Military history - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

“The Magic Incubator”: MIT Building 20 (1943-1998)

Posted on March 24, 2026March 23, 2026 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Building 20 – MIT – from blimp – Aug. 1945. Courtesy MIT Museum.

MIT’s Building 20 was built at 18 Vassar Street in 1943 as part of the war effort to improve existing radar capabilities. In 1940, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) appointed the president of MIT, Karl T. Compton, to head up special research projects to advance the development of what turned out to be “micro-wave” radar. Given the size of the project, Compton quickly realized MIT needed a new building to accommodate the task at hand—hence: Building 20. The administration and business affairs of the work done there were handled by MIT, but its funding and research agenda were determined by the NDRC.

Building 20 was erected in only six months. Since war-time steel production was limited to use for armaments, the building was constructed of wood and built like a three-story barracks. It had five wings: the “B” wing was parallel to Vassar Street, while the A, C, D and E wings extended perpendicularly towards the central MIT campus. The roof was flat, the shingles were asbestos (a product not yet firmly considered toxic), and the windows were stacked hoppers. Because it was considered a temporary building, Building 20 was also built without the need to adhere to some of the usual building constraints of the time, like prevailing fire codes. After the war, the MIT Acoustics Lab was attached to the C wing. At the time of its demolition in 1998, Building 20 and its additions had a combined floor area of approximately 222,000 square feet.

Detail of *Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts*. 1950. Sanborn Map Company via Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3764cm.g03701195001.

The main event when the building was completed was housing the “Radiation Laboratory” or “Rad Lab,” a somewhat vague name intentionally chosen to conceal its true operations: developing microwave radar to improve the accuracy of bombing. Once this new technology was ready for action, the urgency of this need caused the Rad Lab to start manually building “blind bombing sets” in Building 20 until industrial manufactures could gear up to produce them in large quantities.

Radio Frequency (Group 53), MIT Radiation Laboratory. Image courtesy Jewish Women’s Archive via Wikimedia Commons.

Other inventions included “… airborne bombing radars, shipboard search radars, harbor and coastal defense radars, gun-laying radars, ground-controlled approach radars for aircraft blind landing, interrogate-friend-or-foe beacon systems, and the long-range navigation (LORAN) system. Some of the most critical contributions of the Radiation Laboratory were the microwave early-warning (MEW) radars, which effectively nullified the V-1 threat to London, and air-to-surface vessel (ASV) radars, which turned the tide on the U-boat threat.” (MIT Radiation Laboratory)

According to The Cambridge Chronicle (August 16, 1945) the real purpose of Building 20 was made public just a half hour after Truman announced the surrender of Japan:

In 1998, the year the building was to be demolished, The New York Times ran an article called “Last Rites for a ‘Plywood Palace’ That Was a Rock of Science,” which stated that the building was home “for almost 4,000 researchers in 20 disciplines. At one time, more than 20 percent of the physicists in the United States (including nine Nobel Prize winners) had worked in that building.”

What made Building 20 such a hotbed of creative innovation?

It all had to do with what biologist Stuart Kauffman [not at MIT] called “the adjacent possible.” His description of the term perfectly describes Building 20: “…its physical and social environment continually expanded the realm of what was thinkable and doable. Its open, makeshift design and its mix of disciplines made it easier for researchers to stumble upon the next possible thing that hadn’t yet been imagined. The proximity of minds from different domains allowed ideas to leap boundaries and merge into novel possibilities, showing that innovation is less a flash of genius and more a product of evolving connections in the right conditions.”

Those who worked in Building 20 agreed:

“It turned out to be absolutely perfect for research…you can knock down a wall, you can punch out a ceiling, and you could get space. In academics, space is everything.” (Morris Halle, Professor of Linguistics in “A Building with Soul” by Alex Beam, The Boston Globe, June 29, 1988).

Interior image of Building 20. Courtesy MIT Museum.

“Life in Building 20 was homey with a family-like atmosphere. Any excuse would serve for having a party. People ignored the shabbiness and dirt because the atmosphere encouraged creativity and the exchange of ideas.” (RLE Undercurrents, Vol. 9, no. 2, Fall 1997)

“People got together and shared ideas without worrying who you were.”

“It was so informal nobody considered rank or previous training.”

“…it was so easy to build experiments there – pull wires, bolt things to walls, come and go at any hour.”

It was unpretentious in all aspects.

A hallway in Building 20. Courtesy MIT Museum.

A 1945 statement by the Department of Defense noted that the research in the Rad Lab “pushed research in this field ahead by at least 25 normal peacetime years.” (“Building 20: What Made It So Special and Why It Will (probably) Never Exist Again.”)

Among those working in the building during the war years were:

Jerome Wiesner: worked on microwave radar, later at Los Alamos National Laboratory, later chairman of President Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), and later President of MIT
Amar Bose: his invention of improved loudspeakers led to the founding of the Bose company
Leo Beranek: an acoustical engineer, who went on to found Bolt, Beranek & Newman

Site visit to Building 20, MIT. Photographed by Charles M. Sullivan. 1998. https://cdash.cambridgema.gov/s/cdash/item/136333.

Building 20 After the War

After WWII some programs closed down, opening up space for other projects. While scientific research continued, over time a myriad of “non science” programs like linguistics, history, arts, music, and student affairs also occupied space in the building, further adding to its quirky allure. The list below is far from inclusive but serves to convey the range of programs that shared the space.

Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. In 1976, Morris Halle and Noam Chomsky, pioneers in linguistics research, together founded the MIT Linguistics program
Jerome Lettvin, cognitive scientist and Professor of Electrical and Bioengineering and Communications Physiology
MIT Dean of Humanities Office
History of Science and Technology Program, including Elting Morrison, historian of technology, and founder of the Science, Technology, and Society program
Anthropology section of the Humanities Department
Music Department
MIT Electronic Research Society (MITRE)
Research Lab of Electronics Photography: Harold “Doc” Edgerton who developed stroboscopic, stop-action photography, including the famous milk drop “Considered one of the most important photographs of all time.”

Milk Drop Coronet, photographed by Harold Eugene Edgerton. 1957. Courtesy MIT Museum. https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/HEE-NC-57001.

