Today’s post was written by CHC Executive Director Charles M. Sullivan.
In 1894 the Union Switch & Signal Company installed signals that prevented trains on the Boston & Maine and Fitchburg railroads from proceeding in or out of North Station when the Charles River drawbridges were in the raised position.
Whaleback barge in the Charles River, ca. 1895. Photographer unknown.
The company publicized the project by distributing this photo of three empty coal barges passing through the drawbridges. The three-masted barge in the foreground was probably built as a schooner, but it retains only vestiges of its original rig. A similar vessel leads the procession.
Figure 9.5 from Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development. Wharves near Harvard Square, ca. 1862. Sargent’s Wharf (foreground) is piled with lumber; four two-masted schooners are tied up beyond the College Wharf.
The second vessel was a steel whaleback barge, a rarity on the East Coast. This type of vessel was developed to carry bulk cargoes on the Great Lakes. The first, Barge 101, was launched at Duluth, Minnesota in 1888.
“Whaleback Str. A.D. Thompson [sic],” ca. 1905 by Detroit Publishing Co. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.The design was a mixed success, but over the next eight years the American Steel Barge Co. built about 40 more whaleback barges and steamships. The company also had two vessels, Barge 201 and Barge 202, built in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1890 for saltwater service.
“Loading the Great Whaleback Ship at the Famous Grain Elevators, Chicago, U.S.A.,” ca. 1895. Photographed by George Barker, published by Strohmeyer & Wyman. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
The Charles River photo shows the 190-foot-long Barge 202 returning to Boston Harbor after delivering coal to a wharf upstream on the Charles River. On June 18, 1892 the Cambridge Tribune noted that the whaleback then discharging 1,400 tons of coal at Richardson & Bacon’s wharf near Harvard Square was “the largest boat that ever came through the Craigie Bridge.”
Even in the late 19th century the Charles remained an important avenue of commerce; in 1893 sixty-four sailing vessels and sixty-one barges called at wharves in Old Cambridge (Harvard Square) and Watertown.
Figure 9.11 from Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development. The industrial waterfront of Old Cambridge, seen from the chimney of the Boston Elevated Railway’s power plant in 1897. Richardson & Bacon’s coal shed is in the foreground. A schooner is unloading bulk cargo at Sargent’s Wharf. The Cambridge Park Commission has moved the Cambridge Casino from the foot of Hawthorn Street to the flats near DeWolfe Street, where it was burned by arsonists. Harvard moved its boathouses downstream below Winthrop’s Wharf in the 1870s to escape the city’s sewer outfall at the foot of Dunster Street.
This photo was taken in 1897, soon after Barges 201 and 202 brought cargoes of coal from Edgewater, N.J. A year later both vessels were sent to the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River and the Welland Canal. The last whaleback on the Great Lakes was taken out of service in 1969 and is preserved at Superior, Wisconsin.
Sources:
C. Roger. Pellett, Whaleback Ships and the American Steel Barge Company (Wayne State
University Press, 2018)
Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan, Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and
Development (MIT Press, 2016)
Boston Globe, Boston Post, Cambridge Chronicle, and Cambridge Tribune
We are happy to announce the addition of 28 images to our CHC Flickr account. These images come from the Lois M. Bowen Collection. Bowen was a Cambridge-based photographer and entrepreneur who owned a camera shop, Cambridge Camera and Marine, in Harvard Square from the 1940s to 1995.
Kodak film cannister owned by Lois M. Bowen, ca 1960s
Ms. Bowen was a freelance photographer for several organizations and publications around Cambridge and Boston, including The Architects’ Collaborative and Architectural Forum Magazine, as well as advertising agencies and admissions publications for colleges and universities.
Cover: “Architectural Forum: The Magazine of Building”, June 1964Pages from “Architectural Forum: The Magazine of Building” featuring the work of Lois M. Bowen, June 1964
Bowen’s work was primarily focused on architecture, but her photographic subjects spanned the Northeast and included documentation of her own life and community.
