In the archives field, we are often charged with describing, cataloging, and preserving memories in their physical form. A key first step is actually acquiring historic items and collections that can speak volumes about the past.
Our flyer requesting historic photographs
In 1980 the CHC initiated a project to document photograph collections in private hands. The Polaroid Foundation donated a copy stand, a camera, and cases of 4×5 instant film that also made high-quality negatives. The flyer, pictured above, was sent out with utility bills and generated hundreds or responses.
The staff had copied about 2,000 images when the CHC published A Photographic History of Cambridge in 1984. Donations, which included including the corporate collections of the Cambridge Electric and Gas companies and the Cambridgeport Savings Bank and many, many scrapbooks, slowly tapered off, but the recent donation of this photo shows that the simple flyer of 1980 continues to bear fruit.
Our appeal – “Don’t let our history fade away.”
A family residing in Buzzards Bay discovered our flyer while going through the papers of their mother, Julie Ferguson.
Sally Howes as a nursing student weighing “Baby Hope” in 1926.
Along with the flyer, the family included this photograph featuring nursing student, Sally Howes.
Program for graduation exercises at the Cambridge Training School for Nurses, 1927. Sally Howes is the second graduate listed.
Ms. Howes is listed as a graduate of the Cambridge Training School for Nurses class of 1927. It is possible that she was a family friend or acquaintance of the donor’s mother.
Verso of the program featuring the Florence Nightingale Pledge.
These materials will soon be available for research. We are open for research Mon: 4:00-7:00PM and Tue-Thur: 9:30-11:30AM & 2:00-4:00PM. Contact us today for an appointment!
The Commission has recently finished conducting inventories on a few of our smaller collections, and the corresponding finding aids for each are now available. Scroll down to read descriptions and view a selection of images from the following collections: Hovey Family Records, Signet Hosiery Company Collection, Squirrel Brand Company Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission Objects Collection, and The Riverside Press Collection.
Hovey Family Records
The Hovey Family Records are a collection of documents, booklets, and photographs which once belonged to the Hovey Family of Cambridge. In 1997, the bulk of the collection was found in a house in Worcester, MA by Shirley Piermarini and these items were donated to the CHC that same year. In 2001, Ms. Piermarini donated five Hovey family photographs. View the finding aid here.
Photograph portrait of a young girl in the Hovey family, taken in 1871.
Caption: Susan A. Hovey’s autograph book, 1876
Signet Hosiery Company collection
In 1926, the Signet Hosiery Company began moving into the newly-expanded Kendall Square Building located at 238 Main Street in Cambridge. Signet and its president William H. Doty encouraged customers to form their own Signet Clubs with their friends and relatives. Weekly membership dues of $1 entitled you to a subscription for hosiery and lingerie at discount prices.
Membership book for the Signet Hosiery Company, 1926
This collection contains materials from the 1920s-1930s, and includes documents relating to Signet Hosiery Company club membership along with a Signet Hosiery Company hosiery box. View the finding aid here.
Signet Hosiery Company hosiery box measuring 3 x 6.75 x 9.5”, c. 1920s-1930s
Squirrel Brand Company collection
The Squirrel Brand candy company started in 1890 in Roxbury, but had a presence in Cambridge beginning in 1915. Their focus was on manufacturing nut-based candies, such as roasted nuts and nougats. Their most popular product was made of caramel, vanilla, and nut taffy called the “Squirrel Nut Zipper.” Squirrel Brand moved to Texas after being purchased by Southern Style Nuts in 1999. The New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) purchased the license for Squirrel Brand from Southern Style in 2004, officially bringing the long-loved company back to Massachusetts.
Cardboard advertisement to “Eat Squirrel Brand Butter Chews,” c. 1940s.
This collection includes advertising materials manufactured for the Squirrel Brand Company, c. 1910-1940, and one copy of a document relating the history of the company from “The History of Candy Making in Cambridge” by the Cambridge Historical Society. View the finding aid here.
Tin container for Squirrel Brand Salted Mixed Nuts, c. 1930s.
This collection is composed of objects relating to various aspects of Cambridge history, c. 1890s-1980s. Within the collection are vases, pins, buttons, and badges. View the finding aid here.
Longfellow Home Vase, glazed ceramic, made in Germany, 5.25” in height, no dateCambridge 50th Anniversary Souvenir Pin, 1896
The Riverside Press collection
The Riverside Press started in Boston as a book-printing factory that began in 1852. Later, Henry Houghton began The Riverside Press along the Charles River in Cambridge.
