Cambridge Open Archives 2023

Join us June 5th - 9th for an exploration of all things Born in Cambridge!

hosted by the Cambridge Historical Commission

Cambridge Open Archives is an annual free event that offers members of the public the rare chance to go behind the scenes with a number of unique archives and collecting repositories in Cambridge.

This year, for one week between June 5th and 9th, ten repositories across Cambridge will open their doors to invite you to ask questions and learn about archival holdings regarding people, innovations, and concepts Born in Cambridge.

Continue scrolling below to view participating repositories and register for the scheduled presentations.

MIT Distinctive Collections, Monday, June 5th starting @ 2:00 pm

Join MIT Libraries’ Distinctive Collections unit to discover people, places, and inventions with ties to the Institute or to the city. From sewing machine patents, solar houses, and strobe photography, to MIT’s “rebirth” in Cambridge and the work of notable women at the Institute, we invite you to take a closer look at a selection of science and technology materials unique to Distinctive Collections.  

Department of Public Works, Tuesday, June 6th @ 10:00 am

Public Works is pleased to highlight more than 250 former locations of historic manufacturing from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many familiar products and ideas were born right here in Cambridge, before land value and environmental regulations made these industries less familiar and more remote. Visitors will also see original engineering records and instruments once used to lay out streets and water and sewer utilities during that time period.

Cambridge Historical Commission, Tuesday, June 6th @ 11:00 am

Join us at the CHC as we reveal which of your daily household products were Born in Cambridge. Cambridge is nationally recognized as an education hub thanks to celebrated institutions like Harvard and MIT, but did you know of our city’s rich manufacturing history? Come along with us as we illuminate Cambridge’s industrial past and celebrate the innovations born from great minds, many of whom were educated here. From kitchen items to office supplies to medical aids, explore the Cambridge companies and products that are still part of our routines today.

Cambridge Public Library, Tuesday, June 6th @ 6:30 pm

On view at the Main Library is Symbolism and Subversion: An Exhibition of Jennifer Regan's Stitched Narratives. Regan renegotiates traditional quilt-making themes through a feminist lens and finds the city of Cambridge as her inspiration.  Examine the stitched narratives up close and explore Regan's personal papers, journals, and sketchbooks to discover the artistic process behind the 100 pieces she created while living in Cambridge.

Harvard Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection, Wednesday, June 7th @ 9:00 am

See the largest collection of astronomical glass plate negatives in the world and one of the birthplaces of astrophotography. Learn about the different lives of the Women in Astronomical Computers and their pioneering discoveries and advancements for women working in the sciences. The Harvard Plate Stacks collection spans 150 years and holds the beginning and end of early photographic mediums.

History Cambridge, Wednesday, June 7th @ 10:00 am

Join the staff of History Cambridge, and special guest Mike Kuchta, co-author of the recent book Born In Cambridge: 400 Years of Ideas and Innovators, at the historic Hooper-Lee-Nichols House. Together we will highlight previous industries of Cambridge and view early innovations "born" in Cambridge from companies such as Polaroid (cameras), Fresh Pond Ice Company (ice harvesting), Elias Howe (sewing machine), and more. 

Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Wednesday, June 7th starting @ 4:00 pm

Come celebrate the lives of journalist and critic Margaret Fuller Ossoli, physician and polymath Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell, and other “notable”- as well as less well known- “residents” who were born in Cambridge and are buried and commemorated at Mount Auburn. This is a rare opportunity to see the actual archival records from the nineteenth century that document their deaths, and how their friends and families chose to remember them.

Houghton Library, Friday, June 9th starting @ 11:00 am

Houghton Library is Harvard University’s primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. As the first purpose-built university special collections library in the country, we’re proud to claim our own stake in this year’s “Born in Cambridge” theme. The Open Archives tour will introduce visitors to the breadth of Houghton’s collection through high spots of Cambridge history, from the papers of celebrated Cantabridgians like poet E. E. Cummings and photographer Elsa Dorfman, to cornerstones of Harvard history, such as John Harvard’s copy of Downame’s The Christian Warfare, the only known surviving book from his library. On their tour, visitors will also be introduced to Houghton’s exhibition spaces and display rooms, including those dedicated to American poets Emily Dickinson and Amy Lowell, Romantic poet John Keats, and English writer Samuel Johnson and his circle.

Harvard Art Museums, Friday, June 9th @ 12:00 pm

Since the 1920s the Harvard Art Museums have maintained a reputation as the premier training ground for the next generation of museum professionals. This talk, drawing on documents, photographs, and oral history recordings from the holdings of museum archives, will explore the Fogg Museum and Busch-Reisinger Museum’s training legacy through the experience of women who studied and worked there from the 1920s to the 1990s. Staff will also share findings from an ongoing project to expand the names of women previously referred to only by their husbands’ names in archival descriptions.

Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Friday, June 9th starting @ 4:00 pm

For this year’s Cambridge Open Archives, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS has the stories of a book, a baby, and a college all “born in Cambridge” at 105 Brattle Street.  In April 1847, Fanny and Henry Longfellow welcomed their third child – and documented the first use of ether for pain relief in childbirth in the US.  Later that year, Henry Longfellow published Evangeline, bringing to a new literary life characters derived from Acadian history and culture. From the house in 1919, the poet’s grandson led the planning for the Boston Trade Union College, a joint venture of academics and labor leaders to serve Boston’s workers.

