The Library Takes First Prize: 1975 4th of July Parade

Poster from the Cambridge Bicentennial Corporation Records.

The United States Bicentennial was a significant event in the city of Cambridge. Planning for the two-year celebration began in 1971 and was managed by the Cambridge Bicentennial Corporation. One of the corporation’s major events was the “Great Cambridge Parade,” held on July 4, 1975, to mark the 200th anniversary of General George Washington taking command of the Continental Army in Cambridge.

The festivities were extensive: Minutemen units, bands, floats, and ceremonial military units. Heading the parade was Richard B. Washington, a descendant of George Washington’s brother, John.

The Cambridge Public Library won first prize for their float called, “Ethnicity,” which “celebrates the city’s wide and diverse ethnic population and the rich customs they keep alive.”

The poster and photographs come from the Cambridge Bicentennial Corporation Records, which are housed at the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

WPA Muralist Elizabeth Tracy Painting at the CPL

Muralist Elizabeth Tracy painting the “Development of the Printing Press,” courtesy of the Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection.

To follow up on our post about muralist Elizabeth Tracy, our friends at the fantastic Cambridge Historical Commission sent us a photograph of Tracy in action with fellow muralist, Arthur Willis Oakman.  Tracy and Oakman are painting “the Development of the Printing Press,” on the west wall of the Library’s Reading Room.  This mural follows the evolution of the printing press from Guttenberg in 1449 through the invention of the cylindrical press by Hoe and Co. in 1820. At the center is the 1639 Stephen Daye press of Cambridge, the first press in America.

The photograph, along with a large collection of the Cambridge Historical Commission’s photographs, can be found on the Digital Commonwealth website.

 

Exhibition on WPA Muralist Elizabeth Tracy

WPA Muralist and Artist, Elizabeth Tracy

The Harvard Art Museums Archives is featuring an exhibit on WPA muralist and artist Elizabeth Tracy, later known as Tracy Montminy.  Tracy, along with Arthur Willis Oakman, painted the four murals in the Cambridge Public Library’s historic reading room.  The public is free to visit the exhibit this Thursday, October 25th from 12:00pm to 3:00pm, during the museum’s Archives Open Hours. 

The murals, commissioned by the Civil Works Administration in 1934, depict the ten divisions of knowledge that make up the Dewey decimal cataloguing system, and include:

• “Religion,” on the east wall of the Delivery Room, featuring the City Seal of Cambridge, flanked by wreaths labeled General Works, Philosophy, Religion, Sociology and Philology.
• “Fine Arts,” on the west wall of the Delivery Room, with a historic clock at its center, flanked with banners titled Literature, History, Useful Arts, Fine Arts and Pure Science.
• “History of Books and Paper,” a series of three panels on the east end of the Reading Room, depicts the contributions of Babylon, ancient Egypt, China, Greece and Rome and medieval Europe.
• “The Development of the Printing Press,” on the west wall of the Delivery Room, is the largest of the set, and follows the evolution of the printing press from Guttenberg in 1449 through the invention of the cylindrical press by Hoe and Co. in 1820. At the center is the 1639 Stephen Daye press of Cambridge, the first press in America.

The four murals were restored in 2009 when the Library was renovated.

Tracy’s mural, Religion, during the 2009 restoration at the Cambridge Public Library.

Tracy’s mural, The Development of the Printing Press, during the 2009 restoration at the Cambridge Public Library.

Researching Your Jewish Ancestry: Free Workshop

Researching Your Jewish Ancestry
Join us for a free, two hour workshop on researching Jewish ancestry, in collaboration with New England Historical Genealogical Society, the nation’s leading organization for genealogical research.

Family history research into Jewish ancestry brings with it a number of unique issues. From a multitude of languages, to the dramatic border changes in the European areas from which your ancestors emigrated, to the many names used by the family members, identifying your family and connecting them to the old country requires tenacity. When identified, however, your ancestors can bring a sense of belonging and a connection to history. Join Rhonda McClure, Senior Genealogist at New England Historic Genealogical Society, to learn some tips, best practices, and common challenges surrounding Jewish genealogical research.

Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist, is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer specializing in New England and celebrity research as well as computerized genealogy; is compiler of more than 120 celebrity family trees; has been a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine, Biography magazine and was a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of ten books, including the award-winning The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy, now in its second edition, Finding Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors, and Digitizing Your Family History. Some of Rhonda’s areas of expertise include: Immigration and naturalization, Late 19th and early 20th Century urban research, New England, Mid-West, Jewish, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, and French Canadian research.  Registration is mandatory.
Dates & Times:
6:00pm – 8:00pm, Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Location:
Main Library, Community Room

REGISTER HERE

Space Still Available in Beginner’s Genealogy Workshop

Are you looking for something fun to do in the new year?  Join the Cambridge Public Library for our popular 4-week beginner’s genealogy workshop series.   Classes will be held at CCTV, located at 438 Massachusetts Avenue.

Wednesdays, 6-8 PM
January 10, 17, 24, & 31
Instructors:  Alyssa Pacy, Archivist, and Drew Griffin, Senior Librarian
Location:  CCTV computer classroom, 438 Massachusetts Avenue

Join us for a 4-week, beginner’s genealogy workshop. For two hours each week, we will demystify the overwhelming process of sorting through online records as well as give tips for how best to make use of research visits to local repositories. We will help you find ancestors, organize your research, and start a family tree. Come with a new question every week and leave with an answer and something tangible to bring home, such as a copy of a birth certificate. By taking this class, you will be automatically eligible to enroll in a FREE, two-part course on digital storytelling taught by CCTV. Learn how to make a digital film about your family’s history based on your genealogical research. Create a treasured digital keepsake to pass on to family members. Registration is mandatory for the series.  To register, please contact Keaton Fox at keaton@cctvcambridge.org.

