Curtis Davis & Co. – The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Updated Finding Aids and New Collections Now Available

Posted on December 4, 2019August 17, 2020 by Brittany F.

We have recently added three new collection finding aids and five old but newly updated finding aids to our website. Check out the list below, and email us at chcarchives@cambridgema.gov to research any of these collections.

New!

Scully Family Collection

This collection relates to two generations of the Scully family, beginning with Daniel Scully, a Cambridge cooper who emigrated from Ireland in 1872. He married another Irish immigrant in Cambridge, Mary Tackney, who worked as a waitress. They had 8 children and the collection heavily focuses on two of their sons, James and George. Topics include service in WWII, the St. Mary Church of Annunciation in Cambridgeport, Irish heritage, U.S. citizenship, and Norumbega Park in Auburndale, Mass. The records in the collection were created between 1872-1970 and consist of official documents, commemorative pins, photographic materials, a newspaper, and large objects.

Noteworthy items include a water-front port pass, a cooper’s mallet, and a grappling hook that connect Daniel Scully to the Goepper Bros. Co. and the Revere Sugar Refinery, two companies with locations in Cambridge. There is also an encased tintype and photographs that display the family’s residence on Spring Street. Find out more about the collection and the background history of the family here.

Daniel Scully’s cooper’s mallet and grappling hook. Image from our Flickr album, photograph by John Dalterio.

Watson Funeral Home Collection

The Watson Funeral Home Collection consists of photographs, certificates, clippings and ephemera related to the Watson Funeral Home, a 20th century business in Cambridge that was once on Magazine Street. The funeral home was run by Charles Burnett Watson and the collection holds content about his conversion of the Greek Revival house into his business. Other items include his Old Farmer’s Almanac, newspaper clippings about the house, and matchbook advertisements. Click here to learn more about Watson’s biography and read the collection’s inventory.

Carter’s Ink Collection

This collection contains ephemera relating to the Carter’s Ink Company that was collected by John Hinkel, a “labeled master inks” collector from Missouri. The Carter’s Ink Company was a nationally-prominent manufacturer of inks and office supplies. The bulk of this collection consists of advertisements, internal corporate documents, and external publications. The independently produced advertisements range from cardstock illustrations, postcards, bottle-shaped adverts, a calendar, and a dictionary. The corporate documents have information pertinent to general workers, including employee rules, as well as the official company newsletter.

To get a taste of what is present in this collection, some of the items have been digitized and uploaded to our Flickr. Click here to view the album.

Carter’s Inx Writing Fluid card — Carter’s Ink Advertisement Card. Image from our flickr.

Updated or Digitized Collections:

Alfred E. Vellucci Snapshot Collection:

Vellucci was once mayor of Cambridge and this collection reflects a public relations project from 1976. Images are now digitized and available for viewing on our Flickr page here. Click here to read the original post highlighting this collection.

Rindge Technical School

We have uploaded two albums to our Flickr page concerning the school. The Rindge Technical School Collection album contains digitized images selected from Box 1 of the collection. This box holds sports photographs from 1912-1922. Click here to see players from the football, crew, hockey, track, swimming, and baseball teams. If you would like to learn more about the entire collection, click here.

The other album, Rindge Technical School Construction – 1932 includes a selection of large-print negatives that reflect the school demolition and construction project conducted in 1932-1933. The new building was designed by architect Ralph Harrington Doane and built by the George A. Fuller Company. These negatives and others have been printed and bound in “Rindge Technical School, started Feb. 2 1932, completed Jan. 12 1933” by George A. Fuller Co. The book is available for viewing in the CHC Library. Click here to view the album.

Cambridge Objects Collection – new objects and new photographs on Flickr

Additional images of objects from the Cambridge Objects Collection have been uploaded to the Flickr album. This is an artificial collection of objects relating to various aspects of Cambridge history. Click here to check them out and click here to read the finding aid!

An Ashton Valve Company pressure gauge, ca. 1923-1924

Curtis Mellen Photograph Collection

This collection has recently been reorganized and an updated finding aid has been published here. The collection consists of photographs of the family as well as interior and exterior views of the family’s homes in Cambridge. The Mellens were a very prominent family in Cambridge, and their soap business, Curtis Davis & Co., became the American branch of Lever Brothers, the largest soap manufacturer in the world at the time. To see what is available in the collection, we uploaded select images to a Flickr album here.