View of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, 4 September 1978Contact sheet: images of Strawberry Banke, October 1966
In addition to the photographic materials there are business papers and documents as well as personal correspondence and ephemera.
Interior view of Cambridge Camera and Marine, ca. 1960sInterior View: 14 Old Dee Road in Cambridge, ca. 1960s
Today, we are highlighting a building from our recently opened Building and Structure Documentation Collection. This collection documents buildings and structures in Cambridge that were either demolished or significantly altered. In this case the materials were compiled as a condition of approval by the Cambridge Planning Board for a proposed replacement project.
55 Wheeler Street: interior view of reception area
For each building or structure, the corresponding box often includes an architectural description of the building or buildings, a narrative history, and archival photographs, negatives, photograph key(s), and/or electronic copies of the files and photographs.
Documented structures in this collection include buildings from the former Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Company, and the Fogg Museum from the Harvard Art Museum Restoration and Expansion Project. Today we are featuring the documentation of the Abt Associates office complex at 55 Wheeler Street.
55 Wheeler Street: exterior facade
The Abt Associates Office Complex, much of which is less than 50 years old as of 2018, is located at 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, Mass. Abt Associates – which relocated to other offices in Cambridge in 2017 – is “a consulting firm that specializes in combining social sciences, computer forecasting, operations analysis and systems engineering to address technological advances and social change.” (Historical Narrative, Westbrook Properties Documentation). The firm grew rapidly in the 1960s and ‘70s, and the complex was repeatedly enlarged to enclose a series of beautifully landscaped quadrangles; almost every occupant enjoyed an exterior view.
The internationally renowned architect and urban planner Imre Halasz (1925-2003) was one of the most important designers associated with the complex. Halasz came to the US from Hungary in 1957 and taught at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning for forty years. His firm, Imre & Anthony Halasz Inc., operated from 1957 to 1991. Halasz was also responsible for the master plan of the NASA Electronics Research Center (later the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center) in Kendall Square.
55 Wheeler Street: courtyard view
Abt Associates was formed in Cambridge in 1965 by Dr. Clark C. Abt. The company’s Cambridge location is significant for its associations with an “iconic social sciences research and consulting firm that was forward-thinking for its time, providing child care, a restaurant and recreational facilities for employees.” (Memo, Liza Paden, June 28, 2017).
55 Wheeler Street: pool, looking southwest
Look for more building and structure documentation in future posts!
Celebrate American Archives Month with us at the Historical Commission!
This month we are offering a special tour of our archives, featuring an in-depth look at some of our many historical resources.
Join us this Wednesday, October 10 at 1 pm, OR Monday, October 22 at 6pm. Email egonzalez at cambridgema dot gov to reserve a spot. Tours will run around an hour.
Attendees of the tour will:
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the Commission’s archives and library space
Get an up-close look at a variety of historical resources, including: atlases, survey files, city directories, historic photographs, postcards, objects, and architectural drawings.
Learn how to research their house, building, or organization using the Commission’s files.
Receive helpful tips on preserving and caring for their own family papers and photographs.
We have recently added a set of WWII ration books to our collection. These books belonged to a Jewish family who lived at 20 Worcester Street, Cambridge, in 1942.
Hyman Yale Brown was born in Boston on November 2, 1905. Hyman was working as a clerk in Boston when he married Rose Shapiro of Cambridge on August 17, 1930. Rose was born on June 28, 1907. Both were graduates in the Class of 1928 from Northeastern University and received bachelor degrees in law that year.
War Ration Book One issued to Hyman Brown on 4 May 1942.
During his lifetime, Hyman was a member of the Beth Israel Brotherhood, a District Warden in the civilian defense City Public Safety Program, and aided in the campaign of Republican candidate for Congress, Vincent Mottola. The Browns were devoted members of the former Beth Israel Synagogue at 238 Columbia Street.
