postcards - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Updated Collection Alert: McCarthy Family Collection

Posted on March 26, 2020August 17, 2020 by Brittany F.

This month we finished re-processing and writing an updated finding aid for the McCarthy Family Collection. You can now read the new finding aid here! To get an overview of what is available, read on!

sportsgame-005 — Lowell Police vs. Cambridge Police baseball club game at Lake View, Lowell. Aug 13, 1895. Cambridge won 12 to 8

This collection documents a longstanding and active family in Cambridge and various local organizations spanning a period of nearly 150 years. The members of the McCarthy family were longtime residents of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The first generation to live in Cambridge was Maurice McCarthy. An Irish immigrant born in County Cork, Ireland, Maurice became a U.S. citizen in 1860. A year later, in 1861 he purchased land in East Cambridge at 6 Lechmere Place. He and his wife, Mary Hurley McCarthy, had two children, Ellen McCarthy and Jeremiah H. McCarthy.

invitation-003 — Invitation to Jeremiah and Julia’s 25^th anniversary celebration. 1934.

Jeremiah was born in 1857 and married Julia Theresa Lane on November 24, 1900. Julia was also an Irish immigrant, but she moved to 29 Warren Street in East Cambridge when she was just 8 months old. As a child, Julia attended the Thorndike Grammar School where she learned the Duntonian System of penmanship created by Alvin R. Dunton, an overseer of penmanship studies in Boston schools. Many of her penmanship books are available for viewing in this collection. There are also many of her personal papers, including correspondence, memorabilia, and vital records, as well as photographs.

Julia Theresa Lane’s penmanship book. She graduated from the Thorndike Grammar School at the age of 13 in 1880.

Between 1900 and 1905 Jeremiah and Julia moved into a house at 134 Otis Street, where the McCarthy family resided until 1993. Jeremiah, sometimes known as “Jerry,” worked for 39 years as a patrolman out of the East Cambridge police station and he retired a year before his death in 1926. Julia lived until 1963 and she was noted for being the oldest East Cambridge resident and oldest graduate of the Thorndike School.

julia-007 — Julia Theresa (Lane) McCarthy, 1928. Likely in her yard at 134 Otis Street.

The couple had three sons, Gerald F., John L., and Justin H. McCarthy. They and their children were active members in the Catholic community in Cambridge. This collection has many of their papers relating to the East Cambridge Catholic Club and the Sacred Heart Church.

Justin McCarthy scrapbook page #30 — Page 30 from Justin McCarthy’s photo album containing a clipping about Gerald “Jerry” becoming a Cambridge cop. Ca. 1930s

Gerald F. McCarthy was born on January 25, 1902 and sometimes referred to as “Jerry” like his father. He worked for the Cambridge Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, and finally for the Massachusetts State Police as a lieutenant. He also served in WWII from October 30, 1942 to May 10, 1946. Content accumulated about the Cambridge Police force offer some insight into what he and his family deemed important about that subject.

elm-004 — Front page of *The Elm¸* a publication of Cambridge Council, Knights of Columbus. 1933.

John Lane McCarthy was born on February 15, 1904 and attended Harvard Dental School. He had an office in Central Square and was also employed as one of Cambridge’s school system dentists. In 1934 he married Margaret Loretta Roche in Woburn. He then served in WWII as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve in 1939 and he began his active duty as a lieutenant commander of the Dental Corps in June 1943. He was also affiliated with the Bainbridge Naval Hospital Training Center in Maryland and the U.S.S. War Hawk that participated in the Pacific Theater. John was also a member of the Cambridge Elks Lodge, the Knights of Columbus, the Guild of St. Apollonia, and the Agnes Holy Name Society. Our collection has printed materials and other records relating to these groups and other subject matter.

photoalbum — Front cover and page 25 from Justin McCarthy’s photo album. Shown: 134 Otis Street, Justin, Jeremiah, John Lane, Gerald, and Julia McCarthy. Ca. 1920s

Justin H. McCarthy was born in 1906 and worked as a marine electrician at the Boston Navy Yard as well as Western Electric. While serving for the Navy, he embarked on trips to Bermuda. There are many photographs taken during his trips to Bermuda as well as his experiences in the Navy. He retained many of his holiday cards, which provide additional information about his extended family and friends. He also compiled a photo album that we digitized for preservation purposes. It is available for viewing on our Flickr page, here:

Beyond these central family members, the collection includes nearly 300 photographs of McCarthy family members and friends (1890s-1980s), over 250 photographs of unidentified people and places, 10 tintypes, and 1 drawing.

Time Travel Tuesday: Stereographs

Posted on September 12, 2017December 13, 2017 by Emily M.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Time Travel Tuesday! This series will focus on aspects of history illustrated by objects in our collections. In today’s post, we’ll be talking about stereographs.

