Posts Tagged ‘women’s history’
Science vs. Séances: Cambridge’s 19th-Century Clash Over the Afterlife
By Beth Folsom, 2026 In the mid-19th century, spiritualism gained momentum across the country. The roots of the movement can be traced to the 1840s in upstate New York, where evangelical religious revivals had taken hold and laid the groundwork for personal and emotional interactions with the divine. Spiritualism’s basic tenets were that the soul…
Read MoreGender, Work, and Virtue: Women Foundry Workers and the Politics of Labor Reform
By Beth Folsom, 2026 This week, as Cambridge joins the rest of the country in marking the Labor Day holiday, we also mark the anniversary of an industrial raid that challenged the city’s notions of “suitable” work for women and the role of government in regulating working conditions, hours, and wages. At the beginning of…
Read MoreFor 50 years that home economics was treated as a science, Harvard Square hosted a center for housewives
By Beth Folsom, 2026 By the winter of 1919, as the nation was emerging from its brief but formative participation in World War I, Cambridge was already looking ahead to what the next decade would bring its residents. Included in that group were housewives, many of whom had been affected by the economic challenges of the…
Read MoreWest 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…
Read MoreAmerican Revolution in Cambridge
Introduction Cambridge has been part of America’s Revolutionary story from its beginnings, even before the outbreak of the war for independence. On Sept. 1, 1774, Cambridge residents responded to the news that Gen. Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, had ordered the removal of gunpowder from a magazine (a powder storage…
Read MoreHeadquarters of a Revolution: The 250th Anniversary of Washington’s Arrival in Cambridge
Saturday, July 5, 2025Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site105 Brattle Street10 am-3 pmFree Join History Cambridge for this special National Park Service event! We are excited to participate in this special event at one of Cambridge’s most historic spaces. Explore the people, ideas, and questions that shaped General George Washington’s first revolutionary headquarters 250 years…
Read MoreJune 21: Pioneering Poets of Cambridge: A Guided Tour
Saturday, June 21, 20252-3:30 pmFree; registration requiredLimited space availableWeather date: Sunday, June 22 at 2 pm About the tour Join authors Karen Weintraub and Michael Kuchta for a series of free tours exploring Cambridge’s legacy of innovation, adaptation, and revolutionary ideas. Based on their book Born in Cambridge: 400 Years of Ideas and Innovators, these…
Read MoreMay 17: Born in North Cambridge: A Guided Tour
Saturday, May 17, 20252-3:30 pmFree; registration requiredLimited space availableWeather date: Sunday, May 18 at 2 pm As of Friday, May 16, this event is taking place rain or shine! About the tour Join authors Karen Weintraub and Michael Kuchta for a series of free tours exploring Cambridge’s legacy of innovation, adaptation, and revolutionary ideas. Based…
Read MoreNow April 27!: Ideas, Invention, and Imagination: A Guided Tour of Cambridgeport
Switching to the rain date! This tour is now Sunday, April 27 at 2 pm Saturday, April 26, 20252-3:30 pmFree; registration requiredLimited space availableWeather date: Sunday, April 27 at 2 pm About the tour Join authors Karen Weintraub and Michael Kuchta for a series of free tours exploring Cambridge’s legacy of innovation, adaptation, and revolutionary…
Read MoreHarvard Square institution was party to a landmark Supreme Court decision
By Laura Roberts, 2025 With First Amendment issues in the news and on our minds, it is interesting to recall how a venerable Harvard Square restaurant was party to a landmark Supreme Court decision on the “Establishment Clause,” which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise…
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