MIT Council on Arts
The Atomic Energy Commission, Cambridge Office
MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound Program
Model Railroad Club
ROTC: Army, Air Force, Navy
Biotechnology Process Engineering Center
Center for Space Research, Gravity & Cosmology
The Institute for Learning and Teaching
Graphic Arts
Biologic Process Engineering Center
Center for Materials Research in Anthropology & Ethnology
Center for Environmental Health Sciences

The Denouement of Building 20

Building 20 finally reached the end of the road in 1998. Having outlived its original planned lifespan by decades, by any standard Building 20 was a ramshackle place. The Cambridge Historical Commission initially advocated for giving the building protected status. However, after hearings on the subject, the Commission, noting the comprehensive history of the building maintained by MIT and the fact that it no longer could support “modern science and engineering,” gave MIT permission to raze the building.

MIT Building 20 being demolished. Courtesy City of Sound blog. https://cityofsound.com/2004/06/23/designing-adaptability-into-mit/.

Building 20 was replaced by the Ray and Maria Stata Center (Building 32), designed by Frank Ghery. It opened in 2004.

MIT’s Stata Center photographed July 31, 2004 by User:Raul654 via Wikimedia Commons.

Building 20 along Vassar Street framed with wood recovered from flooring of the demolished building. Private collection.

The frame for the photo above was made with wood of floorboards from Building 20. The name carved into the bottom of the frame, Parker & Stearns, was a lumber company in Johnson, VT and is presumed to have provided lumber for the building’s construction.

The MIT Building 20 Time Capsule is located the Stata Center, part of an exhibit dedicated to Building 20 and the Rad Lab. The capsule is to be opened in 2053, 55 years after Building 20 was demolished. Perched on top of the box holding the time capsule is another relic from the war research: a SCR-615B Radar Antenna.

Designers and builders of the Building 20 Time Capsule (left to right): Tanisha Lloyd, Sonia Tulyani, and their UROP supervisor, Professor J. Francis Reinties, 1999. Courtesy MIT Museum.

Rad Lab Exhibit, Stata Center, MIT. Image courtesy S. N. Johnson-Roehr. https://astronomy.snjr.net/blog/?p=559.

Today’s post was written by Kathleen Fox

Sources

Adams, Steve. “The Hottest Property: MIT’s Building 20.” Banker & Tradesman. Sept 11, 2022. https://bankerandtradesman.com/the-hottest-property-mits-building-20/.

Beam, Alex. “A Building with Soul.” The Boston Globe. June 29, 1988.

“Building 20 at MIT Innovation Story: A humble wartime lab that sparked a legacy of innovation and collaboration.” https://conversational-leadership.net/mit-building-20/.

“Building 20: The Magical Incubator 1943 – 1998.” https://web.mit.edu/fnl/vol/104/Bldg20.html.

Cambridge Historical Commission Architectural Survey file for Building 20: https://cdash.cambridgema.gov/s/cdash/item/136317.

Campbell, Robert. “The End of the ‘Magic Incubator’.” The Boston Globe. June 5, 1998.

“Celebrating the History of Building 20.” https://wayback.archive-it.org/7963/20190701202448/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/building20/.

Garfinkel, Simson. “Building 20: A Survey.” https://ic.media.mit.edu/projects/JBW/ARTICLES/SIMSONG.HTM.

Halle, Morris. “Rooms to Grow In.” Preservation, Vol. 51 No. 5, September-October, 1999. https://web.mit.edu/morrishalle/pubworks/papers/1999_Halle_Rooms_to_grow_in.pdf.

MIT Distinctive Collections. https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections/.

“MIT Radiation Laboratory.” Lincoln Laboratory, MIT. https://www.ll.mit.edu/about/history/mit-radiation-laboratory.

Subject summary for objects: Building 20. MIT Museum. https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/subject/building-20-37.

Common Cause, Uncommon Courage

Posted on November 28, 2025November 26, 2025 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Our publication Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts is the product of a four-year effort to record the experiences of more than 125 Cambridge veterans and home front participants. These recollections are told by soldiers in combat, nurses in hospitals in Europe and the Pacific, women who worked at the Charlestown Navy Yard and other defense industries, and servicemen’s families who waited for loved ones to come home. Five POWs, a Holocaust survivor, and an Italian Jewish refugee tell stories of uncommon courage and determination to persevere and survive in extraordinary circumstances. A narrative of the war in the European and Pacific Theaters accompanies the oral histories, and more than 250 photographs, some from the National Archives and FDR Library, are included as well.

Cover of the book 'Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts' by Sarah Boyer, featuring a historic map background and an image of a family with children. — Cover of *Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts* (2009)

The following passage comes from the section “Prisoners of War (POWs)” where Private First Class Armando DeVito shares his experience during the Battle of the Bulge:

“When we went out of the Ardennes, we had hardly any equipment left, and we were waiting for air support, which we didn’t get. We were in this gully with German Tiger tanks all around us, and we didn’t have much ammunition left. We were trying to dig in to keep low. All we had were rifles—no heavy equipment. We were all facedown. We didn’t dare move, because they were all around us.”

To learn the conclusion of DeVito’s harrowing journey and hear about the efforts of many other Cantabrigians during this conflict, stop by our office or click here and obtain your own copy of this rich oral history book! For more information, email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov.

A handwritten list detailing items such as Domino Cane Sugar, Swan Soap, U.S. Army Field Ration, and Spearmint Gum, with references to suppliers from New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts. — Page from POW Francis Cunningham’s record of Red Cross parcel received, ca. 1944

America’s 250th Speaker Series: Washington in American Memory

Posted on November 19, 2025November 18, 2025 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series running from November 2025 through April 2026. All events are hybrid.

Join us on Tuesday, December 2 for the second event in this series – The First Commander Remembered: Washington’s Legacy in Cambridge

When: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 | 6:00-7:30 PM

Debunk myths and trace the evolution of the public memory of George Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts, featuring:
• J.L. Bell, author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War and proprietor of Boston1775.net
• Charles Sullivan, co-author of Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development and Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission

Click to register for the event and attend in-person or online: https://cambridgepl.libcal.com/event/15462126.

To view the full event series, click here: https://www.nps.gov/long/planyourvisit/speaker-series.htm.

This speaker series is made possible through the generous support of Eastern National, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. It is presented in partnership by the National Park Service/Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, History Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge Historical Commission, and Cambridge MA250.

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month: Armistice Day

Posted on November 11, 2025November 3, 2025 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

As we celebrate Veterans Day on Tuesday November 11, it’s worth remembering why this became a holiday—originally intended solely to commemorate the end of World War I. The headline above declaring the end of the war is from the Boston Globe because, in 1918, the Cambridge newspapers published only weekly on Saturdays.

