May, 2020 - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Meet Phebe Mitchell Kendall of Nantucket and Cambridge

Posted on May 24, 2020May 20, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Mitchell House — The Mitchell Family House. The roof deck is a later addition.

The Mitchell Family of Nantucket

In celebration of Preservation Month, Preservation Massachusetts has announced fourteen projects that will receive grants for exterior restoration of their historic properties. The Maria Mitchell Association, which owns and operates the 1790 Maria Mitchell House on Nantucket, was awarded an $8,250 grant. The house has been a museum since 1903.

Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) was the third of ten children, half girls, half boys. Her sister Phebe, ten years her junior, lived and worked in Cambridge. Maria was America’s first professional female astronomer. The Mitchell house website, https://www.mariamitchell.org, has more information on the family and a wonderful collection of photographs.

Phebe Mitchell

Phebe Mitchell was born on Nantucket on February 23, 1828, into a Quaker family. William and Lydia (Coleman) Mitchell believed in equality in education, and all the children (Phebe was the seventh of ten) were educated in public schools and at home.

AtheneumHistory_Page_04[1] — The original Nantucket Atheneum. Initially open to members only, the Atheneum offered lectures and meeting space, as well as a small lending library. Many of the notable speakers–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and the education reformer Horace Mann–dined with the Mitchells. Photo courtesy Nantuck Atheneum.

AtheneumHistory_Page_11[1] — The second Nantucket Atheneum, 1848. The original building had burned in an 1847 fire; all books and many records were lost, but Maria Mitchell had compiled a catalogue of holdings. She became the institute’s librarian and relied on her list to rebuild the collections. Photo courtesy Nantucket Atheneum.

Lydia Mitchell was a librarian and often brought books home for the family to read. Phebe described her mother as:

a woman of strong character, very dignified, honest almost to an
extreme. … She … kept a close watch over her children, was clear-
headed … and an indefatigable worker. It was she who looked out
for the education of the children and saw what their capacities were.

Her father, “a man of great suavity and gentleness,” was a teacher, a banker, and a well-known amateur astronomer.

Bank-of-America-Nantucket-1-1024x683[1] — Nantucket Pacific National Bank. Photo Bank of America

For almost twenty-five years Mr. Mitchell was the cashier at Nantucket’s Pacific National Bank, where he kept a suite of rooms in which the family occasionally lived. He constructed a small observatory on the bank’s flat roof, and everyone took part in watching the sky and calculating complex astronomical formulae. One night in 1847, Maria (allegedly escaping a dull dinner party) went up to look at the stars and discovered a comet, “Miss Mitchell’s comet.”

Phebe and Joshua Kendall

Phebe Mitchell and Joshua Kendall were married on Nantucket on September 14, 1854; the groom had been born in Cambridge in 1828 and graduated from Harvard College in 1853. The couple moved to Meadville, Pennsylvania, where Joshua served as the second president of Meadville Theological Seminary, which was then a Unitarian institution. Their only child, William Manning,, was born in 1856 when Joshua was the master of a private school in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In 1860 he became the chief academic officer, or principal, of the Rhode Island State Normal School, then in Bristol; the 1860 census records Joshua, Phebe, and four-year-old Willie living in a boarding house. The state cut back funding for the school, and it was forced to close in 1864.

Kendall School, Chronicle18650121 — First notice of Joshua Kendall’s new school. Note the impressive references!*Cambridge Chronicle*, January 18, 1865

Joshua moved his family to Cambridge, bought the house at 123 Inman Street, and opened Kendall’s Day and Family School, a private preparatory school for boys, at 13 Appian Way. In 1906 the family took up room in the school.

