The Lesley University Archives

Art Institute of Boston: A Journey through the School's Past
Roy Davidson founded the School of Practical Art (later renamed the Art Institute of Boston (AIB)) in 1912 when he converted his studio, three small rooms in Boston's Back Bay, into a classroom, charging a $15 tuition per semester. The school was one of the first private, co-educational nonaffiliated studio schools in the United States. Cathy Durso, a senior at AIB majoring Fine Arts with a minor in Art History, curated this exhibit, which was the final project of her Fall '07 internship at the Lesley University Archives. View image.

The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
700 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215
December 10, 2007 to February 28, 2008

Lesley founder's life and legacy explored during Focus on Faculty Series
As part of the School of Education's Focus on Faculty Series, Lesley faculty administrator and historian Cindy Brown recently led a presentation, "Serve and Persist: Edith Lesley Founds a School." Read Lesley Today article.

Lesley Today
December 7, 2007

Lesley Archivist presents research on the Holocaust in Israel
Alyssa Pacy, Lesley University Archivist, presented her latest research on gender and the Holocaust at the Fourth International Conference on Women and the Holocaust, sponsored by Beit Berl Academic College in Israel. View PDF.

Beit Lohamei Haghetaot
Israel
October 31, 2007

Living Legacies: Reunion Exhibit
Living Legacies celebrates the Lesley student throughout the years with photographs from some of the earliest graduating classes to the present, chronicling changes in attitude, dress, and lifestyle. The exhibit is dedicated to President Margaret McKenna, whose twenty-two year tenure comes to a close in June 2007, and announces the official opening of the Lesley University Archives. View image.

Lesley University
Marran Gallery
June 4 to June 18, 2007

Lesley's History Comes to Life: The Lesley University Archives Officially Opens
"It was foggy with intermittent showers, I am told, that Wednesday morning, September 17, 1909, when Miss Edith Lesley welcomed her first class in the living-room of her home at 29 Everett Street, Cambridge," writes Dr. Trentwell Mason White, Lesley's first president, in the introduction of the 1955-1956 student handbook. Read Lesley Today article.

Lesley Today
May 1, 2007

2009 Centennial: The Lesley University Archive Opens
"It couldn't be 7:15 AM. already! Why it feels as if I just turned off the lights an hour ago," exclaims Ann, a Lesley College freshman, the protagonist of a short piece written for the 1958-1959 student handbook by Susan Jaffee, one of the editors. Read article.

Lesley Magazine
Spring, 2007
p.8