For the fourth year in a row, Cambridge archives will open their doors and invite the public in to see the rare items that are rarely seen. Residents and visitors will be given the opportunity to see inside twelve archives. The fourth annual Open Archives Tour will feature tours inside cultural, City, Harvard University and MIT archives on four separate days.
Each year, a theme is picked for the tours. This year, the event’s theme is Famous and Infamous, and each archive will interpret this in their own way and delve into their collections to display related materials, including photographs, correspondence, ephemera, and more.
“This is the largest archives tour in America and a unique opportunity to see some great items from our collections, see how this material is processed and used, and talk to the professionals who are passionate about this history,” said Gavin W. Kleespies of the Cambridge Historical Society. Alyssa Pacy of the Cambridge Room at the Public Library added, “Cambridge is a really unusual city in terms of the number of organizations that are collecting and holding archival material, and this is an amazing chance to peek behind the scenes in twelve institutions. Only in Cambridge!”
Tours and Dates
City Collections, featuring
Cambridge Historical Commission
Cambridge Room of the Public Library
Cambridge Public Works Department
July 9, 5:00 to 8:00 pm
Harvard Collections, featuring
Harvard University Archives
Houghton Library at Harvard
Schlesinger Library at Harvard
July 10, 3:00-6:00 pm
Cultural Collections, featuring
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Cambridge Historical Society
The Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
July 11, 5:00-8:00 pm
MIT Collections, featuring
MIT List Visual Arts Center
MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections
MIT Museum
July 12, 3:00-6:00 pm
$3 Reservation fee per tour