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To celebrate Arbor Week 2026 (May 4-8), Public Works is creating a Notable Trees StoryMap, and we invite you to help shape it. Share a description, poem, love letter, or other reflection about your favorite City tree.

Join the Cambridge Public Library for the 51st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture with Dr. Brandon M. Terry. Dr. Terry is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Co-director of the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. He is the author of Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement and is coeditor, with Tommie Shelby, of To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and editor of Fifty Years Since MLK. Registration is required.

The best way to commend the actions of a Police Department employee is to write a brief letter describing the incident and the actions you think were exceptional. Information such as the date, time, and the location will help identify the employee if you do not know his/her name.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Robert J. Sampson—Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University, Affiliated Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences—for a discussion of his new book Marked by Time: How Social Change Has Transformed Crime and the Life Trajectories of Young Americans. He will be joined in conversation by Robert D. Putnam—Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy, Emeritus at Harvard University and recipient of the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. Registration is required.

In January 2020, the largest and most eagerly awaited cache of new materials written by the Nobel-Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot was finally opened: the 1,131 letters he sent Emily Hale, his little-known American love, over the course of their lifetimes. Their relationship was, in their own words, an “unnatural” love affair, one that began in Cambridge in 1913, when Eliot was a graduate student at Harvard and Hale, an aspiring amateur actress, and that played out in Boston, England and California over the years. Named as one of its "Fifty Notable Non-fiction Books of 2024" by the Washington Post, Fitzgerald's biography of Hale is based on the embargoed letters and extensive research into Hale’s life and times. Hale was much more than just a muse to a literary celebrity. She overcame personal hardship to pursue a career as a professor of speech and drama at prominent American women’s colleges and schools, including Simmons and Smith Colleges and Abbot and Concord Academies. She was a talented amateur actress and director, who performed at many Boston area theaters and later guided Eliot as he tried his hand at playwriting. But in the end, Eliot disavowed her, sending a secret letter to Harvard in 1960 that claimed his love for Hale was that of “a ghost for a ghost,” and confirming that he had arranged for Hale’s side of their 27-year correspondence to be destroyed. In the words of The Washington Post reviewer, “Missing letters, a secret love affair, a famous poet, a beautiful actress—what else could you possibly want in a story?" Sara Fitzgerald is a retired journalist whose career included fifteen years as an editor and new media developer for The Washington Post. In 2020, she also published The Poet’s Girl: A Novel of Emily Hale and T. S. Eliot. Since then, her essays about Hale have appeared in multiple volumes of the Journal of the T. S. Eliot Society and the T. S. Eliot Studies Annual. She has presented at the annual meetings of the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, the International T. S. Eliot Society, and at the T. S. Eliot Summer School at Oxford. She is also the author of the biography, Elly Peterson: “Mother” of the Moderates and Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Brandon M. Terry—John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Codirector of the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research—for a discussion of his new book Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement. He will be joined in conversation by Danielle Allen—James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and Director of the Democratic Knowledge Project-Learn at the Harvard Graduate School of Education—and Michael Sandel—Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University and the bestselling author of The Tyranny of Merit and Democracy’s Discontent. Registration is required.

Join us for a Know Your Rights presentation led by an attorney from De Novo. This session will share important updates for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, including: How to renew your TPS Work permit and travel information Legal supports and available resources You’ll also have the chance to ask questions and connect with local organizations that can help with ongoing support. This a hybrid event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event. We will be providing interpretation in Spanish and Haitian Creole on location during the event. Registration is encouraged but not required. Pizza will be provided! Vin jwenn nou pou yon prezantasyon ak yon avoka imigrasyon De Novo sou Estati Pwoteksyon Tanporè (TPS). Nou pral eksplore sijè tankou: Kijan pou renouvle pèmi Travay TPS ou ak enfòmasyon sou vwayaj Sipò legal ak resous ki disponib Pou wè prezantasyon sa a sou Zoom, enskri pou reyinyon an ak lyen ki anwo a. Pou gade l an dirèk, vizite Bibliyotèk Central Plas la (45 Pearl Street). Entèpretasyon an ap disponib an kreyòl Ayisyen ak an Espanyòl. Gratis epi louvri pou tout moun! Acompáñenos a la presentación de un abogado de inmigración de De Novo sobre el Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS). Hablaremos sobre los siguientes temas: cómo renovar su TPS permiso de trabajo e información de viaje apoyos legales y recursos disponibles Para ver esta presentación en Zoom, regístrese en la reunión usando el enlace anterior. Para verla en vivo, visite la Biblioteca de Central Square 45 Pearl Street, Cambridge Habrá interpretación en criollo haitiano y español. ¡Entrada libre y gratuita!

Celebrate Women's History Month by crafting a clothespin doll. Use simple materials to decorate a wooden clothespin in honor of a historical woman. Recommended for children ages 6-12 and their caregivers.

Celebrate Jasmine Warga's new book, The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan, about an unlikely friendship between a cheetah and a rescue dog who are paired as an animal ambassador team at a zoo — at this special event. Meet animals from The Zoo in Forest Park (Springfield, MA) and discover the amazing adaptations that help them survive in the wild. Ask questions and learn what you can do to protect wildlife. Recommended for children ages 6 and up. This event is part of a special series promoting our 2026 Curious George Lecture with Jasmine Warga, award-winning author of A Rover's Story, Other Words for Home and many other popular children's books. Funding is generously provided by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation. Save the Date: the Lecture will take place on Wednesday, April 15, 6 p.m. at the Main Library.

The May Collins Branch Book Club meeting has been cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience. May selection: You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith. Join us to discuss a selection of fiction and nonfiction titles for adults. Print copies are available to pick up at Collins Branch during library hours. For more information, contact Margaret Macri at mmacri@cambridgema.gov