Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 07/09/2026This photo of our dog in Vermont surrounded by Queen Anne’s Lace looks like a glitchy AI rendering of a poodle 051
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 27/08/2026New incredibly bleak thing just appeared on my way to work 150
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 22/08/2026A day of nice Cape Cod skies, Brewster and Wellfleet 270
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Wrangling data for a cataloging project in our early American almanacs (never do this, by the way) and came across a tricky item. Went up to the stacks to check it out and behold, an early 18th-century Boston almanac in its original uncut sheet! 2173
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Deep into processing these two little Italian books of hours newly acquired for BPL’s early manuscript collections. 1/11 5318
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 30/07/2026It's fun to work in a huge, incredible, sprawling collection because every once in a while I'll be like, "What is in that envelope that has clearly not been opened in decades" and the answer will be something like a first-day printing of the United States Constitution from Sept. 1787 07716
Reposted by Jay MoschellaLeon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 22/07/2026If you think that receipts from C19 Boston blacksmiths, plasterers, painters, and glazers were dull, think again! Here they are putting prisoners in chains, building whipping posts, and repairing holes the inmates cut in walls attempting to escape. These bills are the only record of those episodes 🗃️ 510222
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 22/07/2026One-night-only giant cactus flower blooming tonight out in the rain 061
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Fun new acquisition here at the Boston Public Library. This is a 1476 edition of Eusebius of Caesarea's church history, printed in Rome. We bought this book for basically one reason only -- a fantastic printing error that left an impression on one page from a single piece of "fallen type." 712030
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 04/07/2026Have managed to cultivate this shaded space under the canopy of a mimosa tree that we planted as a little bare-root stick six or seven years ago. Years of waiting now paying off. Home alone and dinner below it this evening was pretty ideal 060
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 03/07/2026This turned out to be a lot of fun, with a huge turnout despite the absolutely searing heat. Definitely the highlight was a visit by a group of the founders and original authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves: ourbodiesourselves.org/the-latest/c...ourbodiesourselves.orgCelebrating Independence Day with Our Bodies Ourselves | Our Bodies OurselvesThe Boston Public Library selected the first edition of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" to display alongside other historic documents from their Special Collections at an Independence Day Open House on July 2... 0122
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Things you can see in our open house display today only at the Boston Public Library (which is also heavily air conditioned): 1. 1 of 8 surviving "ratification" copies of the constitution 2. The 1st printing of the Virginia Declaration of Rights 3. First public printing of the Bill of Rights 22312
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Just acquired: two tiny pamphlet printings of the preliminary and final Emancipation Proclamation, published in Boston in December 1862 and January 1863. Made to be distributed freely and to be carried south by Union soldiers and given, in particular, to formerly enslaved men who might enlist. 162512554
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 08/06/2026Delighted by this new acquisition. A copy of a haggadah published in Amsterdam in 1695. Known simply as the Amsterdam haggadah, it's the first haggadah to incorporate copperplate engravings and contains one of the earliest maps of the Holy Land printed in Hebrew 1/7 13910
Reposted by Jay MoschellaBoston Public Library @bpl.boston.gov · 11/04/2026BPL's newest exhibition "Declarations: Printing a New Nation" opens today, April 11! For the first time ever, the BPL's 8 rare printings of the Declaration will be displayed together, inviting visitors to step into a moment when American independence, and the nation itself, was still taking shape. 1246
Reposted by Jay MoschellaDr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 02/04/2026OK for fun: top funniest tweet ever? I am torn between "moon's haunted" and "Denise I was at your wedding." 15976905806
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 08/02/2026I feel like something I really excel at at this point in my life is spotting difficult to discern birds of prey perched in the trees while I drive down the highway 010
