Simmons University to Participate in Opening of Digital Exhibit

Boston, Mass. (July 15, 2020) – Simmons University announced today that it will participate in the opening of the digital exhibit,” Learned from Our Neighbors: Stories from the Elizabeth Peabody House,” which is being hosted by the West End Museum. It takes place via zoom at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, 2020.

This exhibit tells the story of the Elizabeth Peabody House, a settlement house in the former West End of Boston, and its one-time director, Eva Whiting White (Simmons School of Social Work, Class of 1907). Simmons students who created the show will discuss the making of the exhibit, their favorite parts of the process, stories from Boston’s West End they uncovered and what they learned from the research project.

“Boston’s West End has a rich and vibrant history, and we’re thrilled that our students have the opportunity to participate in this exhibit highlighting some of these stories,” said Laura R. Prieto, Alumni Chair in Public Humanities at Simmons University. “We hope the community has the opportunity to join the West End Museum and Simmons students for this virtual event as they share what they learned during this crucial public history project.”

Created in partnership with the Boston City Archives and The West End Museum, “Learned from Our Neighbors” celebrates the Elizabeth Peabody House and life in Boston’s West End. The onsite exhibit, which was originally scheduled to premiere in June, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is also supported by a “Humanities Research for the Public Good” grant from the Council of Independent Colleges.

In Fall 2019, a group of 11 Simmons undergraduate students began researching the lost West End. Once known as a “multi-ethnic, multi-religious immigrant enclave,” the West End was lost to the wave of urban redevelopment that swept Boston in the 1950s — the mostly working-class residents were evicted in order to clear 40 acres for new construction.

Decades later, those displaced West Enders still identify with their old neighborhood, keeping its memory alive in The West Ender newsletter and the West End Museum. This community lives on in oral histories, family photographs, and archival collections around Boston.

The event is open to the public and takes place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16. To participate, visit the event invitation page to register.

About Simmons University

Located in the heart of Boston, Simmons is a respected private university offering more than 50 majors and programs for undergraduate women and graduate programs open to all on campus, in blended formats, or entirely online in nursing and health sciences, liberal arts, business, communications, social work, public health, and library and information science. Founded in 1899, Simmons has established a model of higher education that other colleges and universities are only recently beginning to adapt: the combination of education for leadership in high-demand professional fields with the intellectual foundation of the liberal arts. The result is a Simmons graduate prepared not only to work, but to lead in professional, civic, and personal life — a vision of empowerment that Simmons calls preparation for life’s work. Follow Simmons on Twitter at @SimmonsUniv, and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/school/simmons-university/.

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