The 1878 Total Eclipse of the Sun

Phebe and her sister Maria, who had become Vassar College’s first astronomy professor in 1865, visited frequently and wrote often; the three Kendalls and Maria travelled together in Europe four times in the early 1870s. In 1878 Maria invited Phebe to come with her to Colorado to observe a total eclipse of the sun that would be best viewed from sites along the spine of the Rocky Mountains, from southern Wyoming Territory through Colorado to Texas. Professor Mitchell, Mrs. Mitchell, four Vassar graduates, and their equipment traveled by train to Denver. American Eclipse cover

David Baron, a science journalist, chronicles the eclipse excitement that swept across the United States in American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World (2017).

Astronomers and their assistants vied for the best viewing spots. The Mitchell crew arrived at their site with little time to spare.

Maria Mitchell chose for her observation post … a hill on the edge
of [Denver], just beyond the reach of suburban development. …
Once there, the Vassar party had no time to make elaborate
preparations. The women set out wooden chairs, erected a small
tent for shade, and mounted their three telescopes on tall tripods. (Mitchell had brought … the same telescope she had used … to
discover her famous comet.) The view east offered an endless,
empty expanse of plains. To the west lay Denver and the Rockies
behind it. Immediately to the south sat a three-story brick building topped by a gabled roof and an ornate cross. It was St. Joseph’s Home,
a Catholic hospital operated by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kansas. The nuns, … spying the astronomers in dresses, came over to tea.

Maria Mitchell, her crew, and their equipment. The individuals are not identified, but Phebe may be pictured. Photo courtesy Maria Mitchell Association.

The Cambridge School Committee

33-Phebe-Mitchell-Kendall1[1]

In 1879 the Massachusetts General Court enacted legislation giving women the right to vote in school committee elections. That year, Phebe Mitchell Kendall and Sarah Sprague Jacobs became the first women elected to the Cambridge School Committee. Mrs. Kendall served for fourteen years, advocating for equality of education in elementary schools. A longtime member of the Cambridge Women’s Suffrage League, she served as its president for many years. She resigned from the school committee in 1894 to concentrate on organizing and editing Maria’s personal papers. Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals was published in 1896.

kendall

Legacy

Phebe Mitchell Kendall died in June 1907. The Cambridge newspapers all published laudatory encomiums, including a letter in the Tribune from “one who knew her.”

Joshua Kendall died in February 1913. William Mitchell Kendall (Willie) enjoyed a successful career at the distinguished New York architectural firm, McKim, Mead & White.

Small Business Feature: Abroad Modern

Posted on May 20, 2020 by Meta Partenheimer

During these trying times for our community, we are committed to helping local businesses. To do our part, every week in May we have been highlighting locally-owned small businesses right here in Cambridge! Today, we will spotlight Abroad Modern along with the history of the building in which the shop is located at 260 Concord Avenue in Northwest Cambridge.

Concord Ave 260_001 — 260 Concord Ave, 4 August 1985. Photographer: Frank J. O’Reilly.

Although the storefront is closed, Abroad Modern is open for online business, and its founder is even offering free gloved-hand delivery to locals! “Modern utility sourced globally” is how owner and founder, Greer Goodman describes the products, sourced from India, offered in her shop. Goodman’s passion for her entrepreneurial goals is apparent: “…I started this business to help others, to partner with people around the globe and make space for a cultural awareness that will hopefully, in tiny but meaningful ways, make the world smaller and better.”

View the website here: https://www.abroadmodern.com/

The history of the building from which Abroad Modern is operated is as unique as the store itself. The property, which contains 360 square feet, is a remnant of a larger property that was divided when Appleton Street was laid out the it in 1871. The ‘heater piece’ or ‘gore’ as these leftovers were known, shows up in city atlases in 1894 as the property of Francis J. O’Reilly. In 1908, O’Reilly obtained a building permit to put up a one-story wood-frame store, 8′ wide on Concord Avenue, 30′ deep along Appleton Street, 4′ wide at the back, and 14′ high.

Concord Ave 260_survey — 260 Concord Ave, ca. late 1960s. CHC Survey.

The 1910 Cambridge Directory lists shoemaker Cosimo Carfagno as the occupant at 260 Concord. Carfagno operated his business from the small building until at least 1931, his last directory listing. The next directory, in 1937, lists the property as vacant and according to directories, remained so until at least 1972.

