You and your family have to make the decision. You can either pack everything in the family car or rent a Haul and drive up to Boston or you can fly to Boston (not to New York) and have you belongings mailed or shipped via UPS. Kids do this all the time.
The university can provide you with the correct address to that when the arrive, they can be delivered to your dorm room or you can pick them up in the shipping department.
Most people drive the first time, renting a u-haul or similar, and then store the stuff near campus during the summer.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.