Amory Hall (c. 1834 – c. 1888) was located on the corner of Washington Street and West Street in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century.Boston Directory. 1852.Illuminated and illustrated business directory of Boston for 1870Boston Almanac. 1871 Myriad activities took place in the rental hall, including sermons; lectures by Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison; political meetings; exhibitions by Rembrandt Peale, George Catlin, John Banvard; moving panoramas; magic shows; concerts; and curiosities such as the "Nova Scotia Giant Boy."
Through the years, tenants included: First Free Congregational Church (c. 1836);Bowen's picture of Boston, 3rd ed. 1838; p.167. Grace Church (1836);Bowen's picture of Boston, 3rd ed. 1838; p.160. artists Eastman Johnson, J.C. King, N. Southworth, T.T. Spear, William S. Tiffany (c.1847);Boston Almanac. 1847. Oliver Stearns, retailer of artists' supplies (1849–1850);Muller. Checklist of Boston retailers in artist's materials: 1823-1887. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 17, 1; 1977; p.63. artists J.A. Codman, A. Ransom, and R.M. Staigg (c.1852).Bulletin of the New England Art Union, No. 1 (1852)
In 1888, the hall was acquired by retailer William H. Zinn and incorporated into his "Connected Stores" occupying the block bounded by West and Washington Streets and Temple Place.Boston Herald, Sept. 30, 1888, p. 2.
Events at Amory Hall
1834, November - Boston Mercantile Association LecturesBoston Advertiser, Nov. 19, 1834, p. 2 1836 - Herr Schmidt "electrical, mechanical and physical experiments"American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 4940 1837, March - Dr. Graham delivered lectures "on marriage and courtship to audiences of women"Joseph Edgar Chamberlin. The Boston transcript: a history of its first hundred years. 1930; p.50. "Great excitement at Amory Hall in consequence of an intended lecture to ladies, exclusively, on physical education. Many women were present, but so great was the tumult made by persons adverse to Graham and his lecture, that his object was defeated."Boston Almanac. 1838 1838 Physiological Society weekly lectures "on various subjects connected with the human constitution, health, the structure of the body, &c. ... Object, improvement in physiological knowledge." Aug. - George Catlin's Indian gallery "...will endeavour to entertain and instruct the citizens of Boston and its vicinity, for a short time with an exhibition of his paintings, costumes, &c."American broadsides and ephemera, Series 1, no. 5281 Oct. 10 - Whig Party meetingWhig Party. Proceedings of the Whig Meeting at Amory Hall, Oct. 10, 1838. Boston: 1838. 1839 - Lewis, Bartholomew & Co.'s "splendid dioramas ... the grand historical moving diorama of the Battle of Bunker Hill!! and conflagration of Charlestown1839 date is approximate. Cf. American broadsides and ephemera, Series 1, no. 5429. 1842 Oct. 9 - James Freeman Clarke sermon on "the Sunday succeeding the death of William Ellery Channing" Nov. 24 - James Freeman Clarke lecture "Slavery in the United States" 1844 Feb. 4, 11 - William Lloyd Garrison lectures Feb. 18 - Charles Lane lectures Feb.25 - Adin Ballou lectures March 3 - Ralph Waldo Emerson's lecture "New England Reformers"Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays, second series. 1971. March 10 - Henry David Thoreau lectures, "The Conservative and the Reformer"Bradley P. Dean and Ronald Wesley Hoag. Thoreau's Lectures before Walden: An Annotated Calendar. Studies in the American Renaissance, (1995). March 17 - Charles Dana lecture March 17 - Joseph Rhodes Buchanan lecture March 24 - Ernestine Rose lecture March 31 - Wendell Phillips lecture March 31 - John Pierpont lecture April 21 - W.L. Garrison December - Eleventh Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair. 1846 Rembrandt Peale's Court of DeathBoston Daily Atlas, June 4, 1846 Herr Alexander "experiments in natural philosophy and magic"Boston Daily Atlas, Sept. 23, 1846 1847 John Banvard George Brewer's panorama of the wonders and natural curiosities of the American continent. Fairmout Water works, & adjacent scenery ... Mammoth Cave of Kentucky."American broadsides and ephemera, Series 1 Walter McPherson Bayne's "gigantic panoramic picture of a voyage to Europe! Comprises views of Boston, its harbor, the Atlantic, the River Mersey, Liverpool, London from the Thames, and both sides of the Rhine, painted from original sketches taken by the artist himself, constituting by far the largest panorama ever presented to the public, and which has been in preparation upwards of three years."Boston Daily Mail, Dec. 15, 1847 1848 - Hine's "journey from Paris to Rome! over the Alps." 1849 April - Caleb Purrington and Benjamin Russell's "Panorama of a Whaling Voyage"Cynthia Griffin Wolff. Passing beyond the Middle Passage: Henry "Box" Brown's Translations of Slavery. The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Spring, 1996); p.30 William Burr's "seven mile mirror! the mammoth moving painting of the Great Lakes and rivers" Stockwell's colossal panorama of the upper and lower Mississippi rivers 1850 - Brunetti's model of ancient Jerusalem, and Mr. Malone Raymond "with a descriptive lecture" 1851 January - Nova Scotia giant boyBoston Daily Atlas, Jan. 9, 1851 April - Miss Reynaldson. "Scotch melodies by this distinguished vocalist."Boston Daily Atlas, April 24, 1851 1852 Exhibition of Edward A. Brackett's "marble group of the shipwrecked mother and child"American broadsides and ephemera, Series 1, no. 16174 May - "Immense attraction at Amory Hall. This fashionable place of resort is thronged every afternoon and evening, with crowds of those who wish to see the great panorama of California. Mr. Edward Wilson, the learned author of 'Sketches in the Mines' delivers an explanatory lecture."Boston Daily Atlas, May 5, 1852. "The hall is now leased to the Handel and Haydn Society for every Sunday evening for 5 years; to the Musical Fund Society and to the Germanians for their concerts; also to the Mercantile Library Association for 30 evenings, and to the religious society of the Rev. Theodore Parker for the Sunday forenoons."Dwight's journal of music, Oct. 2, 1852 1853 - Antonio "Signor" Blitz "scenes in ventriloquism and great magical illusions." 1877 - Caroline Shawk Brooks, butter sculptorBoston Daily Globe, May 19, 1877
References
Further reading
Linck C. Johnson, "Reforming the Reformers: Emerson, Thoreau, and the Sunday Lectures at Amory Hall, Boston," ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance, 37 (4th Quarter 1991): 235-89.