Boston's Downtown Movie Palaces, an Images of America book by Arthur Singer and Ron Goodman, features a chapter on the history of the Modern Theatre, which the University transformed from a ruin into a sparkling new theater and gallery with a restored facade.

The launch of Boston's Downtown Movie Palaces, which the authors call "a ticket through time to visit these places in their heyday," was held at the Modern Theatre.

A chapter on the Modern Theatre focuses on owner Jacob Lourie, an innovator who introduced the technology of the "talkies" to Boston at the Modern Theatre and invented the double feature to compete with nearby theaters as they added films to their vaudeville programs.