War Ration Book One issued to Edward Mordecai Brown on 4 May 1942.
At the time of their marriage, Rose was a lawyer in Cambridge, and following the ceremony and a camping trip honeymoon, the newlyweds moved in with Rose’s parents at 20 Worcester Street in Cambridgeport. They later had two sons: David in 1932, and Edward in 1937. The couple was living at the Worcester Street address when they and their two sons were issued ration books in 1942.
War Ration Book Four issued to Rose S. Brown ca. 1942
During World War II, each American was issued a set of ration books. All family members, even children, possessed ration books and a customer would not be able to purchase specific rationed goods without also surrendering a ration stamp.
Pages and stamps from War Ration Book Four issued to Rose S. Brown ca. 1942
Each ration book held stamps that could be exchanged at a local grocer for rationed items such as coffee, sugar, grains, meat, and canned goods. These small booklets were designed to cut down on profiteering as a result of import restrictions and goods shortages. The program’s goal was to distribute goods evenly among those on the Home Front while maintaining supply for military overseas.
If you are interested in studying these ration books or have other research inquiries, please contact our Archivist, Emily Gonzalez, at egonzalez@cambridgema.gov.
We are happy to announce that we have recently processed and updated finding aids from several collections in our holdings. Scroll down for descriptions and sample images from the following collections: Patsy Baudoin Collection of Cambridge Prints and Photographs, Edwin Freeman Bowker Collection, Honors and Awards Collection, Alan McClennen Senior Collection, Cambridge Militia Records, City of Cambridge Veterans’ Graves Registration Cards Inventory, and William Lawrence Galvin Collection.
Patsy Baudoin Collection of Cambridge Prints and Photographs
This collection, sometimes known as an artificial collection, consists of photographs, drawings, and prints of historical houses and locations in Cambridge. Also included are several page clippings from various books including the Historic Guide to Cambridge, Ever New England, and other area guides to historic houses.
One (1) pencil sketch: Johnston Gate, Harvard Yard by W. Harry Smith (Artist)
Most of the houses depicted in the prints were built pre-Revolutionary War, from 1660-1763, and have a long history of famous residents, including Margaret Fuller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and John White Webster. Additionally, many of the houses are listed as National Historic Landmarks including the seven houses that make up “Tory Row” on Brattle Street.
Longfellow in his study ca. 1870-1880. Photographer unknown.
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
Edwin Freeman Bowker Collection
This collection is composed of five boxes and two flat files containing Edwin F. Bowker’s professional correspondence as a civil engineer and surveyor. Included are surveyor’s notes and records, draft sketches, manual calculations, notes on markers, drawings, plans, transcripts regarding property boundaries from deeds, and correspondence from mid-1886 through 1919.
Documents related to property at Hasting and Monson Streets, 1920
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
Honors and Awards Collection
This collection contains certificates honoring the Cambridge Historical Commission and various Cambridge businesses and organizations for their service to the built environment of this community.
Plaque and pencil sketch for the City of Cambridge Ruth L. Barron Award for Outstanding Community Service, 2014.
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
Alan McClennen Senior Collection
Included in this collection are maps, development studies, town reports, and traffic studies for the City of Cambridge with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1950s to the 1970s. Alan McClennen served as the Planning Director for the City of Cambridge from 1958 until 1968. Researchers interested in viewing the Alan McClennen Senior Collection will be engaged by topics on community development in the City of Cambridge during the mid-twentieth century. We would like to give a special thanks to volunteer Steve Kaiser, for to his contribution to the spreadsheet and box list for this collection.
Booklet for Alewife Brook Park created by AD Little/Cambridge Corporation, 1968Memo on Railroad Grade Separations by the Cambridge Planning Board, 5 December 1950
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
Cambridge Militia Records
This collection contains nine record books detailing militia records for the City of Cambridge for the years 1846-1886. Each book contains lists of names recording those enrolled in the Cambridge Militia. At times these lists are accompanied by marginal notes.
