Eight Vintage Photos Show Boston’s Bygone Holidays

Copley Square and the Boston Public Library in the 1940s. Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

It’s time to cue Bing Crosby. With the Boston Common tree lighting scheduled for tonight, it’s officially Christmas time in the city.

Here’s a glance back at the holidays of yesteryear, with photos by Leslie Jones, who documented daily life in the city for the Boston Herald-Traveler for 39 years. Jones’s work is preserved as part of a digital archive of the Boston Public Library.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

Shoppers and storefronts at Tremont and Winter Streets in 1945.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

Boston’s once famous Jordan Marsh department store adorned with a nativity scene in 1954.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

Christmas crowds and electric street cars on Washington and Summer Streets in 1912.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

A Christmas Parade on Beacon Street in 1940.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

Shoppers hustle towards the holiday decorations at Filene’s Department Store in Downtown Crossing, 1954.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

A snowy view of Boston Common and the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, taken sometime between 1917 and 1934.

Photo by Leslie Jones via the Boston Public Library

Women mailing packages during the Christmas rush at the South Station postal annex in 1942.

See more work by Leslie Jones at bpl.org.