BANNER CELEBRATION
Boston Public Library has classic Celtics tapestries up
Boston Celtics fans can take a step back through history with a visit to the Boston Public Library, where the 17time NBA champions’ legendary original victory banners are out of storage and on display to the public for the first time in 26 years.
“Banners are meant to be hung, so what greater space than here at the Library in the interior courtyard in the Boylston Street building, here at Copley Square?” Boston Public Library President David Leonard said.
The Celtics are celebrating their 75th year as a professional team, and fans are invited to see the banners in person through January.
“They’ve been brought out of mothballs, out of storage to be on public display up close and up front for the first time in a public setting outside of either the Boston Garden or TD Garden,” Jeff Twiss, vice president of Boston Celtics media and alumni relations, said.
The banners, which date back to the Celtics’ first championship in 1959, previously hung in the old Boston Garden. But when that venue was demolished in 1995, they moved to the Celtics’ practice facility — then in Waltham. Once the Celtics moved their practices to a new arena in Brighton, the banners went into storage.
The original banners from the 1960s jump out at visitors for their visible wear and tear — they were well-loved in the old Boston Garden, which had notoriously bad ventilation.
The old school banners didn’t hold up as well against the elements as newer fabrics.
“When Red Auerbach and Walter Brown came to a flag company called New England Flag and Banner they had
one made, and it was made of 100% cotton,” Twiss said.
The cotton banners show water damage from their years in the rafters, as well as discoloration and stains from the old days of indoor smoking. The banner from 1962 even had to be patched and sewn in some areas, after more than 30 years hanging in the Boston Garden. But it all adds to the charm of the historic franchise.
“It’s just another way of bringing the city to life,” Leonard said.
The Celtics host the Toronto Raptors in their home opener at TD Garden at 7:30 p.m. Friday. It will be the first home opener to welcome fans back in full capacity since 2019.