1930_bromley — Detail of 1930 Cambridge Bromley Atlas.

The adjoining property to the east, once the house and land of ice dealer H.H. Eames, was subdivided by his heirs in about 1900 into four house lots. Andrew N. Lewis, a carpenter, built houses on each lot, including the present house at 256 Concord Avenue once owned by Boston-based contractor Garrett Lambert.

Concord Ave 256-260 — 256-260 Concord Avenue, 20 August 1983. Photographer unknown.

The neighborhood lore is that this is a ‘spite’ or ‘grudge’ building. This may be a reasonable inference from the store’s proximity to 256 Concord Avenue, since one can easily imagine O’Reilly buying this otherwise useless property with the intent of selling it to the eventual abutter, but there is no documentary evidence to support this. In the absence of zoning, which was not adopted until 1926, many property owners were quick to put waste ground to any productive use, and it is equally logical that this structure was built by O’Reilly specifically for Carfagno to occupy as a shoe repair shop.

Concord Ave 260_002 — 260 Concord Avenue as seen from Appleton Street, 13 August 1983. Photographer unknown.

We hope you enjoyed today’s post, and we also hope you take time to explore the small businesses in your neighborhood!

Sources:

Cambridge Historical Commission survey file: 260 Concord Avenue

http://www.abroadmodern.com/pages/our-journey

National Get Caught Reading Month – New Library Holdings

Posted on May 17, 2020August 17, 2020 by Brittany F.

Here at the CHC we are constantly updating our library holdings and our researcher resources. Since the beginning of last year, we’ve added 196 new entries to our database! We aim to accrue the most complete collection of resources on Cambridge and its history that we possibly can. Scroll down to learn about our latest and newest offerings. They may inspire you to Get Caught Reading this month. All of the books listed here were published in 2019.

1-overview — The front covers of some of the books we chose

Maria Baldwin’s worlds: A story of Black New England and the fight for racial justice by Kathleen Weiler

Written by a local Tuft’s professor, this nonfiction biography recounts the life of Maria Baldwin (1856-1922), an African American educator in Cambridge and Boston. After growing up in Cambridge, Baldwin had to seek out employment in Maryland before returning to Cambridge where she gained a position at the Agassiz school. In 1889 she was promoted to principal of the school, making her the first female African American principle in Massachusetts. Some of her other major contributions included her efforts within many civic and educational organizations in the Boston area, including the literary Omar Khayyam Circle, the Women’s Era Club, the Cantabrigia Club, and the Boston Literary and Historical Association– but those are just to name a few. Weiler’s book offers insight into the challenges Baldwin faced and how she was able to surmount racialized barriers and achieve significant feats in both her professional and personal life.

maps — Here are some of our favorite plates from *The Atlas:* Plate 13. Boston in 1800; Plate 17. Literary Boston, 1837-1891; Plate 27. Streetcar Suburbs, 1870-1900; Plate 32. Sports and Recreation, 1895-1903.

The atlas of Boston history edited by Nancy S. Seasholes

A pictorial and textual work, this book contains 57 spreads of Boston’s landscape throughout its history. Detailing the evolution of the terrain over time, this resource shows the trajectory of change in one convenient resource. Containing both this geographic topic as well as explanations of the visualized history, readers can gather a well-rounded overview of Boston’s history. However, this work is not just about the physical changes of the city over time. As stated on the book’s official page, it contains “a wide range of topics including Boston’s physical and economic development, changing demography, and social and cultural life.”

Splendid Epworth: How a chapel in Old Cambridge became a pillar of liberal New England methodism by Lane Lambert

Check this book out to learn about the history of Harvard Square’s Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church. The first on this subject matter, the book chronicles the church’s congregation from its creation in 1868 as the North Avenue Methodist Society as well as the built environment of the church’s location at 1555 Mass Ave. If you visit us to reference this book, you can read about notable members and pastors, including pastor Daniel C. Whitsett (active 1958-1963) and pastor Edward L. Mark (active 1964-1996). Lane Lambert offers a unique perspective as both the author and a church member of this book.

