Research Guides: Resources Documenting Dorchester: Resources

Archival and Manuscript Collections

Explore all of our archival and manuscript collections that document Dorchester, Massachusetts. To access collections held outside of UMass Boston, search ArchiveGrid, WorldCat, and the Digital Public Library of America. Search for "Dorchester" and related keywords.

Digital Collections

Dorchester, Mass. Memories Road Show

Dorchester (Codman Academy), Mass. Memories Road Show

Dorchester (Codman Square), Mass. Memories Road Show

Dorchester (Codman Square Great Hall), Mass. Memories Road Show

Dorchester (Fields Corner), Mass. Memories Road Show

Dorchester (Lower Mills), Mass. Memories Road Show

Making a History of Columbia Point: A Participatory Exhibition

"Remembering Home: Memories of Boston Public Housing," Mass. Memories Road Show

UMass Boston 50th Anniversary, Mass. Memories Road Show

University of Massachusetts Boston Historic Photographs

Search and browse all of our digital collections.

Audio and Video

Black Perspectives: Columbia Point

Down the Project: The Crisis of Public Housing

Audio and Video Databases

Search these databases for "Dorchester" and related keywords.

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Academic Video Online comprises the full content of dozens of video collections and bonus discipline clusters, and grows by 7,000 titles each year. Collections include Counseling and Therapy in Video, Education in Video, Latin America in Video, Theatre in Video; and many more.
Alexander Street Press Streaming Video Collection This link opens in a new window
The video cross-search interface lets you search all the Alexander Street video in your library.
Kanopy Streaming Video This link opens in a new window
Online educational videos

Contains Media Education Foundation collection which produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical thinking about the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media.

Most Kanopy videos can be viewed immediately. However, for titles with preview-only access, you will need to submit a request via Kanopy for the Library to obtain a license.

Desktop/Laptop Instructions: Once you arrive at the video, look for the Watch Now button and follow the prompts to log in. Click "Skip" on any screens that ask you to create an account. You do NOT need to create an account.
Phone/Tablet Users: You MUST download free Kanopy app (available from App Store and Google Play) AND create an account. Once the account is created and the you are on the app, you should click on "Log In" to log in with your account.
WGBH Open Vault This link opens in a new window
Open Vault is the home of WGBH Media Library and Archives, providing online access to unique and historically important content produced by the public television and radio station WGBH. The ever-expanding site contains video, audio, images, searchable transcripts, and resource management tools, all of which are available for individual and classroom learning. Visitors can become a "member" (free) of Open Vault: to access records and save findings.

