June 13: Land/Mark Symposium

Land/Mark: A Symposium on Enslavement, Resistance, and the Revolution Saturday, June 13th, 11am – 3pmCambridge Public Library Lecture Hall449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138Free and open to the publicRegistration required This symposium explores the story of Mark, Phillis and Phebe, three enslaved people punished in 1755 for fatally poisoning their enslaver, John Codman, in order to break free from slavery. The case was so well known that 40 years later, Paul Revere referenced Mark when describing his famous 1775 ride. How should…

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West Cambridge History Hub

2026 is our year of West Cambridge! Check out our upcoming events A Brief History of West Cambridge As defined by the City of Cambridge’s Community Development Department, the neighborhood of West Cambridge is bounded on the west by Fresh Pond, on the north by Concord Avenue, on the south by the Charles River and…

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Major General Daniel Gookin

by Rev. Warner Foote Gookin, 1912 Three hundred years ago, at a date still undetermined, one of the great men of Cambridge was born in England, – one who was great enough, at least, to deserve this passing tribute, the only recognition, I believe, to be given him in the tercentenary of his birth. It…

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Self-Guided Tour: The Work of Revolution in Cambridge

Laundresses at a Revolutionary Army camp, circa 1780.

Introduction For many, the first image that comes to mind when thinking of Cambridge during the Revolutionary Era is that of General George Washington taking command of the Continental Army on Cambridge Common in July of 1775, under what would come to be known as the Washington Elm. Although we now know that this tale…

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Some Aspects of the East Cambridge Story

By John W. Wood, 1956 “This paper gives a totally inadequate account of an appealingly picturesque and colorful neighborhood, the area that might have been a slum and isn’t, the step-child of the University City. “ – J. W. W. For some reason, the local history of East Cambridge has been almost completely neglected. It…

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On A Certain Deplorable Tendency Among The Most Respectable Members Of The Community To Abstain From Church-going— As Observed In The Year 1796 (Part One of Two)

By Prescott Evarts, 1922 There has recently come into the possession of the Cambridge Historical Society, as a gift from Rev. Henry Wilder Foote, a copy of “An Address to the Public from the Ministers of the Association in and about Cambridge, at their stated meeting on the second Tuesday in October, 1796.” The first…

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Early Glass Making In East Cambridge

by Doris Hayes-Cavanaugh, 1926 M​uch​ has been said recently about the business growth of Cambridge, and a number of publications have stressed the fact that Cambridge, and particularly the section known as East Cambridge, now stands very high in the scale of New England manufacturing centres. Imposing schedules of plants and factories have appeared, setting…

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