Program areas at Associates of The Boston Public Library
The organization is dedicating to preserving, protecting and promoting the Boston Public Librarys Special Collections of rare books, manuscripts, prints and drawings, musical scores, and items of historic, literary, and cultural importance. The Organization is committed to ensuring continued public access to these irreplaceable treasures by underwriting their conservation, cataloging, digitization, curation, and exhibition.
The Organization hosts literary and curatorial programming designed to heighten awareness of the Boston Public Library and its Special Collections. This programming includes the Hundred Year Retroactive Book Award, which weighs the enduring literary merits of best sellers published a hundred years ago, and the Pierce Performance Series which seeks to raise the visibility of treasures in the BPLs Special Collections through free public performances.
The Organization sponsors the Associates of the Boston Public Library Writer-in-Residence program to provide emerging authors with the financial support and office space needed to complete one literary work for childern or young adults. This program draws attention to the importance of writers and writing in our culture, as well as the many educational oportunities offered by the Boston Public Library.