Open Archives: Born in Cambridge
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Date & Time:
June 6, 2023
6:30 – 7:30 pm
In Person
Cambridge Room, Main Library
REGISTER HERE
Visit the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections during this year’s Open Archives: Born in Cambridge. View feminist quilter Jennifer Regan’s stitched narratives and explore her personal papers, journals, and sketchbooks to discover the artistic process behind the 100 pieces she created while living in Cambridge.. Registration is required.
Symbolism and Subversion: An Exhibition of Jennifer Regan’s Stitched Narratives
May 2 – July 31, 2023
Lobby & Second Floor, Main Library
When author Jennifer Regan moved to Cambridge in the late 1980s, she had an artistic and feminist awakening. She had recently left behind a whirlwind life as the spouse of a prominent Buffalo politician. Newly divorced, middle aged, and in an unfamiliar city, Regan found artistic expression in poetry, painting, and most significantly quilt making or rather creating “stitched narratives,” thematic stories sewn with symbolism and subversion.
Reworking the traditional themes of American quilts, such as a focus on biblical stories, she created narratives negotiating femininity, marriage, motherhood, and society through a feminist lens. For some of her pieces, Cambridge became a focal point – either directly inspiring her or serving as her subject. The Renaissance, politics, and societal inequities deeply influenced her other pieces. Regan’s career as an artist in Cambridge flourished and she created over 100 pieces between 1989 and 2006. Her stitched narratives can be found in the New England Quilt Museum and Burchfield Penny Art Center collections.
This exhibit features the Library’s newly acquired Jennifer Regan Stitched Narratives and explores the ways in which Cambridge influenced her artwork and new feminist perspective. View these exciting new additions to the Library’s Archives and Special Collections on display at the Main Library in the Lobby and the Second Floor.
Join us for an opening reception on May 11 at 6:30 pm with a talk by quilt expert Pamela Weeks and educator Jennifer Regan as they discuss the rise of arts quilts and Jennifer Regan’s role in the movement.
Opening Reception for Symbolism and Subversion: An Exhibition of Jennifer Regan’s Stitched Narratives
Date & Time:
May 11, 2023
6:30 – 8 pm
In Person
Cambridge Room, Main Library
REGISTER HERE
Join us for an opening reception to celebrate the Library’s acquisition and exhibition of Jennifer Regan’s Stitched Narratives. Quilting expert Pamela Weeks and educator Jane Regan will discuss the rise of art quilts and Jennifer Regan’s role in the movement.
When author Jennifer Regan moved to Cambridge in the late 1980s, she had an artistic and feminist awakening. She had recently left behind a whirlwind life as the spouse of a prominent Buffalo politician. Newly divorced, middle aged, and in an unfamiliar city, Regan found artistic expression in quilt making or rather creating “stitched narratives,” thematic stories sewn with symbolism and subversion. Reworking the traditional themes of American quilts, such as a focus on biblical stories, she created narratives negotiating femininity, marriage, motherhood, and society through a feminist lens. For some of her pieces, Cambridge became a focal point – either directly inspiring her or serving as her subject. Regan created over 100 pieces between 1989 and 2006 and her stitched narratives can be found in the New England Quilt Museum and Burchfield Penny Art Center collections.
Pamela Weeks is the Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum. Author of the book Civil War Quilts and articles on quilt history, she lectures nationally on quilt-making and quilt history. Weeks uses quilts to tell stories of the Civil War, women’s history, and industrial history.
Jane Regan is multimedia journalist and scholar who has taught journalism and media literacy at the university level and social studies and history at the high school level. Since Jennifer Regan’s death, Jane has been working with institutions around the country to place her mother’s artwork in their collections.
Opening Reception – From Cambridge to Yerevan: 35 Years of Friendship
Date & Time:
April 18, 2023
Reception: 7-8:30 pm
In Person
Community Room, Main Library
REGISTER HERE
Join us for an opening reception for the exhibition, From Cambridge to Yerevan: 35 Years of Friendship. Long term board members of the Cambridge Yerevan Sister City Association will take a trip down memory lane, recalling the early history of the organization and highlighting special projects. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome. Registration required.
WBZ4’s Lev Reid Features Cambridge’s Black Trailblazers
Congratulations to the Cambridge Black History Project and their wonderful work, celebrating the lives of fifteen extraordinary Black Cantabrigians, Trailblazers, whose contributions and accomplishments have been often overlooked.
Stop by any Cambridge Public Library branch for a bookmark or come to the Main Library to view the Trailblazer exhibition, on display through February 28th.
The Cambridge Black History Project Honors Black Trailblazers at the Library on January 26
Date & Time:
January 26, 2023
Reception: 6-7 pm
Talk: 7-8 pm
In Person and Virtual
Lecture Hall, Main Library
REGISTER HERE
Join us to celebrate the official launch of CBHP’s new series of Trailblazer Bookmarks, which honors the extraordinary lives of Black Cantabrigians whose accomplishments have often been overlooked. An evening of music, mingling, and discussion will salute these individuals whose influence reaches far beyond our city limits. Eight new bookmarks will be unveiled:
Barbara Ward Armstrong, Artist, Musician, Creator
Olive Benson, Innovative Hair-Care Entrepreneur
Calvin Burnett, Daring Artist and Gifted Teacher
Dr. June Christmas, Pioneer in Public Health
Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Faith and Action
Johnny Hodges, Jazz Saxophonist Extraordinaire
Kittie Towle Knox, Cycling Pioneer and Champion Racer
Gus Solomons Jr., Contemporary Dancer, Innovator, Mentor
The opening reception will feature music by jazz and classical musician Joel LaRue Smith, followed by a program recognizing these and other remarkable individuals. Free illustrated bookmarks will be available. Registration is required.
“The Missing Organ: The Democrat’s Spine,” Michael Shapiro’s Political Cartoons
The Missing Organ from the Michael Shapiro Papers.
Exhibit Location: Lobby & Second Floor of the Main Library
Artist, poet, zine producer, playwright, cartoonist, Yiddish translator, and mathematician, Michael Shapiro began creating political cartoons in the early 2000s, during the presidency of George W. Bush.
Shapiro was born in New York City and grew up in Woodside Queens. He earned a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1983, a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1988, and a M.E. in Computer Science from Cornell University in 2000.
Shapiro grew up in a leftist Jewish household and came of age during the 1960s, participating in the counterculture revolution. Shapiro self describes as a Marginal, part of the Marginal Scene.
He lived for many years in Cambridge until moving to London in 2019 to work at the Crick Institute.
Michael Shapiro’s papers now are part of the Library’s Archives and Special Collections.
The Cambridge Room 