Photograph of the Riverside Press building, c. 1910
The Riverside Press collection contains photographic materials related to The Riverside Press. Subjects include architectural views of The Riverside Press buildings, interior views, machinery, and construction views, c. 1890s-1950s. View the finding aid here.
Photograph of the first automatic fed cylinder press at Riverside, c. 1910
Currently, these findings aids are only available in paper format at the Commission. To view the finding aids for these collections, or to schedule an appointment for in-person research, please contact the Cambridge Historical Commission today at 617.349.4683 or e-mail our Archivist, Emily at egonzalez@cambridgema.gov.
Last week, we received a special visit from Richard Pennington, a former librarian for the Boston Globe. Mr. Pennington and Lisa Tuite, the Globe’s Head of Library, donated seven boxes of newspaper clippings from the Globe’s newspaper clipping morgue. The clippings date from 1900 to around 1977 (with some from the 1980s) and include interesting news stories and information pertaining to Cambridge. The stories come not only from the Boston Globe, but from other newspapers and publications, including the Boston Herald and the Transcript.
The newspaper clippings are arranged by subject, and they run the gamut of topics related to Cambridge history: from specific Cambridge buildings (of particular interest to the Commission), to local politics, to schools, historic riots, and Cambridge businesses.
According to Pennington, “The Globe was clipped from around 1900 until it went electronic in 1977 – it was the first newspaper to store its content in a computer for retrieval.” The content of the clipped, indexed and filed newspaper clippings often depended on the preference of the librarian at the time. Pennington also added that, “The city desk also had a decades-long policy of sending ephemera to the library to be added to the clipping files, and this included small photographs. Occasionally odd book chapters and magazine articles were added to the files.”
Pennington helped with the recent and ongoing transition of the Boston Globe Library’s collections to new institutions, as the Globe relocates from their Morrissey Boulevard location back to downtown Boston. Pennington was assistant librarian at the Globe when he left in 2007. The large majority of the Boston Globe clippings collection was transferred to Northeastern University — however, the Cambridge Historical Commission was fortunate enough to receive a great portion of this collection for our research files.
The newspaper clippings will be processed, cross-indexed with our architectural inventory files, and a finding aid will be created for researchers. The collection is currently not open for research.
In July 1891, owing to dense streetcar traffic, a result of increasing populations and the industrial strides of the late nineteenth century, a Rapid Transit Commission was created to resolve the transportation dilemma of Boston and its neighboring communities.
Proposed Location, Underground Structures for Main St., 19 May 1909
The commission researched traffic conditions in the city’s densest areas, namely Tremont Street, and presented a report recommending construction of an elevated railway system and a tunnel for streetcars to alleviate congested conditions in Boston and surrounding areas. Citing this report, the Massachusetts Legislature approved the Boston Elevated Railway Company (BERy) for incorporation on July 2, 1892.[1]
Brattle Square Progress on Excavation, 15 November 1909
The Cambridge Historical Commission holds approximately 1,200 glass negatives taken by the Boston Elevated Railway between 1907 and 1912. These images primarily document the construction of the Cambridge Subway in 1909-1912.
South Side of Mass. Ave. from Brookline to Pearl Street, 17 February 1909
The Commission also holds a collection of about 200 cyanotypes donated by Frank Cheney. These prints were made from negatives that are not held in the CHC collections. Many of the cyanotypes in the collection depict the construction of the Charles River dam and viaduct.
Charles River dam, lower side looking toward Cambridge, 31 July 1907Charles River Bridge, Foundation #4, 1 December 1907
Others document the construction of the underground tunnel on Brattle Street.
Brattle Street, 20 June 1910
General William A. Bancroft was president of the Boston Elevated Railway from 1899 to 1916 and proved a great influence in expanding the lines in Cambridge.[2] In the words of one writer at the Cambridge Chronicle, “No suburban city is more vitally interested in rapid transit than Cambridge.”[3]
Looking down Mass. Ave. incline, 15 November 1911
The Commission holds several boxes of BERy cyanotypes in the archives as well as vertical research files in our main office. To research our BER-y photographs and related collections, please contact our archivist, Emily Gonzalez by e-mail at egonzalez@cambridgema.gov or by phone at 617.349.4683.
May is Preservation Month, and over the next few weeks we will be posting about a couple of preservation-related archival projects that we are working on over here at the Commission.
