1986 Neighborhood Trivia Hunt

Cambridge Trivia Hunt

Cambridge has certainly changed over time, and our 1986 trivia hunt shows just how true that is. It serves as a kind of time capsule of our city. Take a trip back in time with this self-guided tour to see how many of these sites are still around. Which ones do you recognize? Which ones…

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Who Is Essential Cambridge? Part 3: Nurses

In our last installment, we examined the role of Cambridge teachers as essential workers during the twentieth century. As it involved nurturing young children, teaching was viewed by many as a natural outgrowth of women’s caregiving responsibilities within the family, and education, especially at the elementary level, was considered a profession to which women devoted…

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Elizabeth Ann Sullivan, M.D.

Inspired by our 2020 theme, “Who are Cambridge Women?” Society member Philip M. Cronin wrote this essay about his remarkable mother, Elizabeth Sullivan.                       Elizabeth Ann Sullivan was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, in 1892. She attended local schools.  The day after she graduated from high school, she boarded a train to Boston and enrolled at…

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Opposition House

By Susan Chasen, 2012 Tucked away on a short spur off Hancock Street stands a quiet, historic home that has been known — if not well known — for most of its two hundred and five years as Opposition House. The name suggests a headquarters for political activity or resistance. But it was the house…

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Mid-Cambridge: An Evolving Neighborhood

By Paula Lovejoy, 2012 As its name implies, Mid-Cambridge lies in the heart of the city between Inman, Central, and Harvard squares. Essentially a residential neighborhood since the 19th century, it’s become a municipal center as well, including City Hall, the high school, the library, and a hospital. However, the area was not officially considered…

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Mr. Foxcroft and His Street

By Michael Kenney, 2012 Along Cambridge Street one can spot a solid 1920s brick residence, now condominiums, known as Fox Croft Manor. The name, despite its fractured appearance, most likely refers to the Foxcroft family, Tory grandees who owned some120 acres of fields and orchards stretching beyond the present Kirkland Street to Shady Hill. Little…

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A “Townie” Benefactor

By Daphne Abeel, 2012 Frederick Hastings Rindge, Cambridge’s most important individual benefactor, was a ‘‘townie’’ who entered Harvard in 1875. The son of Samuel Baker Rindge, a successful merchant and businessman, Frederick grew up in the ‘‘Rindge mansion,’’ which still stands at the corner of Dana and Harvard streets. At Harvard, he was a loyal…

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Trout Fishing in America Communal School

By Cambridge Historical Society Staff, 2012 There was once a school in Mid-Cambridge called the Trout Fishing in America Communal School. It was based on the book of the same name by Richard Brautigan. On November 3, 1969, the Harvard Crimson reported: ‘‘A night session two weeks ago at Trout Fishing in America… resulted in…

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Series IV: Mid Cambridge

Links to all the Postcard Collection gallery pages and the Finding Aid can be found by clicking here. *Postcard was used.

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