The United States had entered the “Great War” on 6 April 1917. A year and a half later, the Armistice between the Allies and Germany was agreed to on “the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month.” Cambridge Mayor Edward W. Quinn issued a proclamation on November 11, which was published five days later in The Cambridge Chronicle:

*The Cambridge Chronicle* November 16, 1918

And, as everywhere across the nation, the city celebrated:

*The Cambridge Tribune* November 16, 1918

President Wilson agreed with the idea of commemorating Armistice Day, and he urged governors to do the same. But getting Congressional support for the holiday took some time. In 1926, after much lobbying by the American Legion, a Congressional resolution requested of President Calvin Coolidge that he agree to making this an annual commemoration day. It was not until 1938 that this request to honor WWI dead was finally approved by President Roosevelt. Years later, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks of Alabama proposed changing the name to “Veterans Day” to honor all veterans of all wars. This change was approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954.

1917: The Looming War

Months before the United States joined the cause, this topic was top of mind across the nation. In the early spring, recruiting efforts were already under way:

*The Cambridge Tribune* March 10, 1917 (excerpt)

Many Cambridge men joined up with Canadian forces. In Cambridge, enlisting options included the Navy, Marines, the Massachusetts National Guard, and the Army. MIT President Richard C. Maclaurin established a ground aeronautical school for the Navy in 1917, and in 1918 the Army had an “air service” branch—a predecessor to the Air Force—sometimes referred to as the “Signal Corps.” On August 18, 1917, The Cambridge Chronicle reported that “George W. Cooper, of 100 Magazine Street, was the 1000^th New England applicant for the position of first lieutenant as aviator or observation balloon pilot.”

Initially many troops came from the National Guard, which had previously been limited to serving only as a domestic security force. With the advent of the Great War on August 5, 1917, according to the U.S. Government military history, “the entire National Guard was drafted into U.S. Army service for World War I.”

Brigadier Clarence R. Edwards was deployed to execute the organization of the 26^th Division of the Army, known as the “Yankee Division,” made up primarily of units from the Massachusetts National Guard. The task was daunting. In May of 1917, he spoke at a meeting of the Cambridge Lodge of Elks:

*The Cambridge Tribune* May 26, 1917 (excerpt)

(There are some claims that in September 1917 the Yankee Division was the first complete division to deploy to France.)

In Cambridge, Mrs. William Carey Cole was instrumental in organizing recruiting stations, which she caused to be set up in polling booths. Some of these were located on Quincy Square, Sherman, Cowperthwaite, Banks, and Hudson Streets.

*The Cambridge Chronicle* April 28, 1917

Recruiting was not limited to native born Americans. According to the U. S. Citizen and Immigration Services, “Foreign-born soldiers composed over 18 percent of the U.S. Army during World War I. Almost one in five draftees was born overseas.”

Notable among the Cambridge African Americans who joined up was Clifton Merriman (1893-1989). Merriman was a Corporal in an African American unit of the 372^nd Infantry. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart, the French Medaille Militaire, the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and the Verdun Medal. He was discharged in 1919 as a staff sergeant, came back to Cambridge, and eventually became the Assistant Superintendent of the main Post Office, where he worked for 35 years. The Post Office building in Central Square is named after him. He died in 1989 at the age of 95.

Photograph of Sgt. Clifton Merriman, 372nd Infantry. Photo courtesy State Library of Massachusetts.

*The Cambridge Chronicle* January 11,1919

There is a connection between Merriman and Isaac Wilson Taylor (image below), another African American from Cambridge who joined up. Merriman belonged to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2443, named after Taylor.

Memorials and Commemoration

At least 264 Cambridge men are known to have died in WWI. (This does not include students at Harvard or MIT who did not originally come from homes in Cambridge.) The true number is probably higher. Some were killed in action, some died of wounds or of accident, some died while with the Canadian Forces, some died anonymously. About 169 of these men (and a few women) are memorialized in the collection of Cambridge WWI Memorial Plaques in the historical collections at the Cambridge Public Library: “This set of wood plaques honors soldiers from Cambridge, Mass. who died in World War I. The plaques were dedicated in 1928 by Edward W. Quinn, Mayor (1918-1929) and put on display in the War Memorial Athletic Facility in Cambridge, Mass. Each plaque bears an image of the solider on a copper alloy plate, a name plate (also copper alloy), the date of the year s/he died, and the following text: ‘In grateful remembrance of her War Dead, Presented by the Cambridge City Government, 1928, Edward W. Quinn, Mayor.’ A memorial plaque to the soldiers was dedicated on May 30, 1936, by Edward W. Quinn and John D. Lynch, Mayor (1936-1937). The plaques were made by Imperishable Arts, Inc. in New York City…”

As noted, it took 8 years from inception to display of the collection. This was due to extensive haggling over the budget, and the appropriate place to display the plaques.

Images: Cambridge Public Library Archives/Digital Commonwealth

Today, you can view these plaques online: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/collections/commonwealth:ft848v885

Memorial Drive

Another means of honoring the WWI war dead was changing the name of Charles River Drive to Memorial Drive. The American Legion initially floated this idea in 1920, and for three years the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which owned the property on which the Charles River Drive had been built, objected. The only reason provided was simply that the MDC deemed it “inexpedient.” More specific reasons for their opposition are not entirely clear. One of the ideas to advance the cause was to open the commemoration to all veterans of wars—not just WWI Veterans. After several committee meetings, multiple hearings, and citizens petitions, finally, on February 9, 1923, Governor Channing H. Cox signed the bill authorizing the change.

Charles River Approaching Harvard University. Cambridge Historical Commission Postcard Collection

The formal peace agreement ending the war was signed seven months after Armistice Day at the Treaty of Versailles on June 19, 1919.

Today’s post was written by volunteer Kathleen M. Fox.

Sources

Cambridge Public Library Historical Collections

“Cambridge World War I Memorial Plaques.” Cambridge Public Library via Digital Commonwealth. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/collections/commonwealth:ft848v885.

The defining role of the National Guard in WWI By National Guard Bureau Historical Services (August 7, 2017). https://www.army.mil/article/191849.

“The Immigrant Army: Immigrant Service Members in World War I.” U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. February 5, 2025. https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/stories-from-the-archives/the-immigrant-army-immigrant-service-members-in-world-war-i.

“Massachusetts WWI Centennial Commission 2017-2019.” The United States Foundation
for the Commemoration of the World Wars. https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/ma-wwi-centennial-commission-home.html.

