The Newetowne Chronicle A publication of the Cambridge Historical Society Winter 2009 Abe Lincoln in CambridgCambridgeeee Volume IX—Number 1 By Michael Kenney IN THIS ISSUE Abraham Lincoln came to Cambridge only once. He didn’t stay long. And he had to ______________________________________________________ run to catch the train getting here. Not only that, it took some 72 years after his death to get a statue of him raised on the Cambridge Common. Letter from the President By Jinny Nathans The year of the visit was 1848. Lincoln was a one-term Whig congressman from Page 2 Illinois and was out on the campaign trail that fall, stumping for the Whigs’ From the Director presidential candidate, Zachary Taylor. According to “Abraham Among the Yankees,” By Gavin W. Kleespies an account of Lincoln’s visit compiled for the Old Colony Historical Society, Lincoln had attended the national Whig Party convention in Philadelphia, then the party’s state Mark Time convention in Worcester. From there, he made a campaign swing through the state. By Mark J. Vassar Page 3 He spoke in Dedham on the afternoon of September 20 and, according to a local report, A Monument for Prince Hall “[bubbled] out humor and charm.” But when he heard that his train back to Boston was By Michael Kenney about to leave, he made a run for the nearby station. Arriving in the early evening, Lincoln walked across the Boston Common and caught the train to Cambridge. “Greening” Your Period Home By Charlie Allen The Cambridge rally was at the old City Hall, at the corner of Harvard and Norfolk Page 4 streets. According to the reporter for the Boston Atlas, “it was one of those old- fashioned Whig gatherings, which it does a true Whig good to witness.” The Cambridge Historical Society Annual Report No account of Lincoln’s speech remains, but he was described as “[being] in every way Pages 5-6 worthy to represent the Spartan band of the only Whig district in poor, benighted Illinois.” Of the speech, the reporter called it “plain, direct, convincing… a model The Rindge Blacksmith speech for the campaign.” By Isabel Studley Upcoming Events There was no late train to Boston, and Lincoln probably walked back to town. Page 7 Although Lincoln’s son Robert was a student at Harvard, class of 1864, Lincoln is not known to have visited him. The Margaret Fuller House: His statue on the Cambridge Common, in the A Magnet for Area 4 cupola of the Soldiers’ Monument, was very much By Daphne Abeel Page 8 of an afterthought. The monument, topped by a bare-headed, mustachioed Union rifleman, was Thanks to supporters of our annual designed by twin brothers, Cyrus and Darius Cobb, fund and dedicated in 1870. Page 9 At the time, the Cobbs had said they “had reckoned A Giving Tree on a few years’ delay in placing what must Back cover necessarily remain the central idea of the entire memorial.” And “for many years,” according to a _____________________ report in the files of the Cambridge Historical The Newetowne Chronicle Commission, “city officials discussed various ways is published by The Cambridge Historical Society to fill the open, arcaded space of the monument.” Editors–Gavin W. Kleespies, Roger Stacey But in 1927, when the monument was rededicated, Contributing Editor–Michael Kenney the space was still empty and, as the official Copy Editor–Luise M. Erdmann program for the event commented, “it is safe to say that the structure will go down to posterity just as it is today.” continued on page 7 Winter 2009 The Newetowne Chronicle/ 2 OFFICERSOFFICERSOFFICERS Jinny Nathans Letter from the President President The Year of “M” for our organization in the Katheen Born coming year. Vice President As I write my first letter as Robert G. Crocker president of the Cambridge 2. The Message Historical Society, I am thinking Vice President Our best way to get our of the priorities the Society will Paula Paris message out is through our be carrying through from 2008 to Vice President programs, and we have an the coming year. The interior Andrew Leighton excellent slate for 2009. They work on the Hooper-Lee-Nichols Treasurer include our Annual Meeting, House has provided an Mary Webb with Boston University Ph.D. extraordinary opportunity both to Secretary candidate Timothy Orwig learn about the origins and uses of Heli Meltsner speaking on reassessing the the structures that became the Curator influence of Joseph Chandler’s building we use today and to Roger Stacey interpretation of Colonial Editor reinterpret the presentation of our architecture in Cambridge. existing collections. The need to COUNCILORS tell the many stories of This year, we will hold one Charlie Allen Cambridge is greater than ever: program a month in various Darleen Bonislawski Cambridge is a city of many Cambridge locations because of Thomas Bracken cultures and economic levels, and the