Beginner’s Genealogy Workshop Series: New Class in January

The Cambridge Public Library is taking our Beginner’s Genealogy Workshop Series on the road.  This January we will be offering the 4-week series at CCTV, located at 438 Massachusetts Avenue.  It’s the same class – just a different location.

Wednesdays, 6-8 PM
January 10, 17, 24, & 31
Instructors:  Alyssa Pacy, Archivist, and Drew Griffin, Senior Librarian
Location:  CCTV computer classroom, 438 Massachusetts Avenue

Join us for a 4-week, beginner’s genealogy workshop. For two hours each week, we will demystify the overwhelming process of sorting through online records as well as give tips for how best to make use of research visits to local repositories. We will help you find ancestors, organize your research, and start a family tree. Come with a new question every week and leave with an answer and something tangible to bring home, such as a copy of a birth certificate. By taking this class, you will be automatically eligible to enroll in a FREE, two-part course on digital storytelling taught by CCTV. Learn how to make a digital film about your family’s history based on your genealogical research. Create a treasured digital keepsake to pass on to family members. Registration is mandatory for the series.  To register, please contact Keaton Fox at keaton@cctvcambridge.org.

Cambridge Digitization Day!

Researchers at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Cambridge Digitization Day
Friday October 20
11 AM – 4 PM
Community Room

Join us for a Digitization Day and help preserve Cambridge history. Bring in your paper-based historical material, such as photographs and letters, that tell the story of our city and your community.  We are also interested in digitizing the personal histories of those buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.  Your material will be scanned and rehoused in archival enclosures, and you will leave with digital copies on a flash drive.  Throughout the day, we will hold a series of informational sessions about preserving and digitizing family collections.  All free of charge!  This program is cosponsored by the Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Northeast Document Conservation Center with funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Info-Session Schedule

• 11:30- Preserving Family Collections
• 12:15- Digitizing Family Collections
• 1:00-Caring for Personal Digital Collections
• 1:30-Preserving Family Collections
• 2:15-Digitizing Family Collections
• 3:00-Caring for Personal Digital Collections

TONIGHT! She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry , Cambridge Main Library, 6:15pm

Pride, Cambridge-Style: An Exhibtion

 

Broadside, Dear Gaybashers by Jill McDonough, illustrated by Michael Shapiro, from the Michael Shapiro Papers.

Pride, Cambridge-Style

Exhibition Location: 2nd Floor of the Main Library

A selection of broadsides, poems, and posters celebrating LGBTQ+ life are currently on display. Curated by Daniel Wuenschel, this exhibitions draws from the Cambridge Room’s collections and feature poets and artists connected to Cambridge.

Two poems
Landscape without Touch and Still Life by Olga Broumas
from Soie Sauvage: Poems, published by Copper Canyon Press, 1979
Available in the Louisa Solano Papers.

Broadside
Dear Gaybashers by Jill McDonough, illustrated by Michael Shapiro
“Printed in honor of Jill McDonough’s reading at Cambridge Public Library on October 28, 2015”
Available in the Michael Shapiro Papers.

Broadside
Lines for Chelsea Manning by John Mulrooney, designed by Mark Lamoureux, printed on the occasion of the author’s reading at the 2016 Boston Poetry Marathon in Inman Square, Cambridge
Available in the Daniel Wuenschel Papers.

Poster
Reading and Book Signing celebrating the publication of the book The Letters of James Schuyler to Frank O’Hara, edited by William Corbett
Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge
Saturday, October 21 2006
Available in the William Corbet Papers.

Poem
In Memory of Joe Brainerd by Frank Bidart
From Desire, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997
Available in the Louisa Solano Papers.

Book
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores: The San Francisco Experience by Charley Shively, published by Good Gay Poets, 1975
Available in the Louisa Solano Papers.

Poster
Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage Equality, designed by Luke Kirkland, 2014, Cambridge Public Library.
Available in the Cambridge Public Library Records.

The Alice M. Ronchetti Papers are Now Available

Alice Ronchetti outside the Cambridge Public Library Branch No.1 in 1935.

 

 

We are pleased to announce that the Alice M. Ronchetti Papers, 1935-1973, have been digitized and can now be viewed online, in addition to the original hard copies being available for research at the Cambridge Public Library.

Alice Ronchetti worked as a librarian for the Cambridge Public Library for 38 years, from 1935 until her retirement in 1973. During her professional life, Ronchetti dedicated herself to the needs of both young people and adults. Her “unselfish and outstanding service to the citizens of Cambridge” was noted by the Board of Library Trustees in their resolution to accept her retirement from her position of head librarian.

This collection contains Alice Ronchetti’s professional documents and photographs. The documents include her Certificate of Librarianship and two letters that document her retirement: one acceptance letter from library Director Joseph G. Sakey and one resolution passed by the Board of Library Trustees. The photographs in this collection were taken at East Cambridge (now the O’Connell Branch) and Mount Auburn (now the Collins Branch). They depict Alice Ronchetti’s work life in the Cambridge Public Library system, including her co-workers, children she worked with, and events held at the library. Some of the photographs were undated and the dates have been estimated.

Alice Mary Ronchetti was born on May 24, 1912 to Cesar Ronchetti (b. 1884) and Clotilde Nicoli (1883-1974) in Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of six siblings (Alfred, Joseph, Rose Mary, Mary, and James). Her family moved to Cambridge around 1921. Ronchetti died on October 1, 1986 at age 74 and is buried in the North Cambridge Catholic Cemetery.