“Love Letter to Lowell School” is a Valentine to Culture and Community

February 5, 2026
he exterior entrance of the New School of Music, a yellow two-story wooden building with white trim. A short set of white wooden stairs leads to a covered porch with a triangular pediment. Two dark red doors sit beneath a small overhead light, and a white sign to the left of the stairs reads "New School of Music" with a small musical note.

By Beth Folsom, 2026 This year the New School of Music will celebrate its 50th year providing instrumental and vocal music lessons and performance opportunities to students of all ages in the Cambridge community. For 46 of those years, NSM has been located at the former Lowell School, at 25 Lowell Street in West Cambridge.…

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In the organ-making history of East Cambridge, two small-business owners dominated

July 31, 2025
a close-up of a nameplate on what appears to be a musical instrument, likely an organ or piano, given the visible keys above it. The plate is metallic and engraved with decorative script. It reads: "George Stevens, Maker PRESENTED TO THE FIRST PARISH IN SHIRLEY, BY MRS. HENRIETTA WHITNEY. (1847.)"

By Beth Folsom, 2025 As Cambridge enters the season of graduations, weddings and first Communion and other church-related celebrations, it is worth noting the city’s history of building the instrument that provides the soundtrack to many of these events: the church organ.  East Cambridge in particular has been home to several organ and piano manufacturers…

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Composer Leroy Anderson: Cambridge Born and Bred

August 3, 2017

by Jane Anderson Vercelli, 2008 While the entertaining music of Leroy Anderson is heard all over the world today, the composer who wrote “Sleigh Ride” was born, raised, and educated in Cambridge, thanks to his Swedish parents, who immigrated as children to the United States. They chose to make Cambridge their home because they wanted…

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Looking Backward: Club 47 and the 1960s Folk Music Revival

June 15, 2017

by Jennifer Hance Bob Dylan never made it in Cambridge. This was one of many fascinating stories told by folklorist Millie Rahn, who travels around the country to collect and document the history of the folk music movement. Closer to home, Millie is the folklorist for Club Passim and other regional folk music venues. She…

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Betsy Siggins Papers, 1714-2008

April 17, 2017

NOTE: Series II of this collection was transferred to the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center at UMass Amherst. Review their finding aid.   Administrative Information Biographical Sketch Arrangement Scope and Content Note Series Description and Folder Listing 5 ½ file boxes, 1 oversized box 3.96 linear feet Processor: Katrina Morse…

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