Have you ever watched a movie in 3D or spent hours staring at a Magic Eye image hoping to see whatever was hidden in all the abstract colors? 3D imaging is somewhat of a novelty, even today, but the impulse to create two dimensional images that look 3D has been around a lot longer than you might think. In the early decades of the 19^th century, inventors began devising ways to create the illusion of a three dimensional view, even before advances in photographic technology made it possible to quickly and inexpensively create direct representations of the world.

Early 3D photographs (and drawings) were called stereographs or stereograms. Stereoscopy, the technique used to create stereographs, works because our eyes see at slightly different angles from each other. When your eyes work together, in stereo, you perceive a three dimensional view of your surroundings. Close one eye and the world flattens. By placing a slightly different image to be viewed by each eye independent of the other, your mind is tricked into seeing a three dimensional scene.

The first stereoscope was invented by a man called Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838. Wheatstone’s original apparatus employed a system of mirrors to reflect two slightly different images to the eyes. Six years later, David Brewster improved on Wheatstone’s design, doing away with the mirrors and instead using prisms in a closed case. Stereoscopy became all the rage in Victorian England. Even Queen Victoria was bitten by the stereo bug. The Great Exhibition of 1851 brought the stereoscope to an international audience and around 1860 Cambridge native Oliver Wendell Holmes invented his own version of the stereoscope.

The Holmes Stereopticon, also known as the American stereoscope, was incredibly popular. In the years following its invention, which Holmes declined to patent, thousands upon thousands of stereoscopic images, also known as stereographs, were produced for viewing through a stereoscope. They were cheap and readily available, making them a truly democratic amusement.

The CHC has a number of stereographs as part of the Postcards and Stereographs Collection, depicting historical monuments, notable residences, churches, Harvard University, and landscape views.

stereograph001 — *Washington’s Headquarters (Prof. Longfellow’s Residence), Cambridge. Not dated. Produced by American Stereoscopic Views.*

stereograph006 — *The Washington Elm. “Under this tree Washington first took command of the American Army. July 3rd 1775.” Not dated. Produced by A.E. Alden, Boston.*

stereograph007 — Vicinity of Boston. Park and Garden Series. Not Dated. Produced by C. Seaver, Jr. Photographer. Labeled on reverse “Residence near Mt. Auburn.” This is the only color stereograph in our collection. See below for more information.

Updated: It was recently pointed out to us by an eagle-eyed commenter that the above image is, in fact, a house formerly in Roxbury. This house appears in a painting of Roxbury in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, below:

Stereographs were mass produced as souvenirs. People visiting Cambridge could purchase these cards and bring them home with them to relive their trip. This is evidenced by the frequent inclusion of historical information on the back of the cards.

stereograph002 — *Elmwood, Birthplace of James Russell Lowell, Cambridge Mass. Not dated. Produced by Underwood & Underwood Publishers.*

stereograph003 — *[Reverse] Elmwood, Birthplace of James Russell Lowell, Cambridge Mass. Not dated. Produced by Underwood & Underwood Publishers.*

Especially interesting in this example is the inclusion of multiple languages at the bottom of the card. Visitors who spoke French, German, Spanish, Swedish, or Russian could read for themselves what was depicted in the stereograph.

stereograph009 — Reverse of a stereograph card of Hollis Hall dormitories. Several cards with this historical description pasted to the back are present in our collection, and indication of just how common these types of cards were.

Other cards included a list of other available stereograph images. This card depicting a scene in Mount Auburn Cemetery is an example.

stereograph004 — While difficult to make out, the design to either side included the description “Rural Cemeteries, United States.” Based on information on the reverse, we know this is Mount Auburn Cemetery. Not dated. Publisher not specified.

stereograph005 — *Reverse of above. Someone, perhaps the original owner of this card, underlined “12. Lawn and Chapel” under Mount Auburn, Cambridge, indicating the subject of the photograph.*

Unfortunately, many cards do not include any information at all to identify them. However, occasionally the original purchaser chose to identify the subject themselves, perhaps to help them remember their visit.

stereograph010 — *Memorial Hall, Harvard University. No identifying information is present on the front of this card.*

stereograph011 — Reverse of above. “Memorial Hall” “Harvard” Cambridge Mass. June 1874. A. F. F.

Interest in stereoscopy has continued to the present day. Tutorials on creating your own stereoscopic images are available online. So if you live in Cambridge and want to experience a little bit of time travel for yourself, give it a try and show us what you come up with!

Sources:

Victoria and Albert Museum

American Antiquarian Society

The Ellis & Andrews Real Estate Collection

Posted on April 24, 2017May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

For the past several weeks, our Spring 2017 Simmons archives intern, Chun Yu Tsui, has been working on re-processing the Ellis & Andrews real estate collection. This collection was donated to the CHC in 1994 by Helen Moulton, owner and president of the Ellis & Andrews real estate firm from 1979-1994.