Report of the Commission on Massachusetts’ Part in the World War: The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts (1929)

Soldiers of the Great War, Vol 2 (1920) by the Soldiers Record Publishing Association

Rationing and Salvaging Through WWII

Posted on August 15, 2025August 14, 2025 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Ration book for Rose Shapiro Brown, college graduate, of Cambridge. Image: Cambridge Historical Commission.

80 years ago, on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan surrendered, though the official ceremony took place later that year on September 2. Thus marked the end of World War II. This anniversary brings to mind an aspect of daily life on the home front during the war that many today may not know much about: rationing and salvaging. How the needs of WWII permeated daily life has not been seen in subsequent wars and is nearly inconceivable today. As you read this piece, consider how profoundly altered your daily life would be if a similar system were put in place today. In the United States, rationing began in early 1942 and formally ended in 1947.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, joining the war created an immediate and substantial need for metals, electricity, gasoline, food, clothing, tires—virtually everything—to support war production. This led to the rationing system which was designed to ensure that enough essential materials were available for weapons and troop support. Secondarily, rationing aimed to equalize the distribution system for all commodities among citizens and control inflation.

Image: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/

The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was created to administer the rationing system. Subsequent Acts of Congress further regulated rents and wages, and regulated the cost of living.

“*When you have used your ration, salvage the Tin Cans and Waste Fats.* *They are needed to make munitions for our fighting men. Cooperate with you* *Local Salvage Committee.*” Image: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/

How did the system work?

It was very, very complicated. Administering the program required 8,000 Ration Boards in cities and towns across the country. Ration Books like those above included stamps which did not have a dollar value, but, in addition to dollars, they were required for every purchase. Each member of a family (including infants and children) was required to have a ration book in their name. A person registering for ration books for a whole family needed to present the names, height, weight, eye color, hair color, and sex of each family member and state their relationship to them (natural born, adopted, spouse, etc.).

The books were issued monthly: if the books were used up, the customer had to wait for the succeeding month’s book to get enough stamps to purchase the item. In addition, stamps were numbered to be used only for a specific period of time to prevent hoarding. When the time limit was reached, the stamp was voided. Information about where to get War Ration Books and how to use them was posted in the newspapers leading up to the distribution event. In Cambridge, the books were distributed at public schools.

Stamps had a variety of images: airplane, torch, tank, aircraft carrier, wheat, fruit, etc. as well as alphabetic lettering:

Images gathered from eBay and Yahoo Image Search

Point Rationing

In addition to ration stamps, the system of “Point” rationing was particularly complicated. The point value of a particular item was based on the current availability of the product. This meant that point values changed depending on the supply and demand. The Office of Price Administration published regular updates on changing values:

*The Cambridge Sentinel* January 23, 1943 (excerpt)

First National grocery store advert (excerpt) as published in *The Cambridge Chronicle* March 23, 1944

Eventually, the government also issued dime-sized tokens to enable vendors to make “change” for stamps. Red tokens were used as change for red stamps and blue tokens to make change for blue stamps.

The details in the articles below illustrate just how much there was to keep track of before you went to the grocery store!

“How to Shop With War Ration Book Two… to Buy Canned, Bottled and Frozen Fruits and Vegetables; Dried Fruits, Juices and all Canned Soups.” Office of Price Administration, February 1943. *Collection of the National Archives and Records Administration (NAID: 514549).*

Got it? When making purchases, the correct stamp had to be torn out of your book in front the cashier. You could not redeem detached stamps. This was to discourage the black-market stamp trade.

“Stamp Out Black Markets With Your Ration Stamps” WWII Posters Collection, World War II Papers, Military Collections, State Archives of North Carolina.

The first item rationed by the OPA, on December 21, 1941, was rubber. The quota for Cambridge was set at 300,000 lbs.

*The Cambridge Sentinel* December 20, 1941

In addition to collecting the obvious objects like rubber tires, other items collected for this rubber drive included girdles, rubber shoes, bed pans, gloves, floor mats, and crutch tips. The Central Square Theatre put on a free show for children arriving with rubber scraps. They collected 2.5 tons!

In the case of toothpaste (which came in metal tubes), before you could purchase a new tube you had to hand over the empty tube so that the metal could be recycled for the war effort. One advertisement stated that “thirty-two toothpaste tubes contain the tin needed for a fighter plane.”

A War Production Board poster encourages Americans to contribute items made with tin to be recycled for use in the war effort. Credit: War Department via defense.gov.

Rationing Food

“…one-fourth of all the food that is going to be produced here during 1943 will go to U. S. armed forces, outside of its boundaries to feed the peoples of the United Nations and those peoples in lands occupied by the Axis…”

The Cambridge Sentinel January 23, 1943

To address complaints of citizens about the privations of rationing system, and in particular, about the U.S. sending food to our allies, the Director of the Office of War Information (OFI) Elmer Davis, delivered a radio speech on December 27, 1942 explaining the reasoning behind this aspect of the system:

“This war can be won only by killing enough Germans to discourage the rest of them. Enough Japanese too, but we can leave them out of this discussion; since in the Pacific area we get food from our allies, instead of sending it to them. Now the Russians, so far, have killed more Germans than everybody else put together; and that is why it makes sense for us to send food to Russia…We send food to the Russian army, because every German who is killed by a Russian is a German whom we won’t have to kill; or, for that matter, a German who will never have a chance to kill American Soldiers.”

New York Times December 28, 1942

After rubber, the next item to be rationed was sugar. Alerts about sugar shortages went out about three months after Pearl Harbor.

“Consumers will have to certify the amount of sugar they have on hand when they register for war ration book No. 1…Each person was allowed to have two pounds of sugar prior to registration. For all sugar in excess of two pounds per person, stamps were torn out of the ration book, preventing further purchase of sugar until the hoards are used up….”

The Cambridge Sentinel March 7, 1942

Book of 5-Pound Home Canning Sugar Coupons, ca. 1943. Robinson and Via Family Papers, National Museum of American History.

*The Cambridge Chronicle* April 30, 1942

Automobiles, Gas, and Mileage

As well as rationing fuel, gas and mileage rationing was another way to manage the use of rubber and the consumption of gasoline. All car owners had to register their cars for the relevant sticker determined by their car usage. Some of these included:

Examples of gas ration stickers via World History Wars

A = Basic sticker for passenger cars. Allowed 3 to 4 US gallons of gas per week and max 150 miles/mo.
B = For those who could prove that their job required driving more than 150 miles per month. They also had to carry 3 or more passengers. 8 gallons of gas/week.
C = Supplemental sticker for those whose “professional” job required up to 470 miles/mo. (Doctors, dentists)
D = Motorcyclists essential to the war effort. Same ratio of miles as the “A” sticker. 2 gallons/wk.
R = Non-highway vehicles such as tractors.
T = Commercial trucking: 5 gal/wk.
X =Highest priority stickers for those with extraordinary mileage allowances. Some Congressmen also wrangled these. Unlimited gasoline.

