Research Guides

Boston and Its Neighborhoods

"Banned in Boston": selected sources

"Banned in Boston," Robert T. Bushnell, The North American Review 229 (May 1930): 518-25. (Watch and Ward Society) Mugar Library AP2 .E15

"Banned in Boston: Commercial culture and the politics of moral reform in Boston during the 1920s," P.D. Kemeny, pp. 133-52 in Giggie, John M., Faith in the market: religion and the rise of urban commercial culture, 2002. Mugar Library BL2525 .F34 2002

"Boston discusses its censorship problem," Publisher's Weekly 111 (May 28 1927): 2118-2120. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston shocks Moscow," G.A. Miloradovitch, Bookman 72 (November 1930): 266-9. Mugar Library AP2 E95

"Boston stays pure," K. Schriftglesser, The New Republic 58 (May 8, 1929): 327-9. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP2 .F142

"Censorship in Boston," Commonweal 12 (October 29, 1930): 656. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP 2 F24

Censorship in Boston. Constantine Aristides. Boston, MA: Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts [1938]. Pamphlet. Pappas Law Rare P96.C46 A75 1938.

Censorship in Boston. Zechariah Chafee, Jr. Boston, MA: Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 1929. 22 pp. with an appendix of a "list of books...suppressed during the current [1927-1929] Boston frenzy of censorship": Sherwood Anderson, Dark Laughter; St. John Ervine, The Wayward Man; Arthur Train, High Winds; Conrad Aiken, Blue Voyage; St. John Ervine, The Irishman; Bertrand Russell, What I Believe; Jim Tully, Circus Parade; E. Pettit, Move Over; Upton Sinclair, Ou; Olive Schreiner, From Man to Man; William Faulkner, Mosquitoes; Edith Mannin, Pilgrims; Robert Corse, Horizon; Andre Savignon, The Sorrows of Elsie; Carl Van Vechten, Nigger Heaven; Leon Feutchtwanger, Power; Count Keyserling, Twilight; Julia Peterkin, Black April; Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy; H. G. Wells, The World of William Clissold;  John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer; Gerard, The Fruit of Eden; Ben Hecht, Count Bruga; Brock, Kink; John Gunther, Red Pavillion; Claude Anet, Ariane; Bourdet, The Captive; Beverly Nichols, Crazy Pavements; Michael Arlen, Young Men in Love; Babette Deutsch, On Such a Night; Doris Leslie, The Starling; William Gerhardt, Pretty Creatures; Dekobra, The Madonna of the Sleeping Car; Thorne Smith, Dream's End; Eden Phillpotts, Tomok the Sculptor; Percy Marks, The Plastic Age; F. Newman, The Hard Boiled Virgin; D. Patrick, The Rebel Bird; J. Devening, The Butcher Shop; E. Greenberg, The Ancient Hunger; Herbert Footner, Antennae; E. Roscoe, The Marriage Bed; P. Smith, The Beadle; H.T. , As It Was;  Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry; Warwick Deeping, Doomsday; Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises; Kessel & Iswolsky, Blended Kings; Ward, Spread Circles; I. Glenn, Little Pitchers; Service, Master of the Microbe; C.F. Hummel, Evelyn Grainger; Thompson, Cleopatra's Diary; May Sinclair, The Allinghams.

"Censorship in New York and Boston," Library Journal 54 (May 1, 1929): 411. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z671 .E77 Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z671 .E77

"Censorship rears its head in Boston," Publishers' Weekly 139 (April 12, 1941): 1549. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Class, culture, and campaigns against vice in three American cities, 1872-1892,"  Nicola Beisel. American Sociological Review 55:1 (February 1990): 44-62.  BU

"Margaret Fuller as Cultural Reformer: The Conversations in Boston," Charles Capper.  American Quarterly 39 (4) (1987): 509-28. BU

"Publishers speak out against censorship: cooperative advertisement in Boston Herald and Boston Traveler," Publishers' Weekly 148 (October 20, 1945): 1830-1. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"'Put to patriotic use': Negotiating free speech at Boston's Old South Meeting House, 1925-1933," Jonathan B. Voegels. New England Quarterly 72:1 (March 1999): 3-27.  BU

Upper class formation and the politics of censorship in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 1872-1892, Nicola Kay Beisel. Dissertation: University of Michigan, 1990. Abstract BU

Booksellers and Bookselling

"Boston bans sale of  'Elmer Gantry': will prosecute any who sell Lewis novel under law against 'indecent and obscene' books," New York Times (April 13, 1927): 16. BU (view with Internet Explorer)

"Boston bookseller arraigned for selling Caldwell novel, Tragic ground," Publishers' Weekly 146 (December 23, 1944): 2366. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston bookseller cleared of obsenity charge in Tragic ground case," Publishers' Weekly 147 (January 6, 1945): 40. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston booksellers' role in Forever Amber decision, Publishers' Weekly 151 (April 5, 1947): 1905. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston's bogy-man, " Helena Huntington Smith, The Outlook 149 (June 6, 1928): 214-16.