work being done on the Virginia Jacobsen it has had a great influence on house. This promises to be an Rebekah Kaufman literature, education, industry, ambitious schedule and will, I Frank Kramer technology and business since its hope, inform and excite those ADVISORSADVISORSADVISORS first settlement in the seventeenth who attend regularly as well as Daphne Abeel century. first-time attendees, who will M. Wyllis Bibbins discover how lively history can 1. The Museum Carol Cerf be. Lindsay Leard Coolidge Our collections are deep, rich, 3. Membership Luise M. Erdmann and relatively unplumbed and Karen F. Falb unpublicized. Over the next In the coming year, a new George H. Hanford year, we will reinterpret our committee on membership will Ted Hansen exhibition spaces to highlight consider how to increase our Chandra Harrington particular aspects of membership base. I look Swanee Hunt Cambridge’s history. forward to working with them Michael Kenney on materials that will give our We shall also be working to D. Eliot Klein organization a higher profile in provide increased information Ellen G. Moot Cambridge and build on last about and access to our Larry Nathanson, M.D. year’s survey responses. Brian Pfeiffer collections over the World Susan S. Poverman Wide Web. The cooperative As the eminent sixteenth-century Maxwell D. Solet effort of the Cambridge statesman and philosopher Historical Society, the Francis Bacon said, “Histories STAFFSTAFFSTAFF Cambridge Historical make men wise.” Then we, in Gavin W. Kleespies Commission, and the Cambridge, are very wise indeed, Executive Director Cambridge Public Library to I hope, as we present more of our Victoria Hickey present descriptions and finding rich history to current and new Assistant aids to their research collections members. Mark J. Vassar will result in greater visibility Resident Archivist Jinny Nathans Shane LeGault Resident Fellow Active members make history come alive. Make the past a thing of the present! Join the Cambridge Historical Society. The Cambridge Historical Society The Hooper-Lee-Nichols House To request a membership form: 159 Brattle Street call 617-547-4252 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 or visit us online at www.cambridgehistory.org 617-547-4252 www.cambridgehistory.org [email protected] Winter 2009 The Newetowne Chronicle/ 3 F R O M T H E D I R E C T O R MARK TIME The Cambridge Historical Society has just wrapped up During the fall 2008 semester, CHS was assigned an exciting year. Thanks to the hard work and Simmons College intern Marta Crilly. Although a dedication of former directors Karen Davis and Lewis beginning student, she had some experience with Bushnell and through a CPA grant administered by the archival collections and so was given two small City of Cambridge, we have been able to replace the collections to process. She worked first on completing electrical system in the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House. a partial finding aid that had been created for the Inman This ended years of concern over the safety of our Diaries, 1786-1789. The diaries of George Inman, wiring. purchased for CHS by Maria Gozzaldi in 1915, contain reminiscences of Inman’s experience with the British Working with Brian Powell of Building Conservation forces during the American Revolution and his Associates, we have now undertaken an in-depth paint subsequent time in England and Grenada. (For further analysis of the four oldest rooms in the house. This information, see CHS analysis will not just tell us what the paint colors had Proceedings, Vol. 19, been, but looking at the number of paint layers and pages 46-79.) The their colors, we will be able to say if different features finding aid is now of a room were added at the same time or what the complete and should sequence was of how the room evolved. soon be available This examination of the building has raised a number online on the Library of questions about the traditionally accepted history of and Special the house, causing a stir in the architectural history Collections section of community. Which side of the building is the original our website. side? Was the west side built as a house or another Marta then processed the records of the Basket Club, structure? Does the house have the decorated beams you would expect in a First Period house? 1873-1963. Founded by a group of young Cambridge women, the club set out to sew clothing and other items To shed some light on this for the sick and homeless of Cambridge. Eventually discussion, the Society, working they began supporting local institutions, such as the with Charles Sullivan, Claire new Cambridge Hospital (now Mount Auburn Dempsey, Anne Grady, Susan Hospital) and the Avon Home for Destitute Children, Maycock, Sally Zimmerman and by selling clothing and organizing fairs, etc.