Cambridge Considered

Cambridge Cowpaths

2012-03-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the first post of the Getting Around in Cambridge series. In these posts, I will be writing about the the history of transportation, particularly public transit, in Cambridge, from toll roads to the horse-drawn street railway to the Red Line. If there's something you want to see covered in this series of posts, please let me know here. In response to my post, “Getting Around in

Getting around in Cambridge: what do you want to know?

2012-02-15T15:40:00.002-05:00

In the coming weeks, I will be posting about the history of transportation, particularly public transit, in Cambridge, from toll roads to the horse-drawn street railway to the Red Line. There are many routes this post could go in (pardon the pun), from the 1830's legal controversy over the right to build toll bridges to the 1960's origin of young people hanging out in "the pit" surrounding

Guest blog posts at The Uncataloged Museum

2012-02-09T10:24:00.001-05:00

February 9 update -- my second guest post is up! January 18 -- For those of you interested in art or in museums, please check out my three guest posts at The Uncataloged Museum, about my experiences as a docent at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (Gardner herself is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery... I'll keep you updated if I find any more Cambridge connections). Here's an excerpt from

Some Christmas Cheer from Winslow Homer, a Cambridge Native

2011-12-21T19:58:00.001-05:00

As a history researcher, I often find that libraries are a gift -- and their online collections are a gift as well! The following images, originally published in Harper's Weekly in the late 1850's, are in the Boston Public Library's Winslow Homer collection, which is available to view on their flickr photostream.* Winslow Homer was born in Boston in 1836, and he grew up in Cambridge,

A Bird in the Belfry Revisited

2011-11-23T11:34:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Day marks the one-year anniversary of Cambridge Considered! Readers who have been with Cambridge Considered since the beginning, or who have explored the modest archives, will know that in my first post, I attempted to verify the rumor that a group of Harvard students hung a turkey in a bell-tower as a Thanksgiving prank sometime in the nineteenth century. I first

The Muslim Community in Cambridge

2011-11-06T19:20:00.001-05:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } While Cambridge has a storied religious history and has been home to many groups of immigrants, neither Muslims from the United States nor those from other parts of the world were a significant presence in the city until

Cambridge Considered is no longer on a regular schedule

2011-09-10T12:09:00.001-04:00

"What refuge is there for the victim who is possessed with the feeling that there are a thousand new books he ought to read, while life is only long enough for him to read a hundred?" - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) Dear readers, In the future, Cambridge Considered will no longer be updated on a regular schedule. I have a lot of projects going on in my life at

The Hurricane of 1938 -- a mini-post

2011-08-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

Dear readers, My apartment looks like it was hit by an earthquake and then a hurricane! Not because of the actual events, but because I am moving to a new apartment on Wednesday, and everything is half-packed and messy. Here in Cambridge, we have been fairly lucky... it seems like everyone prepared for Hurricane Irene, but all we got was rain and high winds. Because of my move, I haven't had

A Very Brief History of Cambridge, 1900-2000, Part II: The Second World War and the 1950's

2011-08-14T21:58:00.000-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; Even though much of the recruiting for the war in this area happened in downtown Boston,1 Cambridge was very much involved in World War II. The U.S. Army Chaplain School, which had previously been located in Kentucky,

Cambridges of the World -- a map

2011-07-31T10:11:00.004-04:00

Below is a map I created that shows the cities and towns named Cambridge throughout the world. Almost every English-speaking place is represented. Hover over the pushpins for a small amount of information about each one. For simplicity's sake, this is only independent, stand-alone towns and cities -- townships, villages in New York State where a village is a part of a town, electoral districts,

A Very Brief History of Cambridge, 1900-2000, Part I: The Turn of the Century Through Plan E

2011-07-17T22:19:00.003-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } With streetcars, electricity, and more, Cambridge was already a modern city by the turn of the twentieth century. At the same time, it was in for a number of significant changes over the next several decades. MIT moved in,

The Declaration of Independence, 1776 -- see my guest post on another history blog!

