Category Archives: Events
Opening Reception for Symbolism and Subversion: An Exhibition of Jennifer Regan’s Stitched Narratives
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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.
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.
Curator Talk: The Life and Metal Art of Abraham Megerdichian
Date & Time:
October 12, 2022
6:30 – 8 pm
In Person
Cambridge Room, Main Library
REGISTER HERE
Join us for a curator talk on the life and metal art of Abraham Megerdichian. Abraham’s son and decades long Cambridge resident, Robert, will “speak with” his deceased father about Abraham’s hobby of machining from solid scrap metal his interpretations of everyday objects, and then giving them away as gifts to family and friends. After Abraham died in 1983 his pieces were put away, where many of them lay until 2013. Since then Abraham’s son, Robert, has had pieces from the collection exhibited at nearly 20 venues in New England and beyond. This talk accompanies the first major exhibit in Cambridge of Abraham’s artwork and professional photographer Scott Sutherland’s photographs of the artwork, which is on display at the Main Library from September 19th to October 14th.
Recording Available – Reading the Gravestones of Old Cambridge
We were fortunate to have John Hanson, expert on early New England epitaphs and bibliophile, give the lecture Reading the Gravestones of Old Cambridge. The talk, part of the Spring Lecture Series from the Cambridge Room, was recorded on June 8, 2022.
The following is a description of the workshop and a short bio of John Hanson:
The burial grounds of old New England hold a wonderful range of poetic messages in the epitaphs carved on their gravestones, each a profound expression of emotion, culture, religion, and literature. Too often dismissed as mere sentimental doggerel, these passages can be fascinating and well worth paying attention to. After all, every single epitaph was chosen, deliberately, on an occasion of the utmost gravity and importance, the death of a parent or child or spouse or neighbor. Join John Hanson, expert on early New England epitaphs, as he shares some outstanding verses on old stones in Cambridge’s Old Burying Ground. He will reveal their sources of inspiration, including Scripture, hymnody, poetry, and epitaphs made-to-order for a particular individual. We will consider what these very personal choices tell us about early New Englanders’ attitudes towards life, death, and eternity.
John Hanson has been collecting early New England epitaphs for years, examining where the verses originated, how their source texts were accessed, and the spiritual and commercial context in which they were chosen and carved on gravestones. He is the author of Reading the Gravestones of Old New England (McFarland, 2021), and has published and spoken extensively on his research. Hanson is a Massachusetts native, and lives in Cambridge and the Berkshires. His book, Reading the Gravestones of Old New England, can be ordered directly from the publisher or from Amazon.
Register Now for Reading the Gravestones of Old Cambridge
Date & Time:
June 8, 2022
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Virtual
REGISTER HERE
The burial grounds of old New England hold a wonderful range of poetic messages in the epitaphs carved on their gravestones, each a profound expression of emotion, culture, religion, and literature. Too often dismissed as mere sentimental doggerel, these passages can be fascinating and well worth paying attention to. After all, every single epitaph was chosen, deliberately, on an occasion of the utmost gravity and importance, the death of a parent or child or spouse or neighbor. Join John Hanson, expert on early New England epitaphs, as he shares some outstanding verses on old stones in Cambridge’s Old Burying Ground. He will reveal their sources of inspiration, including Scripture, hymnody, poetry, and epitaphs made-to-order for a particular individual. We will consider what these very personal choices tell us about early New Englanders’ attitudes towards life, death, and eternity.
John Hanson has been collecting early New England epitaphs for years, examining where the verses originated, how their source texts were accessed, and the spiritual and commercial context in which they were chosen and carved on gravestones. He is the author of Reading the Gravestones of Old New England (McFarland, 2021), and has published and spoken extensively on his research. Hanson is a Massachusetts native, and lives in Cambridge and the Berkshires. Hanson is the author of Reading the Gravestones of Old New England and can be ordered directly from the publisher or from Amazon.
