Cambridge Historical Society
From the Executive Director
As we enter into our third month of isolating in our homes, I want to thank you for all you have done to help flatten the curve. Your social distancing, face masks, and working from home ensures the safety of those who must continue to work. I am also grateful that the Society's staff and volunteers remain safe and healthy. I hope you and yours are, too.
We at the Cambridge Historical Society work hard to provide meaningful perspective on present-day issues, and this pandemic is no exception. Over the past few weeks, we've been researching, writing, and finding relevant content to help us gain insight into our current situation. I know you'll enjoy the recent new articles on our website (links below). Let us know what you think!

Thanks to you, our Cambridge & COVID-19 Archive continues to grow, creating a rich body of material for future researchers. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to do so, please share your story. (If you already have, please consider doing so again!) If you are out walking in the next few weeks, keep an eye out. You might just see your own words in the shop windows of Cambridge. You can also follow responses on Instagram.

We're also curious to know if you have any stories of relatives who survived--or didn’t survive--the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic. (Apparently I'm here today because one of my ancestors slept with her head out a window.) What might you have heard from your elders?

And don't forget-- our online archival materials are always open. Research away!

All the best,

Marieke Van Damme
Executive Director
Cambridge & COVID-19 Archive
COVID survey collection archive
The ongoing public health crisis is affecting the lives of people all over the world, including Cantabrigians. We want to know how YOU have been affected. Consider this a chance to add your voice to the historical record. 

NEW! Did You Know? Articles
100 Years Ago: Cambridge during the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic
By Elizabeth Adams Lasser
During the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 as we quarantine at home, we have seen many references and comparisons in the national media to the influenza epidemic of 1918 and 1919. What was happening in Cambridge at the time?

Smallpox, cholera, influenza around Cambridge: How the region endured pandemics of the past
By Martha Henry
We’re weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic, most of us stuck at home, trying to work, educate children or, when that all seems futile, just clicking “next episode” on whatever escapist show we’re binging on Netflix. Our coronavirus, social-distancing spring seems unprecedented. But it isn’t.

It's springtime at the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House!
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159 Brattle Street | Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138