"Confer in Boston on banned books; Arthur G. Hys for Boni & Liveright consults attorneys and booksellers," New York Times (March 13, 1927): 2. BU (View with Internet Explorer)

"Embattled booksellers: a review of the hearing on book censorship before the Committee on legal affairs in Massachusetts; The case for the Boston booksellers, against the present method of enforcing the law against illegal books (House n0. 577),  Harold Williams, Jr. Publisher's Weekly 113 (February 4, 1928): 443-7.  Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Rome Hanks removed from sale by Boston booksellers," Publishers' Weekly 146 (August 12, 1944): 499 (Joseph Stanley Pennell, 1908-1963) Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Strange Fruit banned by Boston booksellers," Publishers' Weekly 145 (March 25, 1944): 1289. (Lillian Eugenia Smith, 1897-1966) Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

Books in General

"Banned in Boston," Paul S. Boyer, in Paul S. Boyer, Purity in Print: The Vice-Society Movement and Book Censorship in America.  New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1968.  Mugar Library KF 477.F68

"Banned in Boston," Paul S. Boyer, in Paul S. Boyer, Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age.  Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.  Pappas Law Annex KF 4775. B69 2002

"Boston bans Forever amber," Publishers' Weekly 146 (November 4, 1944): 1838. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston's book censorship," Literary Digest 93 (April 2, 1927): 31-2.

"Boston Book Censorship in the Twenties," Paul S. Boyer. American Quarterly 1963 15(1): 3-24. BU
(Reproduced with additional primary and secondary source references as "Banned in Boston" in Purity in Print: The Vice-Society Movement and Book Censorship in America. Paul S. Boyer. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968 Mugar KF 4775 .F68 and in Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age. Paul S. Boyer. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002  Pappas Law Annex KF4775 .B69 2002).

"Boston is afraid of books," William T. Matchett, Saturday Review of Literature 27 (July 15, 1944): 6-7+. (Watch and Ward Society)  Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP2 .S273

"Experts testify in Boston for Cain, Caldwell books," Publishers' Weekly 155 (March 26, 1949): 1438. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Forever amber: defendant at trial in Suffolk county superior court, Boston," J. Mitchell Morse, The New Republic 116 (Janyary 6, 1947): 39-40. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP2 .F142

Pernicious Books: address by Bliss Perry, delivered at the annual public meeting of the New England Watch and Ward Society at the Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston, Mass., April 22, 1923.  Boston, MA: The Society, 1923.  Mugar Library Z658.U5 P47 1923.

Boston Public Library

"Boston Post continues to heckle Boston library," Publishers' Weekly 162 (November 1, 1952): 1880. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston Public Library rejects demand to suppress books," Publishers' Weekly 162 (October 11, 1952): 1634-5. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Boston's battle of the books," E. Weston, The Nation 175 (November 1, 1952): inside cover.

"Boston's right to read," Publishers' Weekly 162 (October 25, 1952): 1792. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z 1219 E72

"Censors and the library: symposium,"  Lois Purdin, et al.  Saturday Review 38 (July 2, 1955): 10. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP2 .S273

"Library censorship," New York Times (August 14, 1881): 6. BU (View with Internet Explorer)

"Library censorship," New York Times (March 2, 1901): BR8. BU (View with Internet Explorer)

"Report from Boston," Laurence J. Kipp, Library Journal 77 (November 1, 1952): 1843-6+. (Boston Post) Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z671 .E77

"Strong in the faith: Boston Public Library case," Library Journal 77 (November 15, 1952): 1942. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm Z671 .E77

Literature

Banned in Boston: The development of literary censorship in Massachusetts, Ralph Edward McCoy. Dissertation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1956.   Citation BU

"Boston has not fought for freedom of expression in literature," B. DeVoto, Harper's Magazine 188 (May 1944), 525-8. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP2 .E50

"Censorship and a Farewell to Arms," Scott Donaldson, Studies in American Fiction 19:1 (Spring 1991): 85-93. Mugar Library PS370 .S87

Contemporary Literary Censorship: the Case History of Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Michael Barry Goodman. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1981.  Obsenity trial in Boston. Mugar Library KF224.B873 G66

"Eugene O'Neill's 'Woman Play' in Boston," John H. Houchin, Eugene O'Neill Review 22:1-2 (Spring-Fall 1998): 48-62. Mugar Library PS3529 .N5Z639

"H.L. Mencken and the Wowsers," Jason D. Duberman, American Book  Collector 7:5 (May 1986): 3-14.

