Scholar, curator, and founding member of the Little Syrian Project, Lydia Harrington, will guide a walking tour from Chinatown to the South End in collaboration with the Arab American National Museum’s current exhibit at Pao Arts Center: Arab Massachusetts: Building Community in the Commonwealth. Lydia is a curator, researcher, writer, educator, and co-contributor with Chloe Bordewich for the Boston Little Syria Project, a public history initiative that highlights the history of the neighborhood.
Learn more about the residence, shops, restaurants, newspapers, churches, social clubs, and boarding houses, as well as individual stories of local Syrians and Lebanese who settled in Boston’s Little Syria neighborhood between the 1880s and 1950s. The tour expands on the exhibit by examining the diversity of the neighborhood, which includes other migrant groups such as Chinese Americans. Lydia will share how the community shifted to the suburbs in light of socioeconomic changes, highway development, and urban renewal in the mid-20th century.
The Little Syria Tour is programed as part the Arab Massachusetts: Building Community in the Commonwealth exhibit hosted at Pao Arts Center presented by the Arab American National Museum (AANM).
Important Tour Notes
Meet at Chinatown Gate
Tour will include walking on uneven brick surfaces
The total distance covered is one mile
About Little Syrian Project
The Boston Little Syria Project is a public history initiative aimed at drawing attention to the history of Boston’s Little Syria neighborhood (also known as Syriantown), which thrived between the 1880s and 1950s in today’s Chinatown and South End. In addition to offering public walking tours from time to time, we have written about the neighborhood, curated several exhibitions around Boston, and developed a digital map with support from the Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library.
The project is run by historians Lydia Harrington (PhD, Boston University) and Chloe Bordewich (PhD, Harvard University). It has benefited from the contributions of several collaborators, volunteers, and student researchers, including Amy Smith, Sophie Cutter, Mary Haddad, Yasmin Daikh, and Sofia Farah. Grants from the Lebanese and Syrian Ladies’ Aid Society, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the Leventhal Map and Education Center have made this work possible.
Related Programming
Arab Americans: Building Community in the Commonwealth
November 19, 2025 - February 13, 2026
A groundbreaking initiative that will shed light on the vibrant stories of Arab American communities in the state from the late 19th century until the present day.
Arab Massachusetts: Building Community in the Commonwealth Celebration
Saturday, December 6 | 1:00 – 5:00 PM
Drop in for a family friendly day filled with interactive activities and performances.
About the Partner
The Arab American National Museum (AANM) is the first and only museum of its kind in the United States devoted to recording the Arab American experience. It serves as a touchstone that connects communities to Arab American culture and experiences. Since opening in 2005, AANM’s goal has been to document, preserve and present the history, culture and contributions of Arab Americans. Our exhibitions cover the Arab world and the history of Arab Americans from the first immigrants who arrived in the late 19th century to today. We offer safe spaces for open dialogue and community gatherings and provide educational opportunities for children and students of all ages to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Arab American history and culture. We work with established and emerging artists of all artistic mediums to uplift their work and share it with our regional and national audiences. All of this is intended to build community through the arts by showcasing our nation’s cultural diversity in thoughtful and impacting ways.
AANM has one of the most extensive archives of Arab American historical documents, oral histories and artifacts. We are the only museum in the country that actively collects Arab American art. The Annex @ AANM, a multi-purpose space and a symbol of the Museum’s growing engagement with the community, opened in 2015.