The Beauty of Book Binding and Decoration: Linked Spine Bindings
Date & Time:
May 11, 2022
7:00pm – 8:30pm
In Person
REGISTER HERE
Join book conservator, Sam Ellenport, for a talk on the history of linked spine bindings. His illustrated talk will explore a little known aspect of bookbinding decoration, used on sets of books. The binder makes use of the entire rectangle comprised of all the spines as a canvas on which to produce an overall design, whether representational or abstract.
Sam Ellenport has been a hand-bookbinder since he bought The Harcourt Bindery in Boston over 40 years ago. Trained as an historian, Sam has written and lectured about the history of the craft throughout the country. He is a passionate collector of books about binding. Committed to education, Sam helped establish the bookbinding program at the North Bennet Street School in 1986, and remains an advisor. He has served in various positions among book-related organizations. As a witness to the great sea-change occurring today in the book arts, Sam remains a defender of the classic aesthetic developed around the physical book.
Central to It All: A Look at Central Square, the Nightclub ManRay, and Twenty Years of Change
Date & Time:
April 27, 2022
7:00pm – 8:30pm
In Person
REGISTER HERE
Central Square in the 1980s was at the jumping-off point for a new beginning. Shops, restaurants, and long-standing businesses lined the square. However, the one area that was expanding greatly was in the realm of nightlife. Venues such as the Middle East, The Cantab Lounge, and T.T the Bears were bringing in both local and national performing artists. Joining these venues was a nightclub, Campus, on 21 Brookline St. In 1985, that space became ManRay. A nightclub that promoted what they called the “Art of Nightlife.” ManRay promoted dance nights for many cultures, sub-cultures, and scenes such as Goth, Industrial, Fetish, New Wave, and those in the LBGTQIA communities. Like the other music venues in the square, ManRay had a dynamic roster of artists and bands that performed there that included Divine, Peter Murphy, KMFDM, Sleep Chamber, and, most notably, Nirvana.
Join Shawn Driscoll, author of We are But Your Children: An Oral History of the Nightclub Manray (2021), us for a look into Central Square during the years of ManRay’s existence. Through presentation and a rich panel of speakers, we will explore the years of 1983 to 2006 and witness the growth and dynamic change within the square, through the lens of ManRay and its twenty years at 21 Brookline Street. Joining Driscoll will be:
Terri Niedzwiecki–Longtime Bartender, ManRay
MJ Pullins–Proprietor, Hubba Hubba
Emily Sweeney–Boston Globe Journalist, ManRay Attendee
Tony Lee (DJ Arcanus)–DJ (ManRay, Ceremony) ManRay Attendee
David “Daisy” Crowder–Bartender, ManRay
Recording Available – Democratizing Book Collecting: The First Bibliophiles of Cambridge
We were fortunate to have Drew Griffin, the Library’s Senior Librarian for Adult Services and bibliophile, join us for a lively and informative workshop titled, Democratizing Book Collecting: The First Bibliophiles of Cambridge. The workshop, part of the Spring Lecture Series from the Cambridge Room, was recorded on April 13, 2022.
The following is a description of the workshop and a short bio of Drew Griffin:
Democratizing Book Collecting: The First Bibliophiles of Cambridge
Join Drew Griffin, Senior Librarian at the Cambridge Public Library, as he delves into the history of book collection in Cambridge. By 1850 two of the finest book collections in the Boston area were located within half a mile of one another on Mass Ave between Central and Harvard Squares. The two bibliophiles, Thomas Dowse and George Livermore, show a distinctly American approach to book collecting. Unlike their British peers they came from humble backgrounds, didn’t attended college, and emphasized the democratic nature of their bookish pursuits by opening their libraries to the public (Dowse) and writing articles on book collecting for the nascent Cambridge Chronicle (Livermore).
Drew Griffin has worked at the Cambridge Public Library for the past 15 years in various capacities. Since 2016, he has served as Senior Librarian in the Adult Services Department. Drew’s area of expertise is genealogy and rare book librarianship. Over the past 3 years, Drew has taught many of the Library’s popular genealogy workshops, including beginner’s genealogy and DNA testing and genealogical research. Also, in his spare time, Drew is an avid rare book collector. He is a member several bibliophile clubs, including the Grolier Club in New York City and the Ticknor Society in Boston.
The Cambridge Room 