2-genealogy — *Genealogical extract of the record books of the Charles River Baptist Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts renamed in 1895 the Emmanuel Baptist Church*

Genealogical extract of the record books of the Charles River Baptist Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts renamed in 1895 the Emmanuel Baptist Church by Glenn Berry

This publication is a great source for anyone seeking to do local genealogical research! It covers the church’s baptisms from 1876 to 1955. Currently the Cambridgeport Baptist Church after it was purchased in 1982, this church was once located at 459 Putnam Ave.

The colonial records of Kings Chapel 1686-1776 edited by James B. Bell and James E. Mooney

We pulled the book blurb from the University of Virginia Press to give you an idea as to what this book is about:

“The story of the origins of the first Anglican congregation established in Boston and New England, Kings Chapel, is significantly shaped by the gradually emerging imperial policies of the government of Charles II during the late seventeenth century. It is a transatlantic account influenced largely by two forces, one in London, driven by the members of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and the other in Boston, driven by a handful of merchants with active and productive commercial ties with London and Bristol trading firms. Extending the Church of England to Puritan Boston after the revocation in 1684 of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s first charter and the creation of the province as a royal jurisdiction was received reluctantly by the town’s residents, who considered it a novel, abrupt, and unwanted political and ecclesiastical act. This was not merely the extension of a religious group from the Old World to the New, for the Church of England was granted great political and cultural authority through the laws of England’s unwritten constitution.”

Bonus! The book’s seller on Amazon does not deliver to the United States so this is your chance to read the book easily.

The arts and crafts houses of Massachusetts: A style rediscovered by Heli Meltsner

Do you like architecture and local buildings? Then you’ll love this new addition to our library. A great resource on this 20^th century aesthetics movement in our state, this book highlights local places you may have walked by without even realizing it. Additionally, as the book’s official site states, “it is also the first book to explore the use of this cutting-edge style in designing buildings for estate servants, transit workers, and renters—groups that historically lacked access to professionally designed homes.” Written by a local resident who has been the curator of the Cambridge Historical Society as well as a contributor to various planning and preservation efforts, this book is a fantastic read.

Sources consulted:

“The Arts & Crafts Houses of Massachusetts.” Bauhan Publishing. May 22, 2019. http://www.bauhanpublishing.com/the-arts-crafts-houses-of-massachusetts/

“The Atlas of Boston History.” The University of Chicago Press Books. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo39508817.html

“Harvard-Epworth Church releases book on church history.” Wicked Local. December 3, 2019. https://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20191203/harvard-epworth-church-releases-book-on-church-history

“The Records of Kings Chapel, Boston.” The University of Virginia Press. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5425

University of Massachusetts Press. “Maria Baldwin’s Worlds.” University of Massachusetts Amherst. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/maria-baldwins-worlds

The Cambridge Visiting Nursing Association

Posted on May 7, 2020May 8, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

In honor of National Nurses Week, today we are sharing the story of the Cambridge Visiting Nursing Association (CVNA), once headquartered at 35 Bigelow Street. The CVNA was established in 1904 by twelve Cambridge women in response to the community’s dire need for skilled home nursing care. As cities like Cambridge grew rapidly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and with neighborhoods becoming denser, it became even more necessary for nurses to travel to individuals to provide healthcare – especially at a time when most healthcare was provided in the home. An article in the Cambridge Chronicle states that the CVNA started when “a few ladies of old Cambridge supported a nurse who visited the very poor.”

80364343_2858127020874292_6234015197577609216_n — “On this day in 1922, the Cambridge VNA kicked off a highly successful fundraising campaign for home health care. Nurses gathered in front of the agency’s 35 Bigelow St., Cambridge, office for this photo.” Caption and image used with courtesy of VNA Care’s Facebook page, 1/16/2020.