Militia roll: 1877 (“Ward Two Book”)Cambridge Militia Ledger: 1846-1859
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
City of Cambridge Veterans’ Graves Registration Cards Inventory
This collection contains veterans’ graves registration cards, filed in alphabetical order, for graves in various cemeteries in Cambridge. A majority of the graves are registered at Mount Auburn Cemetery and Cambridge Cemetery, but also include others, such as the North Cambridge Catholic Cemetery and Belmont Town Cemetery.
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
William Lawrence Galvin Collection
The collection contains print and photographic materials of William L. Galvin’s professional records and architectural drawings. This collection consists of correspondence, writing, articles, government records, photographs and drawings that depict Galvin’s professional career. The core of the collection consists of drawings for over 1,000 architectural projects, of which about 530 projects in Cambridge have been cataloged.
Proposed Dormitory – Social and Recreational Center, Lesley College, undated
Over a 50-year career, 1927-1979, Galvin made a significant impact on the landscape of Cambridge through his numerous projects and constant support for progressive land use to fit a modernizing Cambridge community. This collection provides valuable insight into Galvin’s personality and professional work that has left a lasting mark on the landscape of the City of Cambridge.
Drawing of Shea Cleaning Plant and Showroom, undated
Click here to view the finding aid for this collection.
To view the above collections, please make an appointment with our archivist, Emily, at egonzalez@cambridgema.gov. Our research hours are: Monday: 4:00-7:00 pm | Tuesday: 2:00-4:00 pm | Wednesday – Thursday: 10-12 and 2-4 pm.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to process collections and make them available for research!
Welcome back to our ongoing series featuring the staff members who do wonderful work here at the CHC! This post introduces our new Survey Director, Eric Hill.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Amherst, New Hampshire a quaint, historic New England village with an abundance of Colonial homes.
Where did you go to school? What was your degree?
I went to the University of New Hampshire and studied Geography with a focus on urban and human geography. Immediately after graduating, I moved half way across the country to Norman, Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma’s College of Architecture where I studied Regional and City Planning.
Amazing Collegiate Gothic architecture at OU.
What are your interests or hobbies?
My favorite thing to do is travel. My goal is to visit all major world regions by the time I am 30 years old (still have a couple years to go). Besides travelling, I enjoy watching documentaries, hiking, and photography.
Photo from my most recent trip to Paris and London.
Name some fun facts about you.
I am a sports fanatic and follow all New England sports teams along with the Oklahoma Sooners Football program and Paris St. Germain for soccer.
During graduate school, I got the opportunity to spend a month in Lusaka, Zambia and worked with children, teachers and a non-profit to work on designs for new schools and it was an experience that I will never forget.
Before I got beat in soccer by kids half my age in Zambia.
When did you start working at the CHC?
I started working at the CHC in September of 2018 and previously worked for the Boston Landmarks Commission as a Preservation Planner.
Acorn Street in Beacon Hill Historic District. I was the Preservation Planner for the neighborhood while in Boston.
What do you like best about working at the CHC?
My favorite part (so far) about working at the CHC is learning about the rich history of Cambridge and the layers of development from the Native American settlements of the past to the high-rise mixed-use buildings and neighborhoods of today. Do you have other professional pursuits?
I hope to dive deeper into the modern movement and post-war Cambridge and advocate for the preservation of the (in my opinion) underappreciated and less well-known architectural styles and typologies of the 1940s-1980s.
My favorite building (Kimbell Art Museum) by my favorite architect (Louis I. Kahn). Sadly, Louis I. Kahn did not have any projects in Cambridge.
Give us a glimpse into your daily work or a current project.
Currently, I am giving myself a crash course on the centuries of people, events and places that make Cambridge, Cambridge. I am also reading up on the district guidelines for the Half Crown-Marsh Conservation District as I will be the planner in charge of design review for it. What is your favorite photograph, artifact, or collection at CHC?