Here at the Cambridge Historical Commission, our holdings are centered on the built environment of the city, with strong collections on the social, business, and industrial history of Cambridge. Formats include photographs, manuscripts, architectural plans, and books, among other mediums. The most valuable intellectual asset of the Commission is our collection of architectural survey files, documenting the history of every building (over 13,000) in Cambridge.
An example of an architectural survey form from CHC’s files. Between 1964 and 1977, the commission surveyed and photographed every building in Cambridge.
As our largest collection, the architectural survey files contain architectural survey forms, photographs, news clippings, and like materials for buildings in Cambridge.
The Executive Director of the CHC, Charles M. Sullivan, documented interior and exterior conditions before this home underwent renovations in the early 1980s.
Each file holds documents on every current building in Cambridge as well as records of many demolished buildings. An address may contain one sheet or boast an entire file folder depending on its history in the community.
Many files contain a history of the address from its original purchase. These documents contain valuable information including dates and prices of sale or taxes, and a description of the building.
These files are used quite frequently by architects, building managers, or homeowners, and are open for research.
Included in some files are newspaper clippings regarding the building’s history or current projects. This clipping from 1983 details a renovation project at this home on Otis Street.
As these files currently exist only in physical format, a patron must perform any research with our survey files in-person. The Commission is currently embarking on a pilot digitization project to improve access. This project will facilitate the creation of a searchable and browsable database, which will allow us to upload and share our survey files online.
Taken by Alex Beatty in 1988, this image depicts the finished renovation of 67-69 Otis Street. Image courtesy of the Cambridge Historical Commission.
Please feel free to contact the Cambridge Historical Commission to explore the history of your property. Our research hours are Mondays 4:00-7:00pm, and Tuesday through Thursday 9:30-11:30am and 2:00-4:00pm. Check our blog often for updates on our other projects, and for news on when our digital files will be accessible!
The Cambridge Recreation Department Collection is now processed and available for research! This collection was donated to the Cambridge Historical Commission in August 1995 by Curtis Gaines, an employee of Human Services.
The Collection
This collection includes scrapbooks, books, and photographs that once belonged to the Recreation Department, as well as photographs that were already in the possession of the CHC. Much of the materials consist of City Council orders concerning park maintenance and upkeep, as well as department financial matters. The collection also includes budget appropriations materials, planning materials for parks and playgrounds, and department reports.
Preliminary Design for the Proposed Observatory Hill Park, Cambridge Planning Board, March 1950. Courtesy of the Cambridge Historical Commission.
A Brief History of the Recreation Department
The Cambridge Recreation Department was established in 1892 as the Cambridge, Massachusetts Park Commission. The Board of Park Commissioners with chairman General E. W. Hincks were now tasked with providing Cambridge citizens with a worthy park system. Previously, Cambridge only had a few poorly planned and maintained public parks with no public programs.
Cambridge City Council Order March 29, 1892, ordering “…the Committee on Parks be directed to consider and report upon the advisability of purchasing a tract of land…”
The commissioners hired landscape architect Charles Eliot and his firm, Olmsted, Olmsted, & Eliot to improve the existing parks and plan new ones in poorer, more congested neighborhoods. In 1894, the city acquired Donnelly Field in East Cambridge, Rindge Field in North Cambridge, and the entire Cambridge frontage of the Charles River. The latter section gave the department 800 acres of mud flat and degraded salt marsh by eminent domain and by 1914 a park was created along the length of the city’s shoreline. In 1910, the city began to construct playgrounds and to operate recreation programs there, and these functions expanded after the riverfront park was transferred to the Metropolitan District Commission in 1921.
City Council Order asking that the Park Commissioners purchase “Jerry’s Pit” to create a swimming pool. Dated April 7, 1914.
Maypole events were organized by the Cambridge Park Commission in the 1920s and 1930s. After the crowning of a “May Queen,” the young and gaily attired girls of the city would dance around the Maypole. Following this ceremony, there would be music, baskets of flowers, and other spring-themed activities for the children.
This image depicts a scene from a May festival on the Cambridge Common c.1925. Courtesy of the Cambridge Historical Commission.
After World War II, the responsibilities of the Park Commission were divided between the Department of Public Works and the Human Services Department. DPW began to oversee the parks, while Human Services took over recreational programs.
A group of teenagers posing on the ice during the 1940s. Three are holding hockey sticks.