During the CVNA’s first year, $5000 was raised to provide for the salary of three visiting nurses to make house calls to Cambridge residents, and for the fitting up of a nurses residence. From 1904-1908, the CVNA took quarters at 35 and 48 Bigelow Street, where the first two or three nurses employed were housed. By 1906 there were seven or eight nurses in residence, and in 1908, the CVNA purchased the entire home at 35 Bigelow for their official use. They remained headquartered there until 1987, when they relocated to 186 Alewife Brook Parkway. In 1995 the CVNA merged with VNA North Shore and the parent companies of Visiting Nurse Associates to create the VNA Care Network, “a nonprofit home health care, palliative care, hospice, and wellness provider serving more than 200 communities in Eastern and Central Massachusetts.”

PanasonicMECH=KV-S7075C SIDE=F — From the CVNA Seventh Annual Report, 1911.

From the beginning, the CVNA worked with people of all ages, though in its earlier days the nurses were chiefly involved with pre-natal care and home-births, instruction in infant care, and the treatment of tuberculosis, as well as polio and influenza. The CVNA supervisor would assign each nurse to a different case or neighborhood, discussing cases and patient plans with them.

Tribune19200214-01.2.98-a2-292w — Call for nurses – Cambridge Chronicle, February 14, 1920.

vnacaretwitter — Educational lantern slide, used with courtesy of the VNA Care Twitter account.

By the 1920s the CVNA collaborated with the Cambridge Anti-Tuberculosis Association in maintaining a health center at the Thorndike School in East Cambridge. The center offered a wide range of services, including “a nurse who gives all of her time to the district, a children’s clinic…a posture clinic…and an evening health clinic for adults.” The center also offered nutrition and hygiene classes, “training girls in the care of their younger brothers and sisters,” classes in physical exercise, mothers’ meetings, “and moving pictures and lantern-slide lectures on health subjects.”

Chronicle19200717-01.2.98-a2-295w — Cambridge Chronicle, Aug. 17, 1920

The CVNA also participated in numerous citywide activities and programs, such as educational health exhibits at the YMCA and plays put on by local school children centered around health lessons.

Chronicle19381222-01.2.89-a5-488w — “Visiting Nursing Association Makes 16,000 Visits Yearly.” Cambridge Chronicle, December 22, 1938.

As the needs of the community and healthcare delivery changed, the CVNA expanded their services to aid with the elderly and hospice services, and later added therapists, home health aides, social workers, and office personnel to their staff as well as the visiting nurses.

Chronicle19710506-01.2.21-a5-578w

Chronicle19710506-01.2.21-a6-568w — Cambridge Chronicle, May 6, 1971

In 1971 it was reported that the CVNA made 19,647 visits to 987 patients of all ages that year. They had 29 nurses on staff and worked alongside doctors and 35 other health services, including the Boston Visiting Nursing Association. The CVNA also provided disaster nursing relief alongside the Red Cross and were major caregivers during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Thank you to all nurses and caregivers!

vnatwitter — Cambridge visiting nurses biking to patients’ homes in 1974, used with courtesy of VNA Care’s Facebook page, May 3, 2018.

About 35 Bigelow Street:

35 Bigelow Street today. Cambridge Property Database.

A three-story mansard style house with a handsome side porch/piazza, built in 1869. In 1908 there was a first-floor addition built for the CVNA, followed by a second-floor addition in 1916 by the firm of Howe & Manning. In 1927 the brick garage was built for the CVNA and was changed to a two-story dwelling in 1985, now 35r Bigelow. Today the home is divided into condos.

Sources:

VNA Care, vnacare.org as well as their Twitter and Facebook accounts

CHS Proceedings, v. 18, 1925

Numerous articles from the Cambridge Chronicle, particularly 7/17/1920 and 3/28/1991

For photographs of other Cambridge community nurses, check out the Benedict Daniels Scrapbook on our Flickr page.