So far, my favorite collection is the W. L. Galvin Collection due to the quality and quantity of old plans and drawings of projects built, unbuilt and demolished.
(Cambridge Memorial Theater drawing, 1931)
What do you like best about living or working in Cambridge?
Cambridge is a melting pot of not only architectural styles and history, but of people and cultures. It is a great place to work and during my lunch breaks, I always make an effort to walk around and enjoy the various cafes, shops and neighborhoods.
Welcome to the first installment of a little blog series, “Did You Know?,” where we highlight some of the documentary resources available at the CHC.
During the summer, we receive a lot of phone calls and emails inquiring after the Old Burying Ground in Harvard Square (sometimes referred to as the “Old Burial Ground”). Many people visit from out of town and would like to know where their ancestor, or person of historical interest, was buried — do we have a map of the burying ground? What about lists of burials? Records of specific epitaphs?
The answers: Yes, we have documentation on all of those things! It is important to note that, although this was the only burying ground in Cambridge until the early 1800s, many burial plots today remain unmarked.
Those interested in finding out more about the Old Burying Ground can make an appointment to check out the resources at our office, or find some of the digitized resources online.
Check out our list of some of these print and online resources:
We have a copy of the book, Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Cambridge, (1845) by William T. Harris. This publication is also available online at Google Books.
Know exactly who you are looking for? We also have an index and maps of the burial plots that was compiled in 2000 by Richard B. Anderson, Ed.D. These files have been scanned and can be downloaded as four pdf files: Cover material and notes; Base map and smaller sub-maps; Name index; Sub-map index. These are large files, especially the maps file.
We also have several other useful books in our office.
Paige’s essential early Cambridge history book, complete with helpful Supplement and Index, lists out the residents of Cambridge and their relations from 1630-1877. We often use this to figure out if a person died in Cambridge.Consulting Cambridge’s vital records to 1850 can also help locate a burial record. Cambridge Church Records, Records of the Town and Selectmen of Cambridge, and Proprietors Records of the Town of Cambridge, may also provide interesting genealogical clues and contextual information on the goings-on in early Cambridge.
Old Cambridge City Directories can also show if and when your ancestor lived in Cambridge. This can then help us to determine where they might have been buried.
Cambridgeport Burial Ground (No longer a cemetery), opened 1812, closed 1865. When this cemetery on Broadway in Cambridgeport was closed in 1865, existing burials were relocated to the new Cambridge Cemetery or another cemetery selected by the family of the deceased. The former burial ground was then re-purposed as a public park and called Broadway Common/Broadway Park and later renamed Edward J. Sennott Park.
We have two original burial plot maps of the Cambridgeport Burial Ground in our archives; contact us for more information.
Image of the “Strangers Lot,” one of the Cambridgeport Burial Ground plot maps in our collection
To see these resources in person, or for answers to other questions, feel free to call the Historical Commission at 617-349-4683, or email us at histcomm at cambridgema.gov. Additionally, check out our other documentary resources on our page here.
Welcome back to our ongoing series featuring the staff members who do wonderful work here at the CHC! This post introduces our Archivist, Emily Gonzalez.
Emily showing one of her favorite items from our collections – Motor Boot Spats once made by the Cambridge Rubber Company
Where did you grow up?
My family moved quite a bit, but I mainly grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. The East Coast feels like my home now, but I’ll always be a Midwestern gal.
You haven’t lived until you’ve gone to the MN State Fair
Where did you go to school? What was your degree?
For undergrad I attended Lawrence University, a small school in Appleton, Wisconsin, and earned my BA in English Lit and Spanish. I did my graduate studies in Library Science and History at Simmons College here in Boston.
What are your interests or hobbies?
