Cambridge Considered

Profile of a Cantabridgian: Caroline Orne

2012-12-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

Recently, my reading has introduced me to Caroline Frances Orne (1818-1905), who was a well-regarded poet in her day, and the first librarian of the Cambridge Public Library. The Cambridge Public Library was known as the Dana Library when it first opened in 1858, after its first major benefactor, Edmund Dana. Cambridge residents could pay one dollar a year to be a member of the library,

Projects, projects, projects...

2012-08-11T20:20:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted here, largely because I have a number of other projects on my plate. I am doing a blog of book reviews and thoughts on the greater Boston literary scene over at Diffuse 5. I recently appeared as a guest on the great blog The Uncataloged Museum, reflecting on my experiences volunteering at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (By the way, the museum's

Some Musings and Resources on the War of 1812

2012-06-18T10:04:00.001-04:00

This month is the bicentennial of the start of the War of 1812. President James Madison declared war on Great Britain two hundred years ago today, June 18, 1812. If the War of 1812 has a reputation among non-historians, it's that American War that no one knows anything about today. I disagree; I think the Spanish-American War and the Mexican-American War are even less known, to say nothing of

Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge -- Friday

2012-05-25T22:17:00.000-04:00

To explain the history of Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge I decided not to untangle the interwoven stories of religious pluralism, the Disestablishment movement and the history

Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge -- Thursday

2012-05-24T18:24:00.000-04:00

To explain the history of Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge I decided not to untangle the interwoven stories of religious pluralism, the Disestablishment movement and the history of

Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge -- Wednesday

2012-05-23T08:36:00.000-04:00

To explain the history of Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge I decided not to untangle the interwoven stories of religious pluralism, the Disestablishment movement and the history

Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge -- Tuesday

2012-05-22T08:10:00.000-04:00

To explain the history of Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge I decided not to untangle the interwoven stories of religious pluralism, the Disestablishment movement and the history of Unitarianism in Cambridge. I think it is in the spirit of the lengthy title of this post. If you're just interested in finally

Antidisestablishmentarianism in Cambridge -- Monday

2012-05-21T15:50:00.000-04:00

In the previous post, “The Great Bridge Over the Charles,” we saw the effects of a huge public bridge project, but by the late eighteenth and early

The Great Bridge Over the Charles

2012-03-28T17:25:00.001-04:00

Today, the big transportation issue people are talking about in Cambridge is the T. It affects individuals, businesses, and local government. In the first two hundred years after Cambridge

Transportation Here and There

2012-03-26T17:03:00.002-04:00

The folks over at the Cambridge Historical Society must agree that with so much discussion of the T, it's a great time to look back at other debates in the history of transportation in our area. They recently blogged about the Inner Belt, a proposed interstate that would have complemented the Central Artery to form a loop around and through the inner Boston area, including Cambridge. The project

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

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

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

The Muslim Community in Cambridge

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

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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

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

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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.

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:

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

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.