Harry Havelock Hanson Collection

Recently, we created the Handsome Harry Hanson StoryMap. It tells the story of occasional Cambridge resident Harry Havelock Hanson in a walking tour format. This StoryMap allows you to follow an online map and images around Harvard Square as though you were actually there. Follow the tour to learn about the exciting exploits of Harry Havelock Hanson, as recorded in his calendar entries between 1891 and 1919. Click here to check it out!

This collection is primarily composed of the daily pocket diaries of Harry Havelock Hanson, occasional Cambridge resident and career railway man. It also contains some personal papers belonging to Hanson and his family. The finding aid for the collection is available here.

New Small Collection: The Coleman-Cutting Family Photographs

Posted on January 3, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The Historical Commission recently accepted a donation of eight photographs depicting members of three Cambridge families in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The photographs were donated by a descendant of these families. Scroll down to read snapshots of these people and their connections to 19th century Cambridge industries.

Coleman Family: Police and Coal

This family collection’s story begins with a tintype of John Coleman, likely from the 1850s.

John Coleman002 — John Coleman, ca. 1850s.

Coleman was born in Birmingham, England, in 1827. Around 1847, he and his wife Elizabeth Harper Whitehouse immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Cambridge, where John became a well-known policeman. In 1878, John and his son Walter started a coal and wood business at the corner of Broadway and Sixth Street in Cambridge; in 1881 son James also became part of the firm. After John’s death in 1883, Walter and James took over the firm, naming it Coleman Brothers. Their company did business at 428 Massachusetts Avenue until a merger with the Massachusetts Wharf Coal Company in 1923.

chronicle18930722-01.2.9-a5-700w — A (barely visible) newspaper image of the Coleman Brothers coal factory, Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge Chronicle, July 22, 1893. https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/

Cutting Family: Firemen and Markets

John Coleman’s daughter, Fannie Coleman, married Charles H. Cutting. Charles was born in Boston but, like Fannie, grew up in Cambridge.

Fanny Cutting005 — Fanny Coleman Cutting, n.d.

Charles H Cutting003 — Charles H. Cutting, n.d.

The Cuttings had four children: Elizabeth Swanton, Henry Arthur, Herbert Harper, and Ida May. Sadly, Fannie died from complications of childbirth in 1889.

Cutting Children004 — The Cutting children, 1889

Charles Cutting’s occupation was originally listed as an iron molder, but he was later listed as a fish dealer and eventually owned his own provisions store at 885 Main Street (now on Mass Ave near Harvard Square). Charles may have taken over ownership of this store from E.A. Burroughs, proprietor of The Old Rockport Market, selling fish, oysters, and canned goods.

Cutting Market004 — The Cutting family outside of their store at 885 Main Street, n.d.

Charles would also serve as a volunteer fireman with the Cambridge Fire Department for 37 years, retiring in 1915.

Cutting Market 2005 — The Cutting family inside their store, n.d.

The three eldest Cutting children seem to have helped with the family store, especially son Henry, who later took over running the store after Charles died in 1920. Henry also worked for the Cambridge Fire Department at River Street from 1920-1942.

Kemp and Nowell Family: Soap

Charles Cutting’s daughter Elizabeth Cutting married Bowman Nowell, the son of Lucy Ann Kemp and Charles Nowell. Lucy Ann was the daughter of Lysander Kemp, owner of a Cambridge soap manufacturing company and brother-in-law to Curtis Davis of the Curtis Davis Company (a large soap manufacturer that was later bought by Lever Brothers).

Nowell002

Lysander’s original company, which manufactured laundry soap, was Kemp & Sargent, later Lysander Kemp & Sons.

lysander kemp postcard

To see these photographs or to learn more about any of the industries mentioned here, make a research appointment with us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov. If you are interested in donating photographs or materials on your Cambridge ancestors, please feel free to contact Emily, egonzalez@cambridgema.gov.

The Cambridge Historical Commission has a rich collection of both family photographs and historical materials on Cambridge business and industry, and we are always excited to add more to the collection.

Address Highlight: 9 Forest Street

Posted on August 14, 2017November 14, 2018 by Meta Partenheimer

Among the oversize materials in our flat files, the CHC holds architectural drawings and specifications of a house to be built for Lyman A. Belknap in Cambridge.

flat_files_9_Forest_front_el — Front elevation of a home to be built at 9 Forest Street. The house was never constructed.