MIT Distinctive Collections, Monday, June 5th starting @ 2:00 pm

Join MIT Libraries’ Distinctive Collections unit to discover people, places, and inventions with ties to the Institute or to the city. From sewing machine patents, solar houses, and strobe photography, to MIT’s “rebirth” in Cambridge and the work of notable women at the Institute, we invite you to take a closer look at a selection of science and technology materials unique to Distinctive Collections.  

Register Here:

Department of Public Works, Tuesday, June 6th @ 10:00 am

Public Works is pleased to highlight more than 250 former locations of historic manufacturing from the 19 th  and early 20 th  centuries. Many familiar products and ideas were born right here in Cambridge, before land value and environmental regulations made these industries less familiar and more remote. Visitors will also see original engineering records and instruments once used to lay out streets and water and sewer utilities during that time period.

To register please email  theworks@cambridgema.gov 

*Additional start times may be created if registration fills

Cambridge Historical Commission, Tuesday, June 6th @ 11:00 am

Join us at the CHC as we reveal which of your daily household products were Born in Cambridge. Cambridge is nationally recognized as an education hub thanks to celebrated institutions like Harvard and MIT, but did you know of our city’s rich manufacturing history? Come along with us as we illuminate Cambridge’s industrial past and celebrate the innovations born from great minds, many of whom were educated here. From kitchen items to office supplies to medical aids, explore the Cambridge companies and products that are still part of our routines today.

To register please email  vwilliams@cambridgema.gov 

*Additional start times may be created if registration fills.

Cambridge Public Library, Tuesday, June 6th @ 6:30 pm

On view at the Main Library is Symbolism and Subversion: An Exhibition of Jennifer Regan's Stitched Narratives. Regan renegotiates traditional quilt-making themes through a feminist lens and finds the city of Cambridge as her inspiration.  Examine the stitched narratives up close and explore Regan's personal papers, journals, and sketchbooks to discover the artistic process behind the 100 pieces she created while living in Cambridge.

Harvard Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection, Wednesday, June 7th @ 9:00 am

See the largest collection of astronomical glass plate negatives in the world and one of the birthplaces of astrophotography. Learn about the different lives of the Women in Astronomical Computers and their pioneering discoveries and advancements for women working in the sciences. The Harvard Plate Stacks collection spans 150 years and holds the beginning and end of early photographic mediums.

History Cambridge, Wednesday, June 7th @ 10:00 am

Join the staff of History Cambridge, and special guest Mike Kuchta, co-author of the recent book Born In Cambridge: 400 Years of Ideas and Innovators, at the historic Hooper-Lee-Nichols House. Together we will highlight previous industries of Cambridge and view early innovations "born" in Cambridge from companies such as Polaroid (cameras), Fresh Pond Ice Company (ice harvesting), Elias Howe (sewing machine), and more. 

Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Wednesday, June 7th starting @ 4:00 pm

Come celebrate the lives of journalist and critic Margaret Fuller Ossoli, physician and polymath Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell, and other “notable”- as well as less well known- “residents” who were born in Cambridge and are buried and commemorated at Mount Auburn. This is a rare opportunity to see the actual archival records from the nineteenth century that document their deaths, and how their friends and families chose to remember them.

Houghton Library, Friday, June 9th starting @ 11:00 am

Houghton Library is Harvard University’s primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. As the first purpose-built university special collections library in the country, we’re proud to claim our own stake in this year’s “Born in Cambridge” theme. The Open Archives tour will introduce visitors to the breadth of Houghton’s collection through high spots of Cambridge history, from the papers of celebrated Cantabridgians like poet E. E. Cummings and photographer Elsa Dorfman, to cornerstones of Harvard history, such as John Harvard’s copy of Downame’s The Christian Warfare, the only known surviving book from his library. On their tour, visitors will also be introduced to Houghton’s exhibition spaces and display rooms, including those dedicated to American poets Emily Dickinson and Amy Lowell, Romantic poet John Keats, and English writer Samuel Johnson and his circle.

Register Here:

Harvard Art Museums, Friday, June 9th @ 12:00 pm

Since the 1920s the Harvard Art Museums have maintained a reputation as the premier training ground for the next generation of museum professionals. This talk, drawing on documents, photographs, and oral history recordings from the holdings of museum archives, will explore the Fogg Museum and Busch-Reisinger Museum’s training legacy through the experience of women who studied and worked there from the 1920s to the 1990s. Staff will also share findings from an ongoing project to expand the names of women previously referred to only by their husbands’ names in archival descriptions.

Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Friday, June 9th starting @ 4:00 pm

For this year’s Cambridge Open Archives, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS has the stories of a book, a baby, and a college all “born in Cambridge” at 105 Brattle Street.  In April 1847, Fanny and Henry Longfellow welcomed their third child – and documented the first use of ether for pain relief in childbirth in the US.  Later that year, Henry Longfellow published Evangeline, bringing to a new literary life characters derived from Acadian history and culture. From the house in 1919, the poet’s grandson led the planning for the Boston Trade Union College, a joint venture of academics and labor leaders to serve Boston’s workers.