Soon enough the joke was circulating that “OPA” stood for “Only A Puny A-Card.”

With the exception of shoes, (rationed beginning in 1943) clothing in general was not rationed. However, since textiles such as wool (for uniforms) and silk (for parachutes) were needed in the war effort, and because clothing factories switched from making civilian clothes to military uniforms, supply was limited. The War Production Board encouraged people to consider reusing, sewing, and mending clothes as their patriotic duty.

1943 Poster: Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make it Do! by Robert Gwathmey. Courtesy PosterGroup.com

1942 poster, Work Projects Administration for the City of New York. War Services.National Museum of American History.

In addition, in 1942, the War Production Board did put restrictions on clothing manufacturers via a policy referred to as the “L-85 Regulations,” limiting how much fabric manufacturers could use to produce civilian clothing. This meant that women’s skirts became shorter, used fewer buttons, and eliminated flaps on pockets and “balloon” blouse sleeves. Men’s suits also had no pocket flaps, narrow labels, and were only single breasted.

The Salvage Operation

Salvaging materials to meet the needs of war production was immense and equally as important as rationing. The clips below effectively illuminate the reasoning, communications, and the systems for salvage collection. Most compelling were those articles that outlined how many pounds or tons of an item were needed to produce specific war necessities. For instance, in the “Save Scrap” advert below we learn that 25 pounds of wastepaper can make eight shell containers. Posters were excellently designed—look at the view down the barrel of an artillery gun (below) calling for saving waste fats. The language and images used to encourage salvaging are so vivid they speak for themselves. And don’t miss the last item in this news report re: ladies hosiery!

*The Cambridge Chronicle* January 29, 1943 (excerpt)

*The Cambridge Sentinel* October 10, 1942

*The Cambridge Sentinel* September 19, 1942

Scrap iron for war effort, WWII. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

*The Cambridge Sentinel* September 5, 1942

*The Cambridge Sentinel* February 6, 1943

“One tablespoonful of kitchen grease fires five bullets.”
“One pound of kitchen fats makes enough dynamite to blow up a bridge.”
Poster: Save Waste Fats For Gunpowder, artist unknown. Courtesy PosterGroup.com

*The Cambridge Sentinel* October 28, 1944

War ad calling for waste fats collection. Image via Reddit.

Poster “Waste Paper Makes Containers for Blood Plasma” ca. 1941-45. National Archives and Records Administration.

*The Cambridge Chronicle* November 18, 1943 (excerpt)

Cambridge aiming to collect 555,000 pounds of wastepaper:

*The Cambridge Sentinel* November 27, 1943

Virtually all countries – Axis or Allied – had a rationing system during the war. In the United States, rationing was ended in stages as supply met demand, but goods remained in short supply after the war.

Rationed Items	Rationing Duration
Tires	January 1942 to December 1945
Cars	February 1942 to October 1945
Bicycles	July 1942 to September 1945
Gasoline	May 1942 to August 1945
Fuel Oil & Kerosene	October 1942 to August 1945
Solid Fuels	September 1943 to August 1945
Stoves	December 1942 to August 1945
Rubber Footwear	October 1942 to September 1945
Shoes	February 1943 to October 1945
Sugar	May 1942 to 1947
Coffee	November 1942 to July 1943
Processed Foods	March 1943 to August 1945
Meats, canned fish	March 1943 to November 1945
Cheese, canned milk, fats	March 1943 to November 1945
Typewriters	March 1942 to April 1944

Duration of commodities rationed in the United States during WWII. Courtesy Ames History Museum.

After the War

The complexities of transitioning from wartime production to peacetime production was anticipated as early as 1942, as seen in this in this excerpt from an article just as rationing was beginning:

*The Cambridge Sentinel* January 17, 1942

Manufacturers Do Their Part

Wartime needs produced a boom in manufacturing. Many American companies pivoted their manufacturing capabilities to support the war effort. One such company was Maidenform, a manufacturer of women’s bras, underwear, and shapewear. Maidenform began producing vests and parachutes for homing pigeons who accompanied paratroopers and often delivered critical messages. For more on this astonishing story, read “Pigeons in bras go to war” by Lindsay Keating: https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/pigeons-bras-go-war.

After the war, retooling factories for peacetime production presented a different sort of challenge such as shifting from making tanks to making cars. Nonetheless, celebration prevailed:

*The Cambridge Chronicle* September 13, 1945

Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox

SOURCES

“Black Markets during World War II” by Lauren Gronek. https://iu.pressbooks.pub/perspectives2/chapter/black-markets-during-world-war-ii/.

“Fashion on the ration- How WWII and clothes rationing affected fashion and street style in the 1940s” by Neil Patrick. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/07/13/fashion-ration-2-2/.

“How Gas Rationing Worked in World War II.” History Time Machine. https://historytimemachine.com/how-gas-rationing-worked-in-world-war-ii/.

John and Ruth Maki’s WWII Ration Books, Number 4. United States Office of Price Administration. https://archive.org/details/maki.war.ration.books.1943.

“Make It Do – Clothing in World War II” by Sarah Sundin. https://www.sarahsundin.com/make-it-do-clothing-restrictions-in-world-war-ii/.

“Make It Do – Rationing of Butter, Fats & Oils in World War II” by Sarah Sundin. https://www.sarahsundin.com/make-it-do-rationing-of-fats-oils-in-world-war-ii-2/.

“Office of Price Administration.” Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/united-states-and-canada/us-history/office-price-administration.

Ration Book Holder, Office of Price Administration (OPA). Compiled and formatted by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation. https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/ATO/Admin/OPA/RatBk/index.html.

“Ration Books.” The National WWII Museum. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/take-closer-look-ration-books.

“Rationed Goods in the U.S. During World War II.” Ames History Museum. https://ameshistory.org/content/rationed-goods-us-during-world-war-ii.

“Rationing during WW2: See war ration books, ration stamps, gas stamps, sugar coupons & more from the 1940s.” Click Americana. https://clickamericana.com/topics/war-topics/ration-stamps-ww2-war-ration-book-4.

