A Place for Community: Community Uses of Symphony Hall

A Place for Community:
Community Uses of Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall and the Boston Community
Throughout its history, Symphony Hall has opened its doors to a wide range of community organizations and institutions – serving as the site for numerous school concerts, university graduations, church services, inaugurations, holiday celebrations, public lectures, and charity balls. The materials presented, drawn mainly from the Archives’ collection of programs of non-BSO events in Symphony Hall, provide a sampling of community events that took place in Symphony Hall between 1900 and 1950.
Featured Photographs and Documents
Click the images and links below to view the full documents.
Program of the inauguration of MIT President Henry Smith Pritchett, October 24, 1900 (PDF) View the program and ticket for MIT’s June 5, 1928 graduation ceremony which also took place in Symphony Hall. |
Dance card for the charity ball of the Purim Association of Boston, January 15, 1901 |
Souvenir Program from a St. Patrick's Eve Festival, March 16, 1902 (PDF) |
Students of Somerville High School performed Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Symphony Hall, April 26, 1910 (PDF) |
Dance Card for the Beth Israel Hospital Charity Ball, November 23, 1921 |
Program of a Rendezvous of the Massachusetts Consistory of the Scottish Rite, February 27, 1923 (PDF) |
Boston Public Schools Symphony Orchestra, 1923-1924 |
Schedule of The Community Church of Boston activities in Symphony Hall, October 1926 (PDF) |
Program celebrating the Seventeenth National Birthday of the Camp Fire Girls, May 4, 1929 (PDF) |
Program of the Radcliffe College Semi-Centennial celebrations, May 1929 (PDF) |
Ticket for the Boston Public School Nurses’ Whist and Bridge night, November 14, 1929 |
Program of the Washington-Lincoln Memorial Exercises, February 16, 1930 (PDF) |
Program for Northeastern University’s graduation ceremony in Symphony Hall, April 11, 1943 (PDF) |
Northeastern University graduates in Symphony Hall, June 3, 1944 Photograph by Fay Foto Service, Inc., courtesy NU Photograph Collection – Events – Commencement [item #A000181], University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Northeastern University, Boston, MA |
An enthusiastic crowd examines exhibits in Symphony Hall during the 1945 Boston Herald Book Fair, Boston Herald |
Boston Herald Advertisement for the September 1946 Book Fair held at Symphony Hall (PDF) |
The Inauguration of Boston Mayor John B. Hynes |