Mr. Belknap purchased a lot at 9 Forest Street in North Cambridge on March 31, 1871 but despite the elegant mansard design by architect G. F. Meacham, Belknap sold the property later that same year to William Frost, Jr. At this time, the land was still undeveloped. In 1872, Frost built a large, three-story mansard house on the lot for James M. Hilton, who rented the home to tenants.

survey_form001 — Architectural survey form for 9 Forest Street.

Residents of 9 Forest Street

In early 1983, a descendant of Edwin Davis Mellen gifted the CHC with several family photographs taken in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Many are interior and exterior shots of homes, with a number known to be located in Cambridge. Among the photographs are two taken at 9 Forest Street.

Mellen (1861-1918), an 1884 M.I.T. graduate, was a talented amateur photographer. By profession a chemist, he became a partner in the Cambridge soap manufacturer Curtis, Davis & Co. He and his wife, Adele Jeanne, nee Lods, initially lived on Essex Street, not far from the factory, but in 1892-98 they rented the house at 9 Forest Street. In 1897 the British firm of Lever Brothers purchased an interest in Mellen’s firm, and he built a new home at 1590 Massachusetts Avenue (now demolished). With him were his wife, and a daughter, Lucile Christina.

house002 — The Mellen family at 9 Forest Street: Lucile Mellen and an unknown boy sit on tricycles. Adele can be seen sitting on the front steps. The photograph was taken by Edwin, ca. 1893-1898.

house001 — An unknown boy, Lucile Mellen, and an unknown girl on the steps of 9 Forest Street, ca. 1893-1898.

This house was also once the home of Dr. Lucy A. “Sleeping Lucy” Cooke. Lucy’s foresight and restorative powers appeared when she was a young girl in Vermont. Lucy honed her talents and was known in her time as a psychic healer. Although she had no formal medical training, patients called her Dr. Cooke, and she was said to invent prescriptions and even heal broken bones, all while under a trance or hypnosis. Lucy also ran a mail-order prescription business. In addition to her medical talents, Lucy aided police with unsolved cases and helped discover missing items while in state of trance.

faces-lucy — Portrait of Lucy Cooke (b. 1819 – d. 1895) by an unknown artist. Oil on canvas, c. 1850. Vermont Historical Society. In 1916 Lucy’s husband bequeathed $1,000 and the portrait to Mount Auburn Hospital on the condition that it be hung in a public area. The hospital declined the bequest, and it went to the Montpelier Public Library instead.

Lucy moved to Boston in 1876 with her secretary and soon-to-be second husband, Everett W. Raddin. In June of 1887, she purchased the three-story mansard home at 9 Forest Street. In 1891 Mr. Raddin converted the carriage house to a residence (at left in the photo above), and it is likely that the couple moved there so they could rent out the main house. Lucy ran her practice at this address, and continued to live there until she died in 1895 at age 76.

cooke_article001 — Article on “Sleeping Lucy” from 1966.

Lucy’s talents were said to be known worldwide, and many clients would line up outside her door for consultation and cures. One of Lucy’s most famous clients was Mary Baker Eddy, known as the founder of Christian Science. Lucy treated Mrs. Eddy and her children while living in Cavendish, Vermont. Both women are buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Forest St 9 DSC_1027

9 Forest Street in 2009.

Today, the large house sits on the corner of Forest Street and Newport Road, and looks much as it did in the late nineteenth century. Many more photographs exist in the collection donated by the Mellens, with detailed home interiors and the family engaged in activities of the day. This collection is open for research on-site at the Cambridge Historical Commission.

References

9 Forest Street. Architectural survey files, Cambridge Historical Commission.

Curtis Mellen Photograph Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission.

“Funeral of Dr. Lucy Cooke.” The Cambridge Chronicle, June 1, 1895. http://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=d&d=Chronicle18950601-01.2.49&e=——-en-20–1–txt-txIN——-.

“Lucy Ainsworth Cooke.” Vermont Historical Society. Accessed August 08, 2017. http://vermonthistory.org/research/museum-collections/faces-of-vermont/lucy-ainsworth-cooke.

Milmine, Georgine. The Life of Mary Baker Eddy and the History of Christian Science. New York: Doubleday, 1909.