“When Did Food Rationing Finally End in the United States? A Deliciously Detailed History.” Organize for Living. https://organizeforliving.com/when-did-food-rationing-end-in-the-us/.

“World War II ration stamps.” Alumni Brunswick High School. http://alumnibhs.com/old%20geezer%20photos/ww2%20ration%20stamps.htm.

“World War II Rationing on the U.S. Homefront.” Ames History Museum. https://ameshistory.org/content/world-war-ii-rationing-us-homefront.

Illustrated Talk: Black Patriots of Cambridge

Posted on June 24, 2025 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Join us tomorrow for an illustrated talk with Leslie Brunetta and Paula Paris and learn more about Cambridge’s Black Patriots and the Black Cantabrigians that lived and worked here in the years following the Revolutionary War.

Wed. June 25, 2025, 6:00PM
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational
11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
in the Margaret Jewett Hall – Note that this venue does not have air conditioning. Please plan accordingly.

Leslie Brunetta is a writer who has been a member of the Cambridge Black History Project since 2020. She stumbled into researching Cambridge Black history after discovering that Francis Prince Clary, activist and assistant to the first Harvard chemistry professor, had lived on her street in Mid Cambridge. She has published a number of profiles of historical Black figures in Cambridge Day and the Mount Auburn Cemetery website. She just published an essay at Commonplace about a well-known Black author’s formidable widow employed by William Dean Howells as a housekeeper on Sacramento St.

Paula Paris is a lifelong resident of West Cambridge. She is a member of First Church in Cambridge and is active in many community organizations including the Cambridge Historical Commission and the Cambridge Black History Project. She is Deputy Director of the educational non-profit JFY NetWorks, which prepares underserved youth for college and the workplace. Learn more about First Church’s racial justice work online here.

This event is being sponsored by the Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge Black History Project and First Church in Cambridge and with the support of a grant to the City from the Massachusetts Office of Tourism. For more information, see MA250 website and Cambridge250.

Free Events Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Powder House Alarm in Somerville and Cambridge

Posted on August 30, 2024August 30, 2024 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Exterior view of 105 Brattle St, now Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, as it appeared in *Gleason’s Pictorial* in 1852

History Cambridge, the Somerville Museum, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, Friends of Longfellow House-Washington’s HQ, Boston 1775, Cambridge Historical Commission, and Cambridge Public Library will present free events marking the 250^th anniversary of the 1774 Powder Alarm and the start of Massachusetts’s political independence from Britain.

Spark of the Revolution: Reenactment and Historic Fair – Sunday, September 1^st, 9:30 am–12:30 pm, Nathan Tufts Park, Broadway and College Ave., Somerville

9:30 am sharp: Reenactment of the events of September 1, 1774, when British soldiers unlocked the Powder House and carried off stores of gunpowder.

Followed by: A living history fair, including docent tours of the Powder House, activity tables, and even a scavenger hunt of the park!

Presented by the Somerville Museum in partnership with the City of Somerville. For more information visit: https://www.somervillemuseum.org/calendar-events/powder-alarm

Rebellion along Tory Row: The 1774 Powder Alarm – Monday, September 2^nd , 2024, 1:00-4:00 pm at sites along Brattle Street.

News of the British soldiers emptying the Somerville Powder House of its valuable stores burned through the colonies, fueled by rumors of violence and death. Soon, thousands of Patriot militiamen were marching toward Cambridge, reaching the town on September 2, 1774. The events of the day signaled a new political order in Massachusetts and upended the lives of families along Tory Row. All events are free.

1:00–4:00 pm: Family games and activities at Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, 105 Brattle Street

1:45 pm: J. L. Bell, a respected local historian and writer, leads a walking tour of the colonial estates along Brattle Street, starting at Longfellow House–Washington’s HQ.

2:30 pm: Prof. Robert J. Allison, a Professor of History at Suffolk University, explores the political situation in Massachusetts in 1774 at History Cambridge, 159 Brattle Street.

3:30 pm: Michele Gabrielson speaks on Revolutionary printers and 18th-century media literacy at History Cambridge, 159 Brattle Street.

Supported by the Cambridge Historical Commission, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, History Cambridge, and many volunteers.

What was the Powder Alarm all about? Read this article by the Beth Folsom, the programs manager for History Cambridge. Powder Alarm’s 250th anniversary kicks off Cambridge’s Revolutionary commemorations – Cambridge Day

Want to know more about the characters and events in Massachusetts that led to the Revolution? J.L. Bell’s blog, “Boston 1775”, is the place for you. Bell, the site’s sole proprietor, shares History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in Massachusetts. Boston 1775: 2024. Bell talks all about it on WBUR. Listen here: https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2024/08/29/powder-alarm-somerville-american-revolution-revolt

Prof. Allison is a respected history professor, author, and lecturer. He shares some of his work on his personal webpage. Robert J. Allison – Welcome (robertallisonhistory.com)

Camp Cameron: The Civil War Boot Camp in North Cambridge

Posted on November 11, 2023November 9, 2023 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

We write this post in honor of Veterans’ Day, November 11, and to shine light on a comparatively little-known Cambridge chapter in the Civil War: that of Camp Cameron, the militia camp established in North Cambridge in 1861 and not to be confused with Camp Cameron in Washington, D. C. We tell the story as reflected in the newspapers of the day…seeing the actual print image – even if a little blurry – most viscerally conveys the feeling of the times.

Picture this: You are walking north on Mass Ave between Porter Square and Alewife. About a half a mile up, directly across the street from the Friendly Corner Convenience store on the left, you see the Law Offices at 2409 Mass Ave, shown below. This is the exact location of Camp Cameron.

On April 15, 1861, three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for state militias to raise a total of 75,000 troops. Months before that proclamation, Cambridge attorney James Richardson saw what was on the horizon and had already begun recruiting men for a volunteer militia:

Col. James P. Richardson in his captain’s uniform in 1861 and Richardson’s recruiting broadside. Courtesy of Mrs Edwin R. Sparrow, “Colonel Richardson and the Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts,” by Richard C. Evarts, *Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society, Vol. 39*

But before we get to the story of Camp Cameron: the very first militia camp was established in 1861 on Fresh Pond: an abandoned icehouse previously owned by ice dealers Reed and Bartlett was fixed up for barracks to hold 1,000 men. It was called Camp Ellsworth after Col. Elmer Ellsworth, a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, and the first Union officer killed in the Civil War.