Books

African-Americans in Boston : more than 350 years by Robert C. Hayden
Call Number: E185.93.M3 H19
Publication Date: 1991
Bay cities and water politics : the battle for resources in Boston and Oakland by Sarah S. Elkind
Call Number: HD4464.B67 E45 1998
Publication Date: 1998
Boston against busing: Race, class, and ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s by Ronald P. Formisano
Publication Date: 2004
A brief history of the Dorchester Conversation Club : given before its past and present members at the residence of Thomas J. Allen, on Nov. 14, 1878, its thirtieth anniversary by Ebenezer Clapp
Call Number: F75.D5 C48
Publication Date: 1878
Building a new Boston : politics and urban renewal 1950-1970 by Thomas H. O'Connor
Call Number: HT177.B6 O36 1993
Publication Date: 1993
Built in Boston : city and suburb, 1800-1950 by Douglass Shand-Tucci
Call Number: NA735.B7 S53 1988
Publication Date: 1988
A Catholic stronghold and its making : a history of St. Peter's Parish, Dorchester, Massachusetts and of its first rector, The Rev. Peter Ronan by S.L. Emery
Call Number: BX4603.D673 S26 1910
Publication Date: 1910
The centennial anniversary of the birth of Edward Everett / celebrated by the Dorchester Historical Society, April 11, 1894
Call Number: F69 .E84 1897
Publication Date: 1897
A Decent Place to Live by Jane Roessner
Call Number: HT177.B6 R64 2000
Publication Date: 2000
Dorchester's 350th anniversary calendar & appointment book by Dorchester 350th, Inc.
Call Number: F74.D5 D585 1979
Publication Date: [1979]
Dorchester, past and present : a sermon preached in the Second Church, Dorchester, December 26, 1869 by Rev. James H. Means
Call Number: F74.D5 M5
Publication Date: 1870
The Dorchester book by Christ Church (Dorchester, Boston, Mass.)
Call Number: F74.D5 D62
Publication Date: 1899
Dorchester day : celebration of the two hundred and seventy-seventh anniversary of the settlement of Dorchester, June 8th, 1907, including also a brief description of the origin of Dorchester day and the three preceding celebrations by Dorchester Historical Society and James Henry Stark
Call Number: F74.D5 D662 1907
Publication Date: 1907
Dorchester day; celebration of the two hundred and seventy-ninth anniversary of the settlement of Dorchester, June 5, 1909 by Dorchester Historical Society and James Henry Stark
Call Number: F74.D5 D662 1909
Publication Date: 1909
The Dorchester illustrated almanac for 1878
Call Number: F73.1 .B6 1878
Publication Date: [1878]
A Dorchester religious society of young men by Albert Matthews
Call Number: BV1440.D6 M3 1905
Publication Date: 1905
Dorchester town records
Call Number: F74.D5 D422
Publication Date: 1883
Dorchester town reports, 1853-1866 / printed by order of the town
Call Number: F74.D5 D69
Publication Date: 1853-1866
Eden on the Charles : the making of Boston by Michael Rawson
Call Number: F73.44 .R39 2010
Publication Date: 2010
Good old Dorchester. A Narrative history of the town, 1630-1893 by William Dana Orcutt
Call Number: F74.D5 O6
Publication Date: 1893
History of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts by Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society
Call Number: F74.D5 D6
Publication Date: 1859
Liberty's chosen home : the politics of violence in Boston by Alan Lupo
Call Number: LC214.23.B67 L86
Publication Date: 1977
The making of a horse shoe nail by Putnam Nail Company
Call Number: F74.D5 P8 1896
Publication Date: c1896
Mastering Boston Harbor : courts, dolphins, and imperiled waters by Charles M. Haar
Call Number: KF228.Q56 H32 2005
Publication Date: 2005
A memorial of Edward Everett, from the city of Boston by James M. Bugbee
Call Number: F69 .E82
Publication Date: 1865
Memorial sermon preached in honor of Deacon Laurin A. Bumpus ; preached in the Second Church, Dorchester, Mass., July 13th, 1902, with a brief sketch of his life by Rev. Arthur Little, D.D., Pastor
Call Number: F69 .B87
Publication Date: 1902
A narrative of the troubles with the Indians in New-England, from the first planting thereof in the year 1607, to this present year 1677, but chiefly of the late troubles in the two last years, 1675 and 1676. To which is added a discourse about the warre by William Hubbard
Publication Date: 1677
New England encounters : Indians and Euroamericans ca. 1600-1850 : essays drawn from the New England quarterly by Alden Vaughan
Publication Date: 1999
Parish register of the Grove Hall Universalist Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts, and favorite recipes / compiled by the Quota Club
Call Number: F73.62 .G7
Publication Date: 1913
A People's Guide to Greater Boston by Suren Moodliar, Joseph Nevins, Eleni Macrakis
Publication Date: 2020
A people's history of the new Boston by Jim Vrabel
Call Number: F73.52 .V73 2014
Publication Date: 2014
Available online via JSTOR (Access restricted to authorized UMass Boston patrons)
The perfection of christian life in heaven ; a discourse occasioned by the death of Rev. John Codman, D.D., delivered in the Village Church, Dorchester, January 2, 1848 by David Dyer
Call Number: F69 .C69
Publication Date: 1848
Planning the city upon a hill : Boston since 1630 by Lawrence W. Kennedy
Call Number: HT168.B6 K46 1992
Publication Date: 1992
Population & housing profile, U. S. census STF1, 1990 : Boston and its neighborhoods by Rolf Goetze, Mark R. Johnson, Boston Redevelopment Authority Policy Development & Research Dept. ; State Data Center, Massachusetts Institute for Social and Economic Research
Call Number: HB3527.B7 G67 1991
Publication Date: 1991
Proceedings of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of ... the First Church and Parish of Dorchester, Mass., coincident with the settlement of the town; observed March 28 and June 17, 1880
Call Number: F73.62 .F4
Publication Date: 1880
Records of the First Church at Dorchester, in New England, 1636-1734
Call Number: F73.62 .F5
Publication Date: 1891
Recovery of some materials for the early history of Dorchester, general and particular. Prepared for the New England Historic-Genealogical Register by Samuel G. Drake
Call Number: F74.D5 D8
Publication Date: 1851
Remaking Boston : an environmental history of the city and its surroundings by Anthony N. Penna and Conrad Edick Wright
Publication Date: 2009
Reports in relation to the annexation of Dorchester to Boston : and the act of the Legislature to unite said town and city by Commissioners on the Annexation of Dorchester to Boston
Call Number: F74 .D5 C7
Publication Date: 1869
The second settlement 1875-1925 : a study in the development of Victorian Dorchester by Douglass Shand-Tucci
Call Number: F74.D5 T8
Publication Date: 1974
Sermon and addresses commemorative of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of Rev. James H. Means as pastor of the Second Church, Dorchester : July 13th and 14th, 1873
Call Number: BX7255.B7 D7 1873
Publication Date: 1873
The sexton's monitor and Dorchester cemetery memorial by Daniel Davenport
Call Number: F74.D5 D15
Publication Date: 1826
The story of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Dorchester, Mass.
Call Number: F73.62 .S3
Publication Date: 1909
Subsidized multi-family rental housing in the Boston metropolitan area : analysis and prognosis by Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston Urban Observatory
Call Number: HD7304.B7 S92
Publication Date: 1973
Three-deckers of Dorchester : an architectural historical survey by Arthur J. Krim
Call Number: F74.D5 K7
Publication Date: 1977
Urban archipelago : an environmental history of the Boston Harbor Islands by Pavla Šimková
Call Number: GF504.M4 S56 2021
Publication Date: 2021
Vital records of the town of Dorchester from 1826 to 1849
Call Number: F74.D5 D44
Publication Date: 1905
Working class housing : a study of triple-deckers in Boston by Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston Urban Observatory
Call Number: HD7304.B7 W633
Publication Date: 1975

Search the Healey Library's catalog for books about Dorchester. Also try searching for related keywords like "Ashmont," "Columbia Point," and "Savin Hill."

