Chinatown Lantern

Quick update: the Reading Room will remain open to Oak Terrace and Metropolitan residents. For more information, please contact Asian Community Development Corporation at [email protected]. Thank you for your support!

The Lantern would like to inform the community with regret that the last day of its Lantern Reading Room will be on Monday, February 25, 2013.

The Reading Room in Oak Terrace was conceived as a short-term pilot project to test its viability as a library-related program for the Chinatown community. It was funded through a one-time grant from the Barr Foundation; the funds were raised by the Chinatown Lantern Educational and Cultural Center, previously known as the Friends of the Chinatown Library. Unfortunately, maintaining the reading room beyond the pilot phase requires more in time and resources than is available without detracting from the main goal. Be assured that the Lantern will continue working toward the goal of a permanent cultural and educational facility in Chinatown, which will include a reading room and library services.

During the ten-month pilot, the Lantern Reading Room saw over 5,000 visitors and circulated books to 250 library cardholders from the community. It provided sixteen courses in basic computer literacy and English conversation practice that served more than 100 students, as well as more than 60 hours of youth and children’s programs in storytelling, chess and checkers, and homework tutoring. This was made possible by over 1,000 hours of volunteer time put in by more than 100 dedicated volunteers.

The Lantern committee is grateful for all the help and support it has received during this pilot program. It would like to thank the Chinatown Coalition for sponsoring the Lantern, the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) for providing a room at Oak Terrace, the numerous donors who donated money, equipment and books to the Reading Room, the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center for providing staff support and acting as the fiscal agent of the Lantern project, the Boston Public Library for extending its book borrowing services to the Reading Room, and the volunteers who helped with the setup of the Reading Room and staffed programs.

While the Lantern will continues its work towards a permanent facility, ACDC is encouraging residents of Oak Terrace to volunteer to keep the space open as a resident reading room. Some books -- especially children's books -- will be left in the resident reading room while the majority of the books will be stored in preparation for the permanent facility.
We welcome all who are interested in a permanent cultural and educational facility for Chinatown to volunteer their time and services. Please refer to our website at chinatownlantern.org for contacts and updates.

A preview of the Chinatown Atlas exhibit currently on display at the Chinatown Lantern Reading Room

Boston Chinatown Atlas installation finished! This 5' x 12' exhibit traces Chinatown from 1870-2010 and is divided into eras from Beginnings, Emergence, Expansion, Consolidation, to Strengthening. The exhibit is a collaboration between MIT Professor Tunney Lee, MIT alumni, Chinese Historical Society of NE, and Chinatown Lantern. Opening reception date TBA.

Have you met our volunteers? Each week our volunteers come and spend time in the reading room to help others learn English, how to use computers, or read books for our children's storytelling time. Come by to the reading room library when you are in Chinatown.

Chinatown youth artwork from Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (sponsor of Lantern reading room) featured at Museum of Fine Arts on what MLK means to them. Other neighborhood children's artwork on display as well from Blue Hills, Charlestown, Chelsea, Roxbury, and South End.

Chinatown Lantern reading room is closed Monday, January 21 in observance of Martin Luther King Day. We will re-open Tuesday, Jan 22 with our regular hours.

Panels for our new exhibit "Boston Chinatown Atlas" arrived today and will be installed next week. An opening reception will be announced soon.

First computer class of 2013, Monday afternoon, led by 2 student volunteers from NU.

We are super excited to announce a sneak preview of the upcoming Chinatown Atlas exhibit. Years in the making, this collaboration between MIT Professor Tunney Lee, Chinese Historical Society of NE, and Lantern traces Boston's Chinatown from humble beginnings, emergence, and to the present day.

Hi everyone! We're switching to winter hours starting next week:

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 1pm - 5pm
Wednesday 1pm - 5pm
Thursday 1pm - 5pm

Hope to catch you sometime in the new year!

Happy Holidays and New Year from Chinatown Lantern!

This image of the Chinatown Heritage Mural by artists Wen-ti Tsen and Zuo Yuan is based on a Qing Dynasty painting, "Travellers in an Autumn Landscape". In the painting, travellers are making their way home before the arrival of winter. As winter arrives and the New Year is around the corner, we reflect on where we have been and what paths may lie ahead. It is the time of the year when families seek to gather; it is also a time to recognize the contributions of those who came before us. In honor of the early sojourners who came from faraway shores and built our communities, there is a proverb engraved in the Mount Hope Memorial, "Long rivers flow from distant origins.”

Today, Boston’s Chinatown is home to a diverse residential population, and serves as the cultural and social service center for the region's Asian American population. For the upcoming year, Chinatown Lantern hopes to continue our work to provide a safe and open space for all, and through the Reading Room, deliver library services and cultural and educational programming.

Chinatown Lantern wishes everyone a safe and joyful holiday season. Happy Holidays!