Detail of Map of the city of Cambridge for 1865 by J.G. Chase, courtesy Harvard Map Collection

Very damp, indeed. In fact, a marshy disaster. Lt. Amory of the army declared that the quarters were “unfit for the troops.” So, on June 13^th, after only two weeks at Fresh Pond, the units departed for Camp Cameron on North Avenue in Cambridge, led by Col. Robert Cowdin (1805-1874).

Robert Cowdin, Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Camp Cameron, June 1861-January 1863

The new site consisted of 140 acres along the northeastern section of Mass Ave between Shea Road and what is now Clarendon Ave, extending up the hill to Holland St in Somerville. The land was leased every six months by the government from the Union Horse Railroad and real estate investor Gardner G. Hubbard, namesake of Hubbard Park off Brattle Street, and subsequent son in law of Alexander Graham Bell.

The camp was named after the Secretary of War Simon Cameron. That was another bad choice. Cameron’s reputation for corruption precipitated renaming the camp just a year later in August 1862 to Camp Day. The new designation honored Ralph Day (1802-1887), a successful Cambridge builder who was involved in projects like Porter’s Hotel. Active in Cambridge politics, Day had owned a substantial portion of the land since 1842. Day Street is named after him. By 1854, Day had also sold a large portion of his holdings to George Meacham, a local real estate developer and commissioner of the Cambridge Cemetery. Meacham served as a Colonel in the war, was wounded, and died in 1864. Meacham Road is named for him.

Detail: Map of the city of Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts by H.F. Walling (1854), Harvard Map Collection

Eventually the 30 buildings on the site housed about 1,000- 2000 recruits!

*Daily Evening Traveller* July 2, 1861 (Excerpt)

Detail: Russell’s Horse Railroad Guide for Boston and Vicinity, May 1862. Cambridge Historical Commission.

Just think of the noise and the smells! Up to 2000 men drilling, marching, and firing arms for target practice. There would be supply wagons clanking through the area, the smell of 30 fires cooking food, latrines, burning trash, and 90 baggage carts clattering down Mass Ave accompanying a regiment on the way to war. Not to mention bellows of up to 1,000 heads of cattle from the nearby Cattle Market at Porter Square, and the smell of the tannery near Alewife Brook.

An official flag raising ceremony took place at Camp Cameron on June 28, 1861. The event was reported on in this sentimental piece describing solders walking “arm in arm with ladies, …whispering loving words into the ears of those who were soon to be separated from them, never, perhaps, to meet again”:

The camp served as a short-term boot camp for the inexperienced volunteers from New England and New York before they shipped out to the war. Numbers fluctuated weekly as troops arrived and departed for the front:

*Boston Evening Transcript* July 1, 1861

*Boston Evening Transcript* August 11, 1861

*Cambridge Chronicle* September 28, 1861

Complaints soon arose around two issues at Camp Cameron. Despite the hopeful newspaper article below, the culinary situation at the camp was nearly intolerable, driving soldiers to regularly leave camp without a pass in search of edible sustenance.

*Boston Evening Transcript* June 21, 1861

One solder wrote “Nine days I have been in camp with a hard board to lie on, without any blanket to cover me at night, and insufficiency of food by day.” (Excerpt from Boston Herald September 3, 1862). The same article described how “many of the men are compelled to come into the city to get food enough to satisfy their hunger.”

*Boston Herald* September 3, 1862 (excerpt)

It was a letter to the editor from E. R. Mudge, a wealthy Boston dry goods merchant whose son had been in the army for a year, that triggered the above article. Mudge noted that not only were the rations bad, he called attention to the large number of deserters: Out of 61 recruits for the 2^nd Regiment, who had enlisted and been sent to camp since …only 31 could be found on Saturday. The rest had deserted.” A year later, Mudge generously put his financial resources behind the recruiting effort for the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers.

Deserters? That was the second and more serious problem at Camp Cameron. With no perimeter fence nor gate, it was easy for recruits to become “bounty jumpers.”

Here is how the system worked: In addition to their pay—generally about $13 per month—each recruit received a “bounty” of $25 paid by the U. S. Government, and an additional $100 paid by the City of Cambridge. When the need arose for specialized troops, additional bounties would be offered:

On top of these amounts, some businessmen such as Mudge also contributed to supplementary bounties from their private funds to increase recruitment. $1,000 was a pretty handsome supplement!:

Inevitably some ne’er-do-wells took advantage of the loose security at camp to take off for parts unknown. Showing up in another town, they repeated their scam.

*Boston Semi Weekly Advertiser* November 5, 1862

Col. Hannibal Day (no relation to Ralph Day) was the General Superintendent of the Recruiting Services for the State of Massachusetts in 1861. Day also was aggrieved at the bounty jumping situation, which ultimately led to him closing the camp in January of 1863.

Who were these enlisted men?

On August 9, 1862, Congress passed the Recruitment Act, ordering a draft of an additional 300,000 militia. Each state was assigned a quota by the then Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. If the state could not meet the quota, the government would establish a draft in that state to complete the roster. A second Enrollment Act, passed in 1863, increased the bounty paid to recruits, and, astonishingly, allowed individuals to avoid military service by paying someone else $500 to join in their place.

The newspapers published the names of those who had chosen to pay for another man to fight the fight:

This category of replacement is not to be confused with “Representative Recruits.” In 1864, the War Department allowed for those men “not fit for military duty, and not liable to draft, from age or other causes…to procure at their own expense, and present for enlistment, recruits to represent them in the service.” These were called “Representative Recruits.” They were also listed in the papers:

A good description of the men volunteering appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle of September 7, 1861. These were the men who made up Company C, 3rd Recruitment, Cambridge Volunteers, led by the above-mentioned James P. Richardson of Cambridge, during the three months the unit was stationed on the coast at Fort Monroe, VA.:

“Whole number composing the Company, 94.
Born in Cambridge, 17; Boston, 16.
In thirteen other cities and towns in Mass, one each.
Total born in Massachusetts, 46.
Born in New Hampshire, 10; Maine, 8; Vermont, 3; Connecticut, 1; New York, 4; District of
Columbia, 1. Total American, 73
New Brunswick, 4; Nova Scotia, 3; Ireland, 7; England, 6; Scotland, 1.
Ages. – Oldest man, 39 years; youngest man, 18 years, average age, 22-3-95 years. [sic]
Tallest man, 6 feet 2 inches; shortest man, 5 feet 3 inches; average height, 5 feet ,7 one-half inches.
Occupations. – Clerks, 15; printers, 9, carpenters, 7; cigar makers, 6; book binders, 6; shoemakers, 5; painters, 4; soap makers, 2; plumbers, 2; bacon curers, 2; butchers, 2; farmers, 2; teamsters, 5; laborers, 2; wheelwrights, 2; sash and blind makers, 2; confectioners, 2, lawyers, 2; policeman, baker, stereotype finisher, carriage maker, machinist, hack driver, blacksmith, sawyer, physician, silversmith, barkeeper, tinman, cook, tailor, provision dealer, harness maker, 1 each.”