Reposted by Jay MoschellaGravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 24/01/2026I'm glad to hear Bouie say "This regime is illegitimate" because it's a word that's been bouncing around in my head. I think it's a helpful framing and one that Democratic leaders internalize. Once you accept that this is an illegitimate, authoritarian regime, it should inform how you resist. 120640
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 24/01/2026Generally can't stand Moulton but this is the only issue that matters at this moment, so I fully support. youtube.com/shorts/hyqtA...youtube.comICE is full of COWARDS. They are all absolute, pathetic, untrained COWARDS. DEFUND AND PROSECUTE.YouTube video by Seth Moulton 060
Reposted by Jay MoschellaDavid Roberts @volts.wtf · 18/01/2026For some reason, very few people these days will stand up and say it, but: the US federal bureaucracy is one of the great wonders of the world, staffed with incredibly diligent people who do their jobs well and care deeply. Trump's destruction of the federal apparaus was a historic crime.theatlantic.comThe PurgedDonald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation. 9938511122
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 16/01/2026Johannes Balbus' Catholicon -- an immense Latin grammar and dictionary. Printed in Mainz in 1460 by Gutenberg. BPL's copy is one of relatively few printed on vellum (animal skin). Taking some pics with my iphone(!), you can see collagen fibers, hand-applied pigments, and ink squash from the press. 24712
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 05/01/2026Another day on the job, another normal day of library science 070
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 30/12/2025Last BPL new acquisition of the year is a copy of the very rare gradual printed by Johann Emerich for Lucantonio Giunta in Venice in 1499. This is the largest book (by dimensions) printed during the 15th century and it required a custom-manufactured paper stock to print. 1/8 4367
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 08/12/2025Much solidarity here with BL workers, who are very visibly and very grievously underpaid 160
Reposted by Jay MoschellaOffice of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 @mayorwu.boston.gov · 22/11/2025An honor and dream come true to perform alongside Yo-Yo Ma, presented by Celebrity Series at Boston Symphony Hall. 💜 🎼Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) 792807525
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 20/11/2025With the Boston International Antiquarian book fair fully in the rear view, here are two early books BPL acquired over the course of that week. We of course added a bunch of other amazing stuff to the collections as well, which I'll detail a bit later . . . 1/7 1102
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 18/11/2025Breaking up a long Sunday this past weekend to look at minerals, fossils, taxidermy . . . 040
Reposted by Jay MoschellaPublic and Commercial Services Union @pcsunion.bsky.social · 27/10/2025Big shout out to the 100+ British Library members out on the picket line today, on strike over pay. Thanks to @rmtunion.bsky.social general secretary Eddie Dempsey who came along to speak to the strikers in #solidarity. #BritishLibraryOnStrike #PCSonStrike 0287
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 28/09/2025Wild find from among my late grandfather's stuff: what appears to be a ticket to opening night of the run of April 1964 Lenny Bruce shows in Greenwich Village that ultimately led to his arrest, trial, and conviction on obscenity charges. 0150
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 18/09/2025Some newly acquired early print at the Boston Public Library: first, an unrecorded edition of Tifi Odasi’s Macaronea printed in Rome ca. 1493-1499. A bawdy verse satire on university humanists in Padua, it's written in a playful mix of Latin and Italian. Purchased from Patrick Olson Rare Books. 1/3 1182
Reposted by Jay MoschellaMichelle Wu 吳弭 @wutrain.bsky.social · 21/08/2025You can check out the Boston Public Library’s unbelievable Special Collections in person at the newly renovated reading room: www.bpl.org/special-coll... We’re also working to digitize even more of these treasures & make them searchable & accessible from anywhere in the world. @bpl.boston.govnpr.orgBoston Public Library aims to increase access to a vast historic archive using AIThe library is launching a project in collaboration with Harvard Law School and OpenAI this summer to digitize the materials and make them more fully searchable. 1471077
Reposted by Jay MoschellaMichelle Wu 吳弭 @wutrain.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Actually I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States with my hand on @bpl.boston.gov’s 1782 edition Aitken Bible—also known as the Bible of the Revolution. 352120112485
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 07/08/2025Working with the BPL Catholicon today. It’s such an ocean of information—textual and material. 271
Jay Moschella @jaymoschella.bsky.social · 04/08/2025This morning’s sunrise blanketed with the now more or less permanent wildfire smoke, or a backdrop from Bladerunner 2049? 030
