Founded in 1972, the Associates of the Boston Public Library is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting the Boston Public Library’s Special Collections of rare books, manuscripts, prints and drawings, musical scores, and other items of historic, cultural, and literary interest. The Associates’ mission is to ensure continued public access to these irreplaceable treasures by underwriting their conservation, cataloging, digitization, and exhibition.
The Associates’ signature fundraising event, Literary Lights, is a formal dinner honoring outstanding authors from New England. The organization also hosts periodic public programming, including the Hundred-Year Retroactive Book Award competition and the Pierce Performance Series, recently launched a literary auction “Bid it! Book it!,” and annually awards a Writer-in-Residence fellowship to an emerging author. For more information, please see: www.AssociatesBPL.org.