Some recruits belonged to regiments with interesting nicknames. For example, The Irish Brigade – the Massachusetts 28^th Regiment,” recruited at Camp Cameron, was made up primarily of Irish men – by birth or descent. Its nickname was the “Faugh-A-Ballagh,” Irish for “clear the way.”

28th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers flag, via Massachusetts State House Battle Flag Collection inventory

*Boston Evening Traveller* November 18, 1861 (excerpt)

It is not hard to image in the emotional impact made on citizens by the daily drumbeat of newspaper announcements concerning the camp:

*Boston Evening Transcript* September 6, 1861

*Boston Semi Weekly Advertiser* September, 1861

Frequently, notices included where the troops were being deployed. Today, reading these announcements, we recall the famous battles so familiar to us. But to soldiers at the time, places like Harper’s Ferry, Newbern, or Bull Run, or the Wilderness may have been unfamiliar or even unknown.

*Boston Evening Traveller* June 24, 1861

Boston Semi-Weekly Advertiser February 15, 1862

*Boston Evening Transcript* March 15, 1862

*Boston Evening Transcript* August 11, 1862

*Boston Evening* Traveller August 25, 1862

*Boston Evening Traveller* September 5, 1862

The Denoument

Camp Cameron/Day closed in January of 1863 and remaining soldiers were transferred to the more secure Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston:

*Boston Evening Transcript* January 22, 1863

Perhaps in preparation for its closure, camp items were auctioned off in 1862 ahead of its close in 1863.

“One Wooden Building, 50 feet by 20.
Ten temporary framed Wooden Buildings, battened and shingled, about 12 feet square.
29 Cast Iron Cylinder stoves, 3 sizes
600 feet 5-inch English Iron Funnel
A lot of 8-inch Funnel
10 Cauldrons, with Russia Iron Covers
2 Iron Bedsteads
2 Husk Mattresses
4 Pair Sheets
2 Pillows
4 Pillow Cases
2 Chairs
Half dozen Axes
A quantity of Raye Straw, &c.

By order of Lieut. Col. H. Day, U. S. A., General Supt. Recruiting Services state of Mass.
Terms of sale, cash.”

Between 1861 and 1865, 4,588 Cambridge men enlisted in the Union Army and Navy. (Cambridge Historical Commission)

In the 1890s, Camp St and Cameron Ave were named after the camp. Fair Oaks St, Seven Pines Ave, Glendale Ave, Malvern Ave, and Yorktown St in the same neighborhood were named after Civil War battles.

An historic marker honoring James S. Richardson and Company C can be found in Central Square near the site of Richardson’s former law office on Richard B. Modica Way—otherwise known as “Graffiti Alley,” the passageway between Central Kitchen and Tent City on Mass Ave. True to its location, the marker is now covered with graffiti. A mockup can be seen here:

Richardson, with a white beard, appears front center in the photograph below, depicting of a reunion of Company C in 1886.

Surviving members of Company C posed for a photograph in front of City Hall, 1886. City of Cambridge Annual Report, 1940.

To Richardson’s left is Lieutenant Chamberlain. To the far left as you look at the picture stands drummer Charles Cobb, holding the drum he had carried throughout the war.

It was not until 1866 that President Andrew Johnson issued a formal proclamation announcing the end of the Civil War.

Where once there were thousands of men training for war, today there are baby strollers, bikes and pedestrians.

Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox

Sources

Ancestry
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “military unit”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/military-unit.
“Cambridge Civil War Monument” by Patrick T.J. Browne. https://macivilwarmonuments.com/tag/cambridge-civil-war-monument/.
Cambridge Historical Commission archives
Cambridge Public Library’s Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection
“Cambridge History Minute: Meet ‘The Women of the Bee.’ by Alison Bauter. https://patch.com/massachusetts/cambridge/cambridge-history-minute-meet-women-bee.
“Camp Cameron: A Civil War Camp in Somerville” by Dan Sullivan. https://patch.com/massachusetts/somerville/bp–camp-cameron-a-civil-war-camp-in-somerville.
“Camp Cameron/Camp Day Diorama: An Exhibition” by Dan Sullivan. https://thecambridgeroom.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/camp-cameroncamp-day-diorama-an-exhibition/.
“A Camp Cameron Enthusiast” by Dan Sullivan. https://thecambridgeroom.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/a-camp-cameron-enthusiast/.
“Civil War Army Organization: Innovations, Opportunities, Challenges” in American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-army-organization.
“Civil War Draft Records: Exemptions and Enrollments” by Michael T. Meier. Genealogy Notes, Winter 1994, Vol. 26, No. 4. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/winter/civil-war-draft-records.html.
“Civil War Training Camps in Massachusetts, Part One” by Patrick Browne. https://historicaldigression.com/2015/05/20/civil-war-training-camps-in-massachusetts/.
“Ending the Bloodshed: The Last Surrenders of the Civil War” by Trevor K. Plante. Prologue Magazine, Spring 2015, Vol. 47, No. 1. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2015/spring/cw-surrenders.html.
Genealogy Bank
History Cambridge
“A Living History of the Civil War at the CPL.” https://thecambridgeroom.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/a-living-history-of-the-civil-war-at-the-cpl/
“President Lincoln Calls Emergency Session.” U.S. Senate Historical Office. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/image/LincolnEmergencySession.htm.
“A Poor Man’s Fight” by William Marvel in Civil War Series: The Civil War’s Common Soldier. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/civil_war_series/3/sec2.htm.
“‘Representative Recruits’ in the U. S. Army.” https://civilwartalk.com/threads/representative-recruits-in-the-u-s-army.132221/.
“The Story of the Bee” by Mary Towle Palmer. https://historycambridge.org/articles/the-story-of-the-bee/.
“To Protect the Union”: Civil War History in Central Square. Cambridge Historical Commission. https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/historicalcommission/pdf/CompanyC.pdf.
“Town recruitment and enlistment quota correspondence, 1862-1864.” Massachusetts Adjutant General’s Office. https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/80284599.
Unit History – 28th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. https://www.28thmasscob.org/history.