Continuing the popular walks in August, the Cambridge Women’s Commission is offering two more Mapping Feminist Cambridge walks in October- specifically to celebrate Women in Business month!
Kimm Topping, historian and educator, will be leading two Mapping Feminist Cambridge tours in October. Please note that there are two different walks being offered – one of Central Square and one Inman Square.
Artist Talk: Cousins Thursday September 21, 2023 6:30 pm Main Library, Lecture Hall REGISTER HERE
Join us for a panel discussion with critically acclaimed photographer and Guggenheim Fellow Kristen Emack as she explores her popular series, Cousins. Emack will be joined by Dr. Alisa Victoria Prince, and her daughter Apple and nieces Leyah, Kayla and Layla Bernard as they discuss the process, inspiration, and impact of Cousins.
Kristen Emack has been photographing her daughter and nieces for over a decade. “There is something sacred about the lives of girls, and their innocent, confident relationships to themselves, their world and one another is gravitational,” explains Emack. She has captured the girls’ childhood in an unfiltered way as they move with confidence throughout Cambridge and their environment. Her work is an undeniable celebration of Black girlhood. “There are notable bodies of work about girlhood, but Cousins is unique. It chronicles the lives of girls of color, which is a perspective that still remains under-embraced,” writes Emack. “Additionally, each frame is wholly female.” Angst or distraction does not enter the frame. Instead it’s their connection that stays in focus, their adolescent changes are organic, subtle and unprovocative.”
Copies of a newly published monograph of Cousins, designed and printed in Italy by L’Artiere with a closing essay by Dr. Alisa Victoria Prince, will also be available for purchase.
Kristen Emack is a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a Mass Cultural Council Fellow. Her work has been featured in publications including Vogue Italia, Nat Geo, OATH, Black & White Magazine, and The Sun. Cousins has been exhibited across the United States and Europe including Helsinki, Belfast, Sweden and the UK. Kristen’s first photo book was published in Spring 2023. She is represented by Gallery Kayafas.
Alisa Victoria Prince is a scholar, artist, and curator of visual arts and artifacts of the Black diaspora. From 2021-2022, she jointly held the Henry Luce/American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship in American Art and the Chester Dale Fellowship in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Currently, she is a post-doctoral fellow at Boston University’s Department of Art and Architecture.
Apple Emack is in her Junior year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin and enjoys an active role in the high jump and second leg of the 4×4 relay for the track team.
Leyah Bernard is in her junior year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin and enjoys an active role in the long jump and being a sprinter for the track team.
Layla Bernard is in the 7th grade at Vassal Lane where she enjoys soccer, theater and close friendships.
Kayla Bernard is in her junior year at The New School in NYC where she is majoring in film and photography.
Exhibition: Cousins September 11 – October 12, 2023 Main Library, L2 Gallery Hours Monday – Thursday, 5-9 pm Saturday, 9-5 Sunday, 1-5
Kristen Emack has been photographing her daughter and nieces for over a decade. “There is something sacred about the lives of girls, and their innocent, confident relationships to themselves, their world and one another is gravitational,” explains Emack. She has captured the girls’ childhood in an unfiltered way as they move with confidence throughout Cambridge and their environment. Her work is an undeniable celebration of Black girlhood. “There are notable bodies of work about girlhood, but Cousins is unique. It chronicles the lives of girls of color, which is a perspective that still remains under-embraced,” writes Emack. “Additionally, each frame is wholly female.” Angst or distraction does not enter the frame. Instead it’s their connection that stays in focus, their adolescent changes are organic, subtle and unprovocative.”
Emack is a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a Mass Cultural Council Fellow. Her work has been featured in Vogue Italia and National Geographic and has been exhibited across the United States, Northern Europe and the UK. This exhibit, Emack’s first in Cambridge, features the Library’s newly acquired photographs from Cousins and celebrates Emack’s work in the community. View these exciting new additions to the permanent collection of Library’s Archives and Special Collections on display at the Main Library on L2.
Join us for an opening reception on September 21 at 6:30 pm with a panel discussion by Kristen Emack, Dr. Alisa Victoria Prince, and cousins Apple Emack, Leyah Bernard, Kayla Bernard and Layla Bernard, as they discuss the process, inspiration, and impact of Cousins.
Exhibition: The Uncompromising Political Career of Alice K. Wolf August 14- September 10, 2023 Main Library, Lobby and Second Floor
In 1939, at the age of five, Alice K Wolf and her parents, Frederick and Renee Koerner, fled Nazi Austria and arrived in Cambridge, seeking a stable life where they would not be threatened for being Jewish. Although the family soon settled in Brighton, 51 years later, Wolf became Cambridge’s first Jewish Mayor.
Wolf felt that the injustice and fear she experienced as a child under the Nazi regime shaped the kind of politician she would later become: a public servant committed to “equity and to fairness of the government.”* Wolf, a champion of progressive ideals, spent her political career as an advocate for the rights of women, minorities, refugees, renters, children, students, and the LGBTQ+ community.
After graduating from Boston’s Girls Latin School and Simmons College, she married Robert Wolf, moved to Cambridge, and had two sons, Eric and Adam. Wolf spent the next 20 years of her career in the research and software development field: first as an applied psychology researcher at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories and later as a personnel director for the Computer Corporation of America based in Kendall Square.
Wolf entered politics slowly as a concerned parent and member of the PTA. In 1973, she decided to run for School Committee and was elected. She served for eight years until she ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 1981. But she won in the next election cycle and, served five terms between 1984 and 1994, include two years as Mayor from 1990-1991. In 1996, Wolf won a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving Cambridge and surrounding communities for 16 years.
Alice Wolf died in her home in Cambridge on January 26, 2023 at the age of 89. The Library is hosting a tribute to Wolf on September 9th at 2 pm.
*”Go Ask Alice: Cambridge’s ‘High Priestess of P.C.,'” Sunday People, Boston Sunday Herald, 12 December 1993, p. 6-9.
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.
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.
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.
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 Room 