I love movies and documentaries, both old and new. I love visiting museums and historic sites, traveling, and trying out new restaurants. I just signed up to volunteer with Broken Tail Rescue, a local animal rescue organization, and I am super excited. About once a season I’ll force myself to run a road race (usually a 5k).
I love old photographs. This one is of my grandpa Les and his siblings on a farm in South Dakota.I also like cross-stitch, particularly the subversive kind. Image credit: http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/
Name some fun facts about you.
I’m first-generation Cuban American, but I didn’t become fluent in Spanish until I was in college.
The summer after college I worked at a fast food kiosk inside of a zoo in St. Paul. It was called “Zooper Food.”
Thanks for the free corndogs, Zooper. Image courtesy of Google.
My fiancé and I have a tuxedo cat named June. She rules the household.
HRH
When did you start working at the CHC?
November 2015.
What do you like best about working at the CHC?
No one day is like the other. There are always new research requests, collections to process, reorganize or digitize, and cool archival discoveries. I also love learning about the ins and outs of historic preservation through my colleagues.
Do you have other professional pursuits?
I’m an active member of the Society of American Archivists and New England Archivists, and I’m on the Collections Committee at the Cambridge Historical Society.
Archivist fashion
Give us a glimpse into your daily work or a current project.
A “typical” day could involve answering a research request, checking in with volunteers on their latest projects, discussing ongoing projects with my colleagues Meta and Emily, writing up text for promotional materials, emailing with other city departments or organizations about outreach activities, chatting about next year’s Cambridge Open Archives event, or meeting about the next steps in our big digitization project (“C-DASH”).
Because I manage our archives operation here, I don’t really do a lot of collections processing, so it’s nice when I do get to scan some historic photographs or reorganize a collection. I’m lucky in that I have such amazing archives assistants and colleagues, and that the CHC had library science interns and archives volunteers working on our collections for so long before I came here.
What is your favorite photograph, artifact, or collection at CHC?
I love the old restaurant menus in the Cambridge Ephemera Collection. The Wursthaus menu from August 6, 1962, is probably my favorite. Look at the “Businessmen’s Luncheon” – what a deal! [Note: The Wursthaus was a restaurant located at 4 Boylston Street, now JFK, in Harvard Square]
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(Cambridge Ephemera Collection, CHC002).
I also love images that capture great facial expressions, like this one from our Cambridge Recreation Department Collection (CHC011).
What do you like best about living or working in Cambridge?
The quirky, intelligent community and how much love they have for the City’s history.
My Time Working as a Mayor’s Youth for the Commission
Hello, I’m Raimi. I am interning at the Cambridge Historical Commission for half of the summer of 2018, through the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. I started to be interested in history during 6th grade, because that was the first year we had a real dedicated history class. That year we learned mostly about geography, pre-civilization humans, and the bronze age. Eventually my gaze fell upon history in the last 200 years or so, especially the Cold War, and very ancient history.
(This could be either of the two things I just mentioned)
History is what I want to do with my life, and I’m glad I got this chance to work in an actual historical workplace. I deal with mostly filing and photocopying. One of the coolest projects was when I made a spreadsheet of almost 400 photo negatives, which took a little over 3 days to complete.
What I like best about interning here is that there is usually something new to do every day. To be specific, one day I might be photocopying entire books, and the next I could be filing away slides. My favorite artifact here at the CHC is this long petition for a new water source with over 2000 signatures, including one Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
A few facts about myself is that I have a cat named Moonlight, and a dog named Lola, but my favorite animal is the Venezuela Poodle Moth.
THE MOTH
Lola Belle Wiggles
Dr. Moonlight M.D.
I enjoy reading, and my favorite book is Lirael by Garth Nix, but I would say the most well written book I’ve ever read is Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Oof ouch, the fire is too hot
Last thing I want to say is that if you’re in high school you can get job experience right now. It doesn’t even have to be a MYSEP job, it could just be volunteering at your school library. So don’t wait and start early.
What do you like best about living or working in Cambridge?
