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Serving seafarers in the Boston Harbor: Local adaptation to global economic change, 1820–2015

Religious people and organizations have provided services to seafarers in the port of Boston for nearly 200 years. While Boston’s history and present circumstances are specific, the port’s services to seafarers are broadly representative of the history of such provision in ports across the United States. We show how local and global economic changes shaped who worked in the port of Boston. Protestant individuals and organizations provided services to these workers, although the motivation behind the services and their content changed. The overt evangelism of the first generations diminished as mission societies transitioned into religiously-motivated social service organizations. Comprehensive social services and lodging were replaced by services provided on board vessels during increasingly quick turnarounds. While today’s port chaplains describe their work in much different terms than those of generations past, they continue a tradition of Protestant-supported care that has been evident in the port for the past two centuries.