2004 Events
Thursday, December
9, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Annual Holiday Party
Place: Hooper-Lee-Nichols House
A sumptuous buffet was prepared by members and the following caterers:
The Basil Tree, Bon Apetit, The Catered Affair, Catering by Debby, Cuisine
Chez Vous, East Meets West, Kayo and Company Catering, Riley to the Rescue
Catering and Tables of Content.
Jeannie Donovan and friends performed Celtic and holiday music. The following
local authors were there to sign and sell their books:
- Sarah Boyer, Crossroads: Stories of Central Square
- Richard Gutman: The Worcester Lunch Car Company and other titles
- Annette LaMond: A History of the Cambridge Skating Club
- Sage Stossel: We're off to Harvard Square
Wednesday, October
13, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
The
Lost Diners of Cambridge
This slide lecture was presented by "the Diner
Man" Richard Gutman. A former Cambridge resident, Mr. Gutman has
been studying these beloved American eateries for 30 years. He is the
author of three books, including The Worcester Lunch Car Company, and
has curated diner exhibitions at the Culinary Archives & Museum at
Johnson & Wales University in Providence, and at the National Heritage
Museum in Lexington.
Thursday, September
23, Time: 6:30-8:00 pm
History and Future of the Cambridge Public
Library
Place: Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, 159 Brattle Street
Presented by Susan Flannery, library director, and Charles Sullivan, executive
director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, this program included
commentary on the challenge of adding on to the Romaneque-style main library
as well as on the creation of a Cambridge Room for special collections.
August 19, 5:30-7:30
p.m.
Annual River Cruise: Touring the Charles
River Parklands with Renata von Tscharner
Aboard the Henry Longfellow, we sailed upriver and
our host gave us new perspectives on familiar parklands of the esplanades
of both Cambridge and Boston. Later we went through the locks of the Old
Dam, which transformed the tidal basin into a lake in 1910. Experience
under the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, the area will soon include
40 acres of new parks, including a world-class skateboard park. Traversing
a second set of locks, built in 1978, we entered Boston Harbor, observing
how the New Basin parklands will connect with other urban green spaces,
pathways, and services.
July
3, 9:00 a.m.to 5:00 p.m.
Exploring the City with Cambridge Discovery
Walks.
This day-long free even was organized by the Historic Cambridge
Collaborative. It included 22 tours led by local historians. CHS
associate director Lewis Bushnell lead a tour of the interior of the Hooper-Lee-Nichols
House, and CHS
executive director Karen L Davis lead "Four Centuries of Stylish
Houses, an architectural history tour of the Brattle Street area.
Sunday,
June 6, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The Secret Gardens of Cambridge
Our garden at the Hooper-Lee-Nichols
House was one of the stops on this, the
5th Annual Secret Gardens of Cambridge tour, organized by the Friends
of the Cambridge Public Library. There were 35 gardens in all.
Sunday,
May 23
Spring Fundraiser at the Asa Gray House
This architecturally significant Federal-style house was designed in 1810
by Ithiel Town for the first head of the Harvard Botanic Garden. It wwas
briefly the home of ornithologist Thomas Nuttall. Later in the 19th century,
botanist Asa Gray lived there, and in the 20th century's it was the home
of portrait painter, Gardner Cox. Featured speakers were Susan Maycock,
survey director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, Larry Nathanson,
M.D., and local historian, James Cox, son of Gardner Cox, and Carl L.
Sargent III, a landscape consultant.
An exhibition on Asa Gray was presented by the Harvard University Herbaria and afternoon tea was served, compliments of Mary-Catherine Deibel and Deborah Hughes of UpStairs on the Square.
The Historical Society wishes to thank Benjamin and Elizabeth Shepherd for graciously opening their home for this event. We also wish to thank the following businesses for their contributions to this event:
Sponsors
- Coldwell Banker Residential, Cambridge
- East Cambridge Savings Bank
- Hammond Real Estate
- Minuteman Press
of Cambridge - UpStairs on the Square
Benefactors
- Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation
- Channing Real Estate, Inc.
April
28
Special event for Dana Fellows
A Visit to the Master's Residence at Eliot House
Richard Henry
Dana Fellows attended a reception and program at the Master's Residence
at Eliot House. Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge
Historical Commission, spoke about the architectural history of the River
Houses. Professor Lino Pertile, Master of Eliot House, and his wife, Anna
Bensted, spoke about significant past masters and students of Eliot House,
as well as the Master's role today. Attendees also toured the Eliot House
Library and Dining hall.
April
8
Special event for Dana Fellows
A visit to the Straus Center for Conservation, Harvard
University Art Museums
Director Henry Lie hosted this special, behind-the-scenes tour.
March
14
Cambridge Women's Struggle for the Vote:
a
lecture by
Darleen Bonislawski
Darleen Bronislawski, election commissioner,
and former union vice-president of the Harvard University Employees Representative
Association, led a lively discussion of the role Cambridge women played
in the struggle toward equality. She outlined the significant events occurred
before and after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
February 15
State Representative Byron Rushing on
Slavery in the Invention of New England
Byron Rushing
invited us to revisit our "origin myth," and to confront the
reality of slavery and the slave trade in early New England. On this the
366th anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans to New England,
his talk challenged the modern oblivion of this history and highlighted
the controversies over its retelling. For more information, visit Byron
Rushing on the web.
January
25
Annual
Meeting and Hooper-Lee-Nichols cultural landscape presentation
After a brief meeting, which included the election
of officers and committee reports, Karen Falb, an Advisor to the Society
and a certified Landscape Design Historian delivered a illustrated cultural
landscape report entitled:
From Colonial Farm to Colonial Revival Garden: The Hooper-Lee-Nichols
Property. It included important findings she discovered while doing
extensive research on the history of the Hooper-Lee-Nichols site, its
owners, and the Brattle Street neighborhood.