 PM with staff members available to answer questions. The same items will be on display at both open houses. No reservation is required to attend.

From The Vault

The Leventhal Map and Education Center cares for more than a quarter million cartographic and geographic objects, including maps, atlases, charts, globes, gazetteers, ephemera, research texts, and data sets. With such an extensive collection, it is likely that many of these objects will never be included in exhibitions for public viewing.

Our latest series, From The Vault, attempts to remedy that limitation. From The Vault is a biweekly, casual collections showing of objects selected by Map Center staff. These drop-in sessions do not include a formal presentation, though Map Center staff will be available to interpret objects, chat, and answer questions.