School Programs
The Historical Commission staff can make presentations in the classroom to elementary school children on a number of local history topics.
Joint Statement on Cambridge as a Sanctuary City
The recent national political climate has generated considerable concern and anxiety on the part of many Cambridge residents, especially members of our immigrant communities. The City of Cambridge wants to clearly state to our community that it is committed to supporting and promoting the safety, health, and well-being of all of its residents.
Great Books Book Group (Main/Virtual)
This week's selection: Arthur Rimbaud, "The Drunken Boat," "Vowels," "Eternity," "Memory," "To a Reason," and "Dawn."
Reading Interests: We concentrate on Great Books in the following areas: a long novel over the summer, two sections of poetry and short stories, a book of the Bible, a Shakespeare play, an ancient and modern drama, a work of science, a smaller work of fiction, an even smaller work of fiction, and a rotating mix of politics, philosophy, and religion. Authors read in the past five years include Dickens, Keats and Yeats, O'Connor and Munro, Ecclesiastes, Sophocles and August Wilson, Darwin, Austen, Duras, The Federalist Papers, and Arendt.
How to get the print book: Copies of the reading are set aside at the Main Library. Visit the Main Library at 449 Broadway during current service hours and a staff member can help you get a copy.
How to register: Registration is required. Click the registration link below to register.
This is a hybrid event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event.
For more information, contact Drew Griffin (dgriffin@cambridgema.gov)
Action Plan
The Vision Zero Action Plan is the blueprint for how we will reach zero fatalities and serious injuries in our city.
City of Cambridge Rescinds Amended Temporary Emergency Construction Order
The City of Cambridge announced that it has rescinded its Amended Temporary Emergency Construction Order issued on June 22, 2020. Effective May 10, 2021, all construction in the city shall comply with the City of Cambridge Face Coverings Order, all applicable Commonwealth Mandatory Safety Standards for Workplaces, and the protocols for Sectors Not Otherwise Addressed.
Zero Waste Master Plan
The Zero Waste Master Plan will assist serve as a guiding document to help the City achieve it's waste reduction goals.
Washington Remembered, Washington Forgotten: Washington and Slavery (Main/Virtual)
To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series.
Explore how Americans have remembered and forgotten Washington’s involvement with slavery over the past 250 years. Three historians who work at the intersection of scholarship and public history will shed new light on our founding contradictions:
Kelli Racine Barnes, ACE Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow and historian of 18th- and 19th-century U.S. history
John Garrison Marks, author of Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory (forthcoming April 7, 2026) and Vice President of Research and Engagement at the American Association for State and Local History
Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of the Royall House & Slave Quarters and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Tufts University Center for the Humanities
This event will conclude with a book signing by John Garrison Marks. Copies of Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory will be available to purchase.
Wayfinding
Signs have been installed to help people bike between the Minuteman Bikeway/Alewife and the Charles River Bike Paths/Harvard Square.