Goodbye Ariel!
What a bittersweet announcement! Our beloved part-time library reference assistant, Ariel Flowers, is leaving Hirsh! She has accepted a stellar contract at Brown University, aiding the Divide America Project as Supervising Archivist.
In her short time at Hirsh, she has worked at the desk, getting to know you all. Behind the […]

Ariel holding up our heart model, just as she did when she first started!
What a bittersweet announcement! Our beloved part-time library reference assistant, Ariel Flowers, is leaving Hirsh! She has accepted a stellar contract at Brown University, aiding the Divide America Project as Supervising Archivist.
In her short time at Hirsh, she has worked at the desk, getting to know you all. Behind the scenes, she has helped manage our course reserve collection and supervise student assistants. She tells us that she has enjoyed working with the Hirsh team. So, we are going to take her word for it!
Her last day is Friday, September 23rd. Stop by the desk and wish her luck in Providence!
** Please enjoy this repost, chock-full of Boston Massacre info! While 2021’s social-distancing rules prevent Revolutionary Spaces from holding the annual reenactment in front of the Old State House, if you are interested in the events of 1770, Crispus Attucks Day, and the wider history of the fight for racial […]
** Please enjoy this repost, chock-full of Boston Massacre info! While 2021’s social-distancing rules prevent Revolutionary Spaces from holding the annual reenactment in front of the Old State House, if you are interested in the events of 1770, Crispus Attucks Day, and the wider history of the fight for racial and social justice in Boston, join Revolutionary Spaces March 5th at 5:00 pm for Grief, Remembrance, Justice: the Boston Massacre Anniversary. This panel discussion will reflect on the legacy of Melnea Cass and will be held via Zoom. **
…Your estates and your freedom, your children and Wives; A story I’ll tell you that’s truth now indeed, And when you hear of it your hearts will bleed.
The above comes from A Verse Occasioned by the late horrid Massacre in King-Street, a broadside published in Boston in 1770 to express outrage over the events of the evening of March 5th, the event we now know as the Boston Massacre. On the evening of March 5, 1770, a row broke out in front of the Custom House on King Street (now State Street) in Boston. Accounts of what provoked the trouble are mixed, but most include a soldier striking a boy, and a mob of Bostonians replying by hurling both snowballs and insults at the soldier. As the crowd grew more hostile, more soldiers were called in, and eventually nine armed British soldiers faced a rowdy group of over 50 colonists. Eventually, the soldiers fired into the mob, and when the casualties were totaled, five men were dead and six more were injured. The events of that March evening were seized upon by Boston radicals, and spun to create even more animosity toward the Crown. One of the most famous pieces of propaganda is Paul Revere’s compelling (if inaccurate) depiction of the event, which circulated wildly in the spring of 1770.

Paul Revere, “The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770.” Boston, 1770. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Of course, this event took place a short walk from the Hirsh Health Sciences Library. Commemorate this event with a Boston Massacre Study Break! Start on the Freedom Trail, and visit the Boston Massacre Marker on the corner of State and Congress Streets, right near the Old State House. Head back toward campus on Tremont Street, and stop in at the Granary Burying Ground. You’ll find the grave marker for the victims of the Massacre next to Samuel Adams. You can also visit with John Hancock and Paul Revere while you’re there. As you follow Tremont toward Boylston Street, take a detour into Boston Common at Avery Street, and enjoy the beautiful Boston Massacre/Crispus Attucks Monument, erected in 1888.
For this Halloween edition of Throwback Thursday, we look at one of the rarest volumes in Hirsh’s Special Collections room. Dating back to 1649, The Works of that Famous Chirurgion Ambrose Parey is a landmark in the history of medicine and surgery. This book is profusely illustrated with […]
For this Halloween edition of Throwback Thursday, we look at one of the rarest volumes in Hirsh’s Special Collections room. Dating back to 1649, The Works of that Famous Chirurgion Ambrose Parey is a landmark in the history of medicine and surgery. This book is profusely illustrated with quaint anatomical woodcuts, portraits, and various examples from natural history. It also includes a chapter entitled Of Monsters and Prodigies, hearsay which for many in the 17th Century, stirred their superstitions and fear of the unknown. Happy Halloween!
Safely stored in the Special Collections Room of the Hirsh Health Sciences Library, is this haunting Civil War surgical kit. Gift of Dr. Murry L. Shipp, M’39, it was made between the years of 1858-1865 right here in Boston by Codman & Shurtleff Surgical Instruments on […]
Safely stored in the Special Collections Room of the Hirsh Health Sciences Library, is this haunting Civil War surgical kit. Gift of Dr. Murry L. Shipp, M’39, it was made between the years of 1858-1865 right here in Boston by Codman & Shurtleff Surgical Instruments on Tremont Street. This kit contains all its original tools and is remarkably preserved. Should you wish to see it in person and hold a piece of history in your hands, just ask a librarian or an assistant for directions. We’ll provide the white gloves off-course.
According to the Internet, today is National Pink Day. What does that mean? We’re not entirely sure, but thought we’d take the opportunity to dig into our files and show you some images of Hirsh Library’s rather pink past.
In further observance of Pink Day, enjoy this […]
According to the Internet, today is National Pink Day. What does that mean? We’re not entirely sure, but thought we’d take the opportunity to dig into our files and show you some images of Hirsh Library’s rather pink past.

Some remaining paint and rug discovered when we moved a bookcase during construction of Sackler 607 in July 2014.
In further observance of Pink Day, enjoy this clip from the classic 1957 film Funny Face:
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