How Have Women Shaped Cambridge? A Call for Submissions

How Have Women Shaped Cambridge? A “Her-story” Drive Women’s stories are still largely overlooked in the broader historical narrative, and women continue to face obstacles to their full participation in civic life, economic equality, and even their physical health and safety. In light of these ongoing challenges, the Cambridge Historical Society has chosen to focus…

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Reflecting on the 2019 History Tour

Guided Tour

Amelia Zurcher, 2019 Summer Programs Intern Approaching local history through the question “How Does Cambridge Engage?” has given me an interesting lens into the city’s years of activism and community-building. Throughout the summer of 2019, I spent many days strolling Cambridge’s streets, sifting through archives, and talking with local residents. When I first began research…

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Lois Lilley Howe by Elizabeth W. Reinhardt

Lois Lilley Howe, F.A.I.A. (1864-1964) by Elizabeth W. Reinhardt Read December 7, 1975 This article appeared in the Cambridge Historical Society Proceedings for the years 1973-1975 (Volume 43) Miss LOIS LILLEY HOWE, one of the first women to graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s architectural program, the organizer of the only all-woman architectural firm in…

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Nicola Williams

Nicola Williams was born in Jamaica, and spent her childhood in both Jamaica and Brooklyn, NY. She moved to Boston the day after graduating college in Upstate New York, and has lived in Cambridge for over 30 years. In 1995, she founded The Williams Agency, a marketing and event planning firm.

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Lynette Laveau-Saxe

Lynette Laveau-Saxe was born in Trinidad and moved to Boston to be with her husband, who was studying anthropology at Brandeis. She is a teacher, actress, mentor, and life success coach and currently produces the Callaloo Express Relationship Show on CCTV. She’s lived in Cambridge for 50 years.

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Boston Women’s Community Radio, 1972-1993

Amelia Zurcher, Summer 2019 Programs Intern While the 1971 takeover of an underutilized Harvard University building and the establishment of the Cambridge Women’s Center is well-known, fewer people know the history of how Cambridge-based women claimed space on the radio waves. Boston Women’s Community Radio (BWCR), based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), aired…

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The History of Garden Street

By Lois Lilley Howe Read April 25, 1949 This article originally appeared in the Cambridge Historical Society Proceedings, Volume 33, pages 37-57 WE CANNOT think of Old Garden Street without thinking of the Common which forms one side of it. Yet our thought of the Common is just of a big open space with trees and a…

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Harvard Square in the ‘Seventies and ‘Eighties

By Lois Lilley Howe Read January 25, 1944 This article originally appeared in the Cambridge Historical Society Proceedings, Volume 30, pages 11-27 Reminiscences, which should really have been called Harvard Square and its Environs in the ‘Seventies and ‘Eighties, have been in the back of my mind long enough for me to have verified details by…

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Elba Santiago

Elba Santiago was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Cambridge when she was 17 and a half years old. Elba has worked at a number of jobs in Cambridge, including factory work, child care, and as a teacher’s aid in the Cambridge school system. Elba currently lives in a house she owns with her…

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