The BPL has posted 8,000 photos from its collection to Wikimedia Commons By Mark Feeney Globe Staff,Updated January 20, 2021, 12:42 p.m. Email to a Friend Artist's plaster model of the Boston Public Library's McKim Building, circa 1890Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library has some 23.7 million items in its collection. Most are books, but there are also manuscripts, maps, musical scores, prints, postcards, and photographs. The photographic holdings are extensive. Thatâs appropriate, since the libraryâs motto, âOmnium Lux Civium,â means âThe Light of All People,â and photography means âwriting with light.â A distinctive Boston sign, circa 1940.Boston Public Library