As part of the re-processing project, Chun Yu has reorganized the first two boxes from the collection; mainly, changing a box of real estate correspondence from chronological order to alphabetical order. Since so many of the letters received by Ellis & Melledge (the original company name) mentioned specific streets and addresses for sale, we thought reorganizing the correspondence alphabetically would be much easier for researchers.

In addition to finding out about the history of the oldest real estate firm in Cambridge, researchers might now be interested in finding information on the history of their home or building lots. The reorganization of the real estate correspondence will now allow researchers to search for their street or address by name.

Below, read about the collection and Chun Yu’s experience reprocessing a huge box of correspondence from 1893-1896.

Background on Ellis & Andrews*

Established in 1888, the firm of Ellis & Andrews was Cambridge’s oldest real estate company. First located at 910 Main Street (now Massachusetts Ave.) in Quincy Square, it was founded by William Rogers Ellis as the Ellis Real Estate & Insurance Company. In 1893, Cambridge native Robert Melledge joined the firm, which was renamed Ellis & Melledge, it moved to the Lyceum Building (now the Harvard Cooperative Society). In 1903 William Ellis died and Melledge extended partnership to Ellis’s son, Benjamin Pierce Ellis. Two years later Benjamin left the company to work independently, and in 1913 Melledge moved his firm to its present location in the Brattle Building at 4 Brattle Street, Cambridge. In 1917 Robert Melledge died and Benjamin Ellis returned to succeed his father. In 1920 he joined Cambridge real estate veteran Edward A. Andrews in business and the firm became Ellis & Andrews. Seven years later Edward Bowditch joined the company as an agent; by 1928 he was a co-owner. Edward Andrews died in 1936, and the firm was subsequently renamed Ellis & Bowditch. His son, Dwight Andrews, continued to work as an agent until he was called to duty in World War II. After the war, Dwight Andrews returned and the firm was again called Ellis & Andrews. In 1955, Andrews became sole owner; in 1961 John Norris joined as a partner; and in 1979 Helen Moulton bought the agency and became the president. The agency lost its independent status when it merged with another firm in 1994.

ellisblog1 — This is an example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from a Cambridge resident, Mrs. Charles Goodhue. In the letter, Mrs. Goodhue writes, “I want a house with 8 or 9 sleeping rooms – including servant’s room.”

The Collection*

The Ellis & Andrews Collection contains both business and personal correspondence from c. 1889 to 1986, with the bulk of the material from 1890-1935. These materials are organized in several individual archival boxes, which are then stored in five larger boxes. The collection contains various forms of printed material, including correspondence (business and personal); interviews from local newspapers; real estate advertisements; sales ledgers; a daybook (business transactions); postcards; invoices; and notes on a history of the Ellis-Andrews Insurance Agency.

The files of a personal nature contain correspondence between Edward and Elizabeth Andrews, and information on the estate of Edward Andrews. Biographical information (including obituaries) can be found on William Rogers Ellis, Benjiman P. Ellis, Robert J. Melledge, and Edward A. Andrews. There are also two files on Dwight Andrews which contain a variety of materials, but most of the information is from the 1980s.

ellisblog2 — This is an example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from a Cambridge resident. The resident writes, “I wouldn’t advise being too stiff on prices for rooms. Don’t refuse a reasonable offer from good man.”

ellisblog5 — This example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from W.A. Mason & Son shows the scenario of three surveyors measuring distances for engineering work, indicating how the city of Cambridge was developed in the late 19^th century.

Reorganizing the Collection

The “Scope and Content” note in the original finding aid created by Matthew Hall in April 1995, and reformatted by Megan Schwenke in April 2012, only describes one of the small document boxes located in one of the collection’s five huge white storage boxes. Therefore, apart from double-checking the box that was already processed, five weeks ago I as an intern started sorting through another box of documentation and correspondence from the collection, marked “1893-1896”. Those materials were originally sorted by year, but this form of arrangement might not be very helpful for researchers to find the desired documentation, especially for this box containing materials only within such a short period. With the guidance given by my supervisor, I decided to alphabetize the correspondence by address in order to foster easy searching, and then to rearrange the series and update the finding aid accordingly. Unfortunately, I could not finish processing everything in that box before the end of my internship, since that box contains too much documentation, many of it written in illegible or complex handwriting. Yet, this valuable experience really opens my eyes to approaching archival materials in the late 19^th century.

ellisblog3

ellisblog4 — This business postcard shows notes from W.A. Mason & Son, located in Central Square, Cambridge, a civil engineering and surveying company which Ellis & Melledge partnered with in the late 19th-century.

Click the following text to open the Ellis & Andrews Collection finding aid. Please note: this collection is currently being reprocessed, and the finding aid linked here may not be the most recent version. The collection is still open for research, however, so please contact the Archivist for more information.

*The background and collection notes are taken from the collection finding aid.