Province Court and Province Street, Boston, Massachusetts, July 1901

Boston, Massachusetts: Province Court and Province Street, July 1901.

Girl High School Gymnastics/ Ninja Training in Charlestown High School, Boston, 1893

As early as the 1820s, schools began to introduce gymnastics and hygiene training into the curriculum, but physical education did not become a formal requirement until after the Civil War. These vintage photographs of high school girls exercising do not look much different from gym equipment today, although fitness fashion has changed dramatically.

See more»

Kathrine Switzer, the First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon, 1967

April 19th, 1967 Kathrine Switzer made marathon history. She was the first woman to enter and complete the Boston Marathon as a numbered runner.

The first woman to actually run the Boston Marathon was Roberta Gibb in 1966. She had written the director of the to express her interest in running, but was told that women were physiologically incapable of finishing the marathon. Undaunted, Gibb traveled to Boston and jumped in amongst the runners when the race had started.

After realizing that a woman was running, race organizer Jock Semple went after Switzer shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers.” However, Switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon.

For decades, Kathrine Switzer has received letters and photos from women around the world, all of them praising the number 261. Some women even show her their “261” tattoos.

“What they were really telling me was, ‘That number makes me feel fearless,’” Switzer says. “Because ‘I, too, relate to a story about me being told that I’m not welcome or I’m not good enough or I can’t do it.’”

Daily Life in Boston in the 1980s

Dover Station

Harvard Lampoon building, 1985

Coke Shack

Harvard Square chess master, 1985

Tracy Chapman, Harvard Square, 1985

See more»

Vintage Photos of Christmas in Boston

With the holidays right around the corner, it's the perfect time to see what an old-fashioned American holiday season looked like. The Boston Public Library has a collection of photos by Leslie Jones, a photographer who documented daily life in the city for The Boston Herald-Traveler for 39 years.

"In those 39 years, Jones left a comprehensive visual portrait of Boston’s people, events and built environment," curators at the Boston Public Library's print department wrote in an email to Business Insider. "He had an eye for whimsy as well as an ability to capture the pathos of the human condition."

Allen & Co. Fruit and Produce selling Christmas Trees, 1930.

Boston City Hall decked for the holidays, 1954.

Filene's department store in the Downtown Crossing shopping district in Boston, 1954.

Gilchrist's flagship store in downtown Boston, 1950.

Houghton & Dutton department store on Washington Street in downtown Boston, 1915.

See more»

Amazing Vintage Photographs Capture Airplanes Landing at the Logan International Airport, Boston in the 1970s

For the Documerica Project (1971-1977), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s.

Michael Philip Manheim was one of nearly one hundred photographers hired for DOCUMERICA. His assignment was to document the noise pollution crises in the East Boston neighborhood around Neptune Road.

Manheim captured powerful images of the deteriorating community, illustrating its uncomfortable proximity to one of the nation's busiest airports and the plight of residents living under the landing path of jets on the approach to Logan's busy runways.

Near Logan Airport - Airplane Coming in for Landing Over Frankfort Street at Lovell Street Intersection 05/1973

Jet Zooms Over Southwestern Side of Neptune Road 05/1973

Near Logan Airport - Airplane Coming in for a Landing Over Neptune Road Backyards 05/1973

Lovell Street Homes in Jet Aircraft Landing Pattern 05/1973

Mary Bruno Holds Her Ears Against Noise of Jet Coming in for a Landing on Runway 15r at Logan Airport. 39 Neptune Road, the Brunos' Home, Is the White-Fronted Building in the Background 05/1973

See more»