The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog
Featuring the history of Cambridge, Massachusetts
We are pleased to announce that our online catalog is nearly complete and is now live to the public. Cataloging the CHC Research Library has been a long process, but entirely worth it. We are especially grateful for the hard work of our cataloging intern, Becky Shea, whose efforts made it possible to complete the catalog.
Check it out (pun intended) at https://www.librarycat.org/lib/chclibarch831!
Join staff members from the Cambridge Historical Commission, the City of Cambridge Department of Public Works and the Cambridge Room at the Cambridge Public Library for a three-week series on researching the history of your house or building.
Registration is mandatory, though you do not have to attend all three sessions (though we highly recommend it!). For your convenience, each department will offer two days of the same session – one in the evening and one in the afternoon.
To register, please check out the schedule below and contact the person listed. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Session 1: The Cambridge Room at the Cambridge Public Library
This hour-long, hands-on workshop will guide you through a variety of online resources that will help you research your home from the comfort of your home. Discover when your building was built and by who. Find out who lived in your house and how your neighborhood has changed. We will provide laptops. Registration is mandatory.
Monday, October 16
6:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Community Room, Cambridge Public Library
Max. 16 participants
or
Wednesday, October 18
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Beech Room, Cambridge Public Library
Max. 13 participants
Led by Alyssa Pacy, Archivist at the Cambridge Public Library. To register, email: apacy@cambridgema.gov or call 617-349-7757
Session 2: Cambridge Historical Commission
The Commission’s research collection is founded on an architectural inventory that contains survey forms, photographs, and documentation on all 13,000+ buildings in the City. Participants will learn how individual homes can be researched using these inventory files, as well as the Commission’s collection of city directories, atlases, maps, photographs, books on the City’s different neighborhoods, and some deed, tax, and building permit records.
Monday, October 23
6:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Cambridge Historical Commission, 831 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd floor
Max. 12 participants
or
Wednesday, October 25
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Location: Cambridge Historical Commission, 831 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd floor
Max. 12 participants
Led by Cambridge Historical Commission staff. To register, email: egonzalez@cambridgema.gov or call: 617-349-4070
Session 3: Cambridge Department of Public Works
The public works collection is primarily focused on sewer & drain utility drawings and plans showing the boundaries of the public rights of way. But many of these and other records, which go as far back as 1840, also include interesting historical facts such as previous building, street, and water body configurations as well as ancient industries, property owner names and assessment values. Participants will learn how individual locations can be researched with geographic, database, and online indexes and they’ll see how those indexes have evolved.
Monday, October 30
6:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Department of Public Works, 147 Hampshire Street
Max. 12 participants
Or
Wednesday, November 1
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Location: Department of Public Works, 147 Hampshire Street
Max. 12 participants
Led by George Stylianopoulos, City of Cambridge Department of Public Works. To register, email: sgeorge@cambridgema.gov
General questions about the series? Call 617-349-4683.
Cambridge is a city rich with so much history, so many museums, libraries, and schools, that it can be hard to know where exactly to go for specific historical materials. The new Cambridge Archives website aims to help researchers, history lovers and curious citizens figure out which Cambridge archive holds what kinds of materials.
The new Cambridge Archives site was created with the generosity of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati (Anderson House), and through a collaboration with the Cambridge Historical Society, the Cambridge Historical Commission and the Cambridge Room of the Cambridge Public Library. Check it out, and watch for more updates over the next couple of months as we add more archives and collecting institutions to the site (add yours, too!).
Join us for the 9th Annual Cambridge Open Archives, June 19-22, 2017!
This event is FREE but registration is required. Sign up here.
What is Open Archives? For four days, seven Cambridge repositories and special collections will open their doors to the public to showcase some of their most interesting materials — and the tales that go along with them. This year, our participants will present collections materials that fit with the theme of “living and dying in Cambridge.”
Our participants this year: Mount Auburn Cemetery, The Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, the Harvard Semitic Museum, Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters, The Cambridge Historical Society, The Cambridge Room (Cambridge Public Library), and the Harvard Art Museums Archives.