Maps

Insurance maps of Boston, Massachusetts.
Call number: G1234.B6 S3 1951
v.4. South Boston, Dorchester, Savin Hill, Spectacle Island.
v.8. Dorchester, Roxbury.
v.9. Dorchester.

Map of Dorchester, 1920, Boston Public Library

Plan of Dorchester, 1880, Boston Public Library

Search ArchiveGrid, WorldCat, and the Digital Public Library of America for additional maps of Dorchester. Search for "Dorchester" and related keywords.

Newspapers

Boston Globe (historical + current) 1872-present This link opens in a new window
Text-only articles. No images, except for pre-1993 historical content.
Search the full run of the Boston Globe from one place. Access is from 1872-present. The extensive coverage provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
Mass Media This link opens in a new window
Current UMass Boston student newspaper

Boston Public Library: Massachusetts Newspapers on Microfilm
The Boston Public Library holds local Massachusetts newspapers on microfilm. Contact the BPL's Microtext Department at 617-859-2018 for assistance with accessing these newspapers.
Boston Public Library: Massachusetts Newspapers Online
This page lists Massachusetts current and historical newspapers, news publications, news websites, and local interest magazines and indexes thereto that are freely available online.

Search and browse all of the Healey Library's newspaper databases.

Reports and Other Publications

Boston City Council reports and publications, 1804-1990 with gaps

The Boston Plan: proposal for a new neighborhood, 1977

Columbia Point, a New Vision - Boston Society Of Architects

Columbia Point, a Visual and Social Study - Terri Gordon Simmers

Columbia Point: Composite Development Plan - Columbia Point Peninsula Planning Committee, 1977

Columbia Point Developer Selection Kit - Boston Housing Authority, 1981

Columbia Point Development Study, Harvard-Columbia Point Planning Workshop - Harvard University. Graduate School Of Design, 1974

Columbia Point Peninsula, Request for Developer Proposals - Boston Redevelopment Authority, 1982

Columbia Point Peninsula: A Proposal for the Revitalization of Columbia Point Peninsula - Columbia Associates, 1982

Columbia Point Peninsula Proposal - Corcoran Mullins, Jennison, Inc, 1983

Columbia Point Peninsula Revitalization Program: Impact Assessment of Proposed Street Improvements - Boston Redevelopment Authority, 1985

Columbia Point Proposal - Housing Innovations Inc, 1983

Columbia Point Redevelopment Plan - Boston Redevelopment Authority, 1980

Harbor Point (redevelopment of the Columbia Point Housing Project): Final Environmental Impact Report - Boston Redevelopment Authority

The Impact on Housing of the Opening of the Columbia Point Campus of the University of Massachusetts - Dorchester-Columbia Point Task Force, 1973

The Islands of Boston Harbor, 1630-1971 - Edward Rowe Snow, 1971

MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Boston - Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1981

Urban Development Action Grant Application, Columbia Point Peninsula Revitalization Program - Boston Redevelopment Authority, 1982

Urban Partnership Application for Columbia Point Peninsula - Boston Redevelopment Authority, 1978

Many of these publications are held at the Boston Public Library, and the digitized items are available through the Internet Archive. To locate additional digitized publications about Dorchester, search the Internet Archive for keywords such as "Dorchester," "Columbia Point," and "Savin Hill."

Theses, Dissertations, and Other Scholarly Works

The Dorchester-Columbia Point Task Force report on the impact of UMass in Dorchester / prepared with the technical assistance of Justin Gray Associates
Call Number: HN80.B7 D67 1973
Publication Date: [1973]
Dorchester House Multi-Service Center: One Hundred Years of Community Service, 1887-1987 by Linda Genovese and Elizabeth Mock
Publication Date: 1987
Dorchester North Burying Ground by Rosalind Pollan, report preparation and Ellen Lipsey, project manager
Call Number: F73.61 .D5
Publication Date: 1986
Higher Education in the 1960's: The Origins of the University of Massachusetts Boston by Diane D'Arrigo
Publication Date: 2004
History of Columbia Point by Nancy S. Seasholes
Publication Date: 2014
Old Harbor Housing Project : a study of development of public housing policy, 1930-1938 by Milton Lewis Kerstein
Call Number: D1.25 1981 .K47
Publication Date: 1981
Towards a Healthy Neighborhood: Recommendations for Health Assessments of Future Development in Upham’s Corner by Luc Figueiredo Miller
Publication Date: 2015
Urban Consumption in Late 19th-Century Dorchester by Jennifer Poulsen
Publication Date: 2011

Search the Healey Library's catalog, ScholarWorks, or WorldCat for dissertations, theses, and other scholarly works about Dorchester.