The
best Boston museums you’ve never visited by Josh B. Wardrop
Here in Boston, we love our world-renowned museums— the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, the JFK Library and Museum—and, as evidenced by the lines to get in on a weekend, so does everyone else. But Boston and the surrounding environs have a lot more institutions of learning that would also love the chance to expand your mind, or cater to your particular interest—even those as unexpected as beer, cars or preserved human body parts. Read on, and you’ll get Panorama’s recommendations for some of the hidden jewels of Boston’s museum community.
Mary Baker Eddy
Library
200 Mass Ave., 888-222-3711 Mary Baker Eddy
(1821–1910) was, unsurprisingly, all about
ideas. After all, for a woman of her era to
have founded both a religion (Christian
Science) and a newspaper (The Christian
Science Monitor), she had to have had
extraordinary belief in the power of ideas
and free discourse to change the world. And
that’s the mission put forth today by the
library opened in her honor four years ago,
which casts an eye on the power of ideas
through exhibits like the newly opened
Sensational Press, Radical Response. One
highlight of the library is the Fountain of
Quotes in the main hall—an eye-catching and
unique water fountain which features words
projected in light that cascade down the
fountain with the water, assembling to form
quotations by famed thinkers from the past
3000 years. The most popular attraction,
though, is the Mapparium—a three-story high
globe, made out of stained glass, that
depicts the planet as it was in 1935 (when
it was built in what was then the Christian
Science Publishing Society by architect
Chester Lindsay Churchill), and places
visitors on a catwalk at the very center of
it, allowing a better view of the totality
of the planet on which they live.
Boston Beer Museum
30 Germania St., Jamaica
Plain, 617-522-9080 In 1985, Jim Koch
revolutionized the American beer industry
with his introduction of Samuel Adams Boston
Lager, a craft brewed creation that sparked
the microbrewing revolution of the 1990s.
The Boston Beer Museum isn’t so much a
museum, technically, as it is a tour of the
original brewery in Jamaica Plain—a Boston
borough that was a brewing nexus in the
early 20th century. The facility is now
mostly used for research and development,
but every variety of Sam Adams is still
brewed there once a year. The tour begins
with a video about the history of Boston
Beer Company and the plant (formerly the
Haffenreffer Brewey), then moves onto the
main floor to detail the intricate brewing
process. The best part of the journey,
though, has to be the conclusion—when
visitors head for the tavern-style tap rooms
to sample a host of Sam Adams beers.
—Christopher Wallenberg
Larz Anderson Auto
Museum
15 Newton St., Brookline, 617-522-6547 If
the idea of truly vintage automobiles is
what gets your motor revving, there’s no
greater nirvana than the restored carriage
house at the center of picturesque Larz
Anderson Park. Contained within is the
assembled collection of motorcars belonging
to Larz Anderson and his wife, Isabel (whose
inheritance of $17 million at the age of 5
had made her the richest woman in America).
The cars they adored included rarities like
an 1899 Winton, the first model to cross the
North American continent—given its
4-horsepower engine, it was probably a
pretty long trip, but that’s beside the
point. Also on view in the Western
Hemisphere’s oldest continually displayed
car collection is 1906 CGV. A precursor to
the modern RV, its seats fold down into beds
and it boasts a working toilet right behind
the passenger seat. In the spring and
summer, the museum hosts special lawn events
devoted to different makes and models, which
draws enthusiasts and their cars from around
the world. But anytime of year, this
charming museum is heaven for those who love
the open road and the first amazing vehicles
that allowed us to traverse it.
Warren
Anatomical Museum
Countway Library of Medicine, 10 Shattuck
St., 617-432-6196 Skulls, preserved body
parts, unwieldy metal contraptions with an
ominous look about them—it might sound like
Marilyn Manson’s living room, but the Warren
Anatomical Museum located on the Harvard
Medical School’s Longwood campus is, in
fact, a very serious institution of learning
for students of the human body. Established
in 1847 from the private collection of Dr.
John Collins Warren, the Warren Museum
contains anatomical and pathological
specimens that were used by Dr. Warren in
his teaching of medical students. Warren
also collected medical apparatus, and those
pieces now represent one of the largest
exhibited collections of early medical
instruments, providing visitors with a
fascinating look into the early, pioneering
days of surgery and medical treatment.
Interesting items abound: everything from
the skull of Phineas Gage (the railroad
worker whose severe head injury gave
physicians their first significant
understanding of the role the frontal lobe
of the brain plays in human behavior) to
anatomical photos, prints and drawings, to
models and actual preserved specimens
dealing with the human form. Perhaps not a
museum for the overly squeamish, but a
treasure trove for anyone fascinated by how
the human body works and how doctors have
treated it through the ages.
Rose Art Museum
Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham,
781-736-3434 Sometimes we forget that simply
because we don’t have a student ID or a
knapsack, and because we might have a few
grey hairs that we can’t conceal, that
doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of the
often exceptional art collections to be
found in university art museums. In fact,
one of the area's finest collections of
modern and contemporary art sits just 15
minutes outside the city, at The Rose Art
Museum at Brandeis University in Waltham.
Home to a constantly changing array of
exhibitions by current, cutting-edge artists
like Clare Rojas, Erwin Wurm and Sarah
Walker, the Rose also boasts pieces by the
giants of the genre, such as Jasper Johns,
Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and countless
others. Since you don't have to be a kid to
be into modern art, this is one Rose any art
lover should stop to smell during their
visit to Boston.
Concord Museum
200 Lexington St., Concord, 978-369-9763
Boston is a city justifiably proud of its
place in history, but it would be a mistake
to assume that all of the notable events in
our region’s history happened within city
limits. Concord (located just 30-35 minutes
west of the city) is a town that served as a
nexus for not only earthshaking historical
events (such as the major battles of the
Revolutionary War) but also—as home to such
names as Thoreau, Alcott, Emerson and
Hawthorne— for the primary minds behind
America’s first literary revolution. All of
these elements, and others, are celebrated
at the Concord Museum—an institution
specializing in displaying the decorative
arts and historical artifacts of 18th and
19th century Concord, including
Revolutionary War weaponry and uniforms and
original writings and personal effects of
the great writers who made their home in
this bucolic and quiet woodland town.
Howard Gotlieb
Archival Research Center
771 Commonwealth Ave. at Boston University,
617-353-1309 Lots of museums place the works
of great artists, writers, thinkers and
world leaders on display for us to admire
and appreciate, and to see up close through
our own eyes. But not every museum allows us
to see those luminaries through their own
eyes. The Gotlieb Center is a true hidden
jewel—nestled away at Boston University’s
Mugar Library—that exhibits the personal
papers and effects of notable names ranging
from actors (Tyne Daly) to civil rights
leaders (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), from
newsmen (Dan Rather) to authors (Walt
Whitman). For some, these pieces of
ephemera—these private correspondences,
these casual and unguarded moments captured
in print or on film—are simply addenda to
the works created by legendary figures. For
others, these pieces are the story—how
exhilarating is it, for example, for someone
who’s seen Jaws a hundred times to see the
original draft of the first page of Peter
Benchley’s novel, complete with pencil
notations and words crossed out? Whereas
most museums are about the grandeur and
scope of some artistic masterpiece or
dinosaur skeleton, the Gotlieb Center is a
small museum celebrating intimate
treasures—a place where no two visitors are
likely to be thrilled by the same items
equally.
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