Lillian Smith: Thorn in the flesh of crackerdom, Pat Bryan Brewer.  Dissertation: University of Georgia, 1982. ( Strange Fruit, 1944) Abstract BU

Out of the chrysalis: Lillian Smith and the transformation of the South, Kathleeen Atkinson Miller.  Dissertation: Emory University, 1984.    (Strange Fruit, 1944)    Abstract BU

"Poor me and pure Boston," Upton Sinclair, The Nation 124 (June 29, 1927): 713-14.

Magazines

"Banned in Boston, ltd; Life magazine and two reproductions by Doris Lee and Angelo di Benedetto," Art Digest 21 (December 1, 1946), p. 3. Mugar Library N1 .F26

"Cultural censorship: Life banned in Boston," P. Boswell, Art Digest 16 (April 15, 1942), p. 3. Mugar Library N1 .F26

The editor, the blue nose and the prostitute: H. L. Mencken's history of the "Hatrack" censorship case, ed. Carl A. Bode. Boulder: Roberts Rinehart, 1988. (Reviewed by James Edward Long, Jr. : New England Quarterly 63:3 (September 1990) 514-516 BU)

"American Headlines: Postal censorship against H.L. Mencken" Eric Longley, 2002.  24 July 2006 <http://mtmt.essortment.com/hlmencken_rnqv.htm> (Hatrack case)

Movies

"Boston and the movie censorship," Amy Woods, The Survey (1909) 44 (April 17, 1920): 108-9.

"Boston, Mass.--State legislature has passed a bill, backed by opponents of the phot0-play, 'The Birth of a Nation,' to vest unlimited powers of play censorship in Boston with the mayor, police comr. and chief justice of the municipal court. An objectionable production can be stopped by a majority vote of the new censors.  Formerly censorship was vested in the mayor and police comr., who had power to stop plays of an immoral or obscene nature [Descriptive Statement]." 1915.   Source not given.  PAIS Archive AN: 1915-5016. BU

"Comstock lives: Censoring Deep Throat and Caligula," David Brudnoy, National Review 32 (October 3, 1980): 1197-8.  Mugar Microforms: Microfilm AP2 .F55

Music

"Not one-way traffic: Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bach's St. John Passion," W.L. Sperry, The Christian Century 69 (June 11 1952): 702. Theo Periodical C 428

"Road to Boston: 1858 censorship problems of G. Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera," Marl Jane Philips Matz, Opera News 44 (February 23, 1980): 12-14+. Mugar Microforms: Microfilm ML1 .F09

Newspapers

"Boston: A Journalistic Poor-Farm." in Some Newspapers and Newspaper-men. Oswald Garrison Villard. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1926.  Mugar Library PN4855 F26.

"Toward an Understanding of the First Amendment: Boston Newspapers, 1782-1791,"  Gerald J. Baldasty. Journalism History 3 (1976): 25-30, 32.

Theater

Banned in Boston: A study of theatrical censorship in Boston from 1630 to 1950, William Robert Reardon. Dissertation: Stanford University, 1953. Citation BU

"Boston censorship comm., April 13, 1916, drafted a new rule forbidding disrobing acts on the stage. The rule applies particularly to feminine acrobats who enter clothed in a profusion of apparel and gradually eliminate, in view of the audience, such clothing as might hinder their actions upon the trapeze. [Descriptive Statement]"  Source not given.  PAIS Archive AN: 1916-7513 BU

"Boston protects itself," The Nation 127 (December 5, 1928): 593.

"Boston's Drama League," New York Times (May 16, 1911) 12. BU (View with Internet Explorer)

Censorship of the Theatre in Boston. Daniel M. Doherty. Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 1950. Mugar SPR MS 1950 do.

Interred in concrete: The censorship of Boston's Old Howard Theatre (Massachusetts), Theresa Lang. Dissertation: Tufts University, 2004. Abstract BU

"Joseph Harper and Boston's Board Alley theatre, 1792-1793,"   L. K. Ruff. Educational Theatre Journal 26:1 (March 1974) p. 45-52.  BU

"New censorship in Boston," New York Times (March 20, 1898): 7. (theatre posters) BU (View with Internet Explorer)

"Scandal on the stage: banned theatre in Boston," John D. Anderson, professor, communications, Emerson College; Matthew Chapuran, managing director, Nora Theatre Company; Tom Connolly, professor, English, Suffolk University; Maureen Dezell, arts reporter, Boston Globe. "'Banned in Boston' is a theme this city finds hard to shake. This program includes vignettes of censored plays in Boston, beginning with the Puritan censorship of Morton's May Pole and climaxing with the 1929 banning of Eugene O'Neill's Freudian theatrical experiment, Strange Interlude. Afterwards, a panel discusses the performances and the ideas of censorship. Though it is not institutionalized, as it was with the 'Watch and Ward Society', what form does censorship take today?" WGBH Forum Network, Thursday, May 1, 2003, Old South Meeting House.    24 July2006 <http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1227>

"Tradition behind Bostonian censorship," W. R. Reardon. Educational Theatre Journal 7:2 (May 1955) p. 97-101.  BU

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