Today we’re talking about another surprising Brattle find: a fairly nondescript album that turned out to contain photos of prominent 1800s abolitionists. The collection includes small, sepia-toned portraits of Charles Sumner, Phillips Brooks, and even Sojourner Truth. We’ll also discuss other historical photos that have arrived at the shop, and the way that studio photography democratized image-making during the Civil War era, offering life-like portraits for a fraction of the cost of a commissioned painting. It all comes into focus on a flashy new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #78 - The Brattle and the City
A radio interview with Lizabeth Cohen, author of the new book, Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age, reminds Ken of the Brattle’s own struggle with urban renewal. Logue was head of the Boston Redevelopment Agency when, in the 1960’s, the city demolished most of Scollay Square, a vibrant but increasingly seedy entertainment district - and original home of the Brattle Book Shop. Most of the area was replaced with the I.M. Pei designed Government Center, a monumental plaza of modernist buildings which many consider cold and alienating. Although Ken’s father, George Gloss, together with the Boston Athenaeum, raised enough of an outcry to save a few historic buildings from the wrecking ball, the Brattle itself was displaced. It would be the first of seven moves for the plucky book shop, one of which was occasioned by a catastrophic fire, but the Brattle endured, with a great deal of personality and help from the community; eventually landing in the West Street location where it thrives today.