A new exhibit at the Boston Public Library on Saturday will examine how the city’s diversity has evolved throughout the years using maps and other resources. Aptly called City of Neighborhoods: The Changing Face of Boston, the exhibition aims to explore the driving forces behind Boston becoming younger, as well as more ethnically and racially diverse.
The event will take place at the BPL’s Norman B. Leventhal Map Center which has accrued various charts and maps, extending from early colonial America through today.
All of the 45 photos, objects and maps are comprised of census data that shows where newer immigrant groups have settled, how the streets and features of a neighborhood reflect who live and work there, and how it compares to Boston eras of past.
“City of Neighborhoods celebrates the diversity of the City and the traditions that are reflective of both Boston’s great history and those that are unique to each neighborhood,” said Evan Thornberry, co-curator, in a statement. “The exhibition explores not only the people, but the institutions in each community that grow and support the cultural identities of people from around the world who now call Boston their home.”
Consider that, today, the BPL posited in a statement, more than 18,000 Bostonians were born in China and as much 9 percent of Boston’s total population is of Asian descent. Areas like Central Square in East Boston have historically played home to this specific demographic and is reflected in the likes of businesses and restaurants, as well as where exactly they’re located.
East Boston’s population, in fact, is made up of almost 50 percent of people born abroad, which, the BPL notes, is the highest percentage of all Boston’s neighborhoods.
The exhibition will run tomorrow, Saturday, March 22, with an open house, tours and activities for families from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Boston-based band Cruzamante will perform Cape Verdean-inspired music and then lead a show and tell of their instruments and musical style. Guided tours of the exhibition take place at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in the Map Center.