2011-07-03T19:59:00.003-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } On July 4th, I will be a guest blogger for Pamela Winnick, an author who focuses on the American Revolution. You can read my post, “That the People May be Universally Informed of It: reactions to the Declaration of

A Very Brief History of Cambridge, 1800-1900, Part III: Progress and Progressivism

2011-06-22T22:07:00.002-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } Cambridge's story in the later part of the nineteenth century follows the same pattern as that of many American cities. Rapid development in industry caused rapid growth in population and in the gap between rich and poor.

more A Very Brief History coming later in the month

2011-06-01T18:31:00.002-04:00

Dear readers, The next post should be on June 12, but a lot of my time is consumed with a project not related to the blog right now, so expect it on the 22nd instead. I'm going to return to the Very Brief History of Cambridge series, picking up where I left off in the 1800-1900 section and discussing the Progressive Era.

Shh... the artifacts are resting... and five other tips about museums

2011-05-29T22:43:00.000-04:00

Apart from being a history blogger, I am currently a tour guide and museum educator in two history museums. Today at Cambridge Considered, I want to share some of my museum knowledge that I thought readers of history might find interesting. As always, if you have any questions, please ask in the comments! I'd be happy to add to the list if there's something you are wondering about. p

Hutchinson and Harvard

2011-05-16T21:34:00.001-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } Some Cantabrigians believe that Anne Hutchinson, the religious dissenter who was among the first prominent settlers of Rhode Island, should also be credited with causing the Puritans to found Harvard. The General Court of

Anne Hutchinson's Powerful Influence

2011-05-01T22:51:00.004-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } Dear readers -- starting this week, Cambridge Considered officially updates every other Sunday instead of every other Saturday. Back to Anne Hutchinson for two more posts! Some Cantabrigians believe that Anne Hutchinson, the

Time and Tide in Cambridge

2011-04-24T21:38:00.004-04:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } Picture Cambridge in 1637, or 1700, or 1776. What do you imagine? Perhaps churches, small houses, or the common. Now imagine looking to the east. What you should see in your mind's eye is a stretch of salty, tidal marshland,

Media set in Cambridge

2011-04-09T01:00:00.008-04:00

Dear readers, I'd like to make up for lost time from March and post every Saturday in April, but too much Puritan theology at once will tire both you and me out. The following is a sampling of media set in Cambridge. It isn't intended to be an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination; it's just for fun. (If you're looking for a good Cambridge filmography, another blogger can provide you

Anne Hutchinson, Heretic

2011-04-02T20:50:00.004-04:00

notice -- Cambridge Considered on Hiatus until April.

2011-02-26T18:51:00.001-05:00

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cambridge Considered will be on hiatus until April. Below is a teaser for the next post! I have found that trying to reduce Anne Hutchinson's story into a compact blog post is an even greater challenge than I first thought it would be. I don't know if I will finish the post today, when it is scheduled to go up, so I'm leaving you with this teaser until I

A City Built of Bricks

2011-02-12T19:09:00.003-05:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } If you have been to Cambridge, you've seen bricks. Lots and lots of bricks. It's clear they're a part of the architectural aesthetic of New England and of this city, but another reason bricks are omnipresent is that

Voice and Silence -- a photo essay

2011-01-29T16:11:00.001-05:00

Today, Cambridge Considered takes a brief detour from history into a portrait of Cambridge today. It was warm, about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, so I set out with my camera around mid-day with the idea to take a few pictures of famous graves at Mount Auburn Cemetery. I learned a few things along the way. First, wearing a camera around your neck in Harvard Square means that the Children's

A Very Brief History of Cambridge, 1800-1900, part II: Immigration and Industry

2011-01-15T21:22:00.003-05:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } As noted last time, I am dividing the 19th century into several posts. I want to stress that no century is more important or more worth studying than another, but it happened that it was most convenient to do it this way for the

A Very Brief History of Cambridge: 1800-1900, Part 1 -- Cambridge Changes Shape and Size

2011-01-01T21:37:00.002-05:00

p.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-size: 10pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57%; } I would hate to imply that one century had more to it than another century, or that the history of one period is worth telling at a greater level of depth than another. Still, I am dividing the 19th century into several posts. The