Edward Capen is appointed the first chief librarian of the Boston Public library.

The title of the position is subsequently changed to superintendent, back to librarian, to director, director and librarian, and finally to president. Capen is succeeded by Charles Jewett (1858), Justin Winsor (1868), Samuel Green (1877), Mellen Chamberlain (1878), Theodore Dwight (1892), Herbert Putnam (1895), James Whitney (1899), Horace Wadlin (1903), Charles Belden (1917) Milton Lord (1932), Philip McNiff (1965), Liam Kelly (1983), Arthur Curley (1985), Bernard Margolis (1997), Amy Ryan (2008), and David Leonard (2016).