Learning By Doing: Exhibiting Thompson’s Island Histories (2016)

Partners: University Archives & Special Collections, Healey Library, and Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center

UMass Boston and Thompson Island have been neighbors since UMass Boston moved its campus to Columbia Point in 1974. University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston was established in 1981 as a repository to collect archival material in subject areas of interest to the university, as well as the records of the university itself.

The mission and history of the University of Massachusetts Boston guide the collection policies of University Archives & Special Collections, with The university’s urban mission and strong support of community service are reflected in the UASC collections, which include local history related to neighboring communities. Since 2014, UASC has been expanding its collections related to the Boston Harbor Islands. 

These include the records of the educational institutions established on the island starting as early as 1833 with the Boston Farm School. These schools have left a rich collection of historical materials–the records of the Boston Farm School, Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys, Boston Farm and Trades School, and Thompson Academy—that open many possibilities for exploring Thompson’s Island’s multiple histories, and sharing them with the public. In 1988, Outward Bound partnered to operate the island, creating a new entity: Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center (TIOBEC), which owns and manages the island today. The island continues its mission to serve the underserved youth of Greater Boston with programs that instill teamwork, self-confidence and compassion, and encourage learning by doing. 

Today, Thompson Island is privately owned and managed by the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center (TIOBEC). TIOBEC fulfills a vital educational role for children and adults from Boston and the surrounding metropolitan area. It is the site of an Outward Bound program for inner-city youth that strives to bring together students of varying race, ethnicity, and class in an ambitious outdoor learning program. As stewards of the island, TIOBEC is acutely aware of the legacy of education there and a primary stakeholder of the island’s history. The organization is further engaged in building a community of alumni of Thompson Academy and other predecessor schools.

TIOBEC has installed a number of outdoor interpretive “wayside” signage throughout the island. In the future, TIOBEC plans to install a small museum display about the island’s history. In 2016, public history graduate students worked with Thompson Island collections in the UASC to develop proposals and interpretive samples to support TIOBEC’s interest in developing and installing a permanent exhibition on-island and creating a site where visitors can access historical materials. 

Working with primary sources in UASC collections, students created a set of proposals for temporary exhibitions and sample exhibition panels focused on the history of Thompson’s Island. They conducted research, developed themes, chose and researched exhibit materials, wrote exhibit text, and planned participatory activities. They presented their ideas to TIOBEC in an exhibition installed at the Healey Library.