A large audience assembled in Sanders Theater in December 1905 to hear an array of “notable men” speak on the occasion of the 275th anniversary of the founding of the city we now know as Cambridge. The Cambridge Historical Society had been formed that year, and this anniversary celebration was one of its first opportunities to introduce itself to the broader Cambridge public, as well as to demonstrate the society’s ability to assemble a roster of the city’s leading figures in the realms of politics, education, religion and the arts. The planning and discourse around the city’s 275th anniversary illustrate the unique nature of this moment as one in which Cantabrigians were looking forward and backward, celebrating their city’s past while struggling to come to terms with its present realities and its future trajectory.
Two of the speakers reflected on how the society’s founding would affect the city. CHS president, attorney and civil service reformer Richard Henry Dana III “thought it strange that for so long a period Cambridge had had no historical society. He hoped, now that there was such an organization, its activities would have a broader scope than the mere marking of this or that historical spot, but would seek to go deeper into history and interpret the life and spirit of our illustrious forefathers.”
And Massachusetts attorney general Herbert Parker “thought no city had less need of an historical society, since everyone who reveres the city has even been a self-constituted member of a great and wide-spreading Cambridge historical society, keeping in his own heart the noble traditions of the city. It is well, however, that the society had been founded, to keep burning, like the Vestal virgins of old, the glowing fire of lofty example, to which the whole nation must look.”
But it was Harvard University president Charles William Eliot who was perhaps the most forthright about what he saw as the necessity at the turn of the 20th century for both the establishment of a historical society in Cambridge and the marking of 275 years of colonial settlement. In his address, Eliot remarked, “We cannot help but look forward with some anxiety to the future of Cambridge, because of the prodigious change in the nature of its population. The Puritans no longer control Cambridge; the suffrage is no longer limited to members of the Puritan church. Many races are mixed in our resident population.”
Over the previous several decades, Cambridge’s population had indeed been shifting; arrivals from Eastern and Southern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean began to replace prior waves of immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, and were joined by Black migrants moving out of the South in the post-Civil-War era. In light of these demographic shifts, many Cantabrigians of Euro-American descent feared the city would neglect to preserve what they saw as its true heritage, and Cambridge joined the many other New England cities and towns that established historical societies during this period to create and sustain a version of its past that focused on and celebrated its Puritan ancestors.
Not surprisingly, given his role as Harvard president, Eliot echoes the popular sentiment of his day that education and Americanization were inextricably linked. At the public school and university levels, education was seen as a means not only to personal and professional success for the individual student, but also to social cohesion and the spread of civic ideals that were considered so crucial for the country to grow and prosper. Providing students with a grounding in the political, religious and economic history of Cambridge – and, by extension, of the nation as a whole – was necessary to create a national identity that would help to unify students across ethnic, racial and religious lines. The city’s 275th anniversary was considered an ideal time to educate Cambridge students about its colonial origins; in the lead-up to the celebration, a 1905 Cambridge Tribune article reported that “so great is the interest in the public and parochial schools that over 200 pupils have already applied to the Cambridge Public Library for aid in the study of the early history of Cambridge.”
But the particular version of Cambridge’s settlement by English colonists around which the city rallied at its 275th anniversary was one that told only part of the story. Little to no mention was made of the Indigenous peoples who called this area home when the English arrived, or of the effects colonization had on the landscape and on those who had inhabited it for thousands of years before 1630. The history celebrated at Sanders Theater that night in 1905 did not include the enslaved individuals whose labor made the building of the city and its institutions possible, nor did it make room for the many waves of immigration that had shaped Cambridge’s development in myriad ways over the centuries. And the experiences of women of any race, class or ethnicity played very little part in the commemorations.
As we look ahead to Cambridge’s 400th anniversary in 2030, what can we learn from previous commemorations such as that held in 1905? What aspects of the city’s past were considered worthy of preservation and transmission to the next generations, and who were the arbiters of this information? What changes and concerns occupy our minds at this moment in the city’s history, and how do those considerations shape who and what we commemorate? Most importantly, how can we paint a fuller picture of the city’s past four centuries that can help to foster community and conversation about the Cambridge we envision for the future? History Cambridge believes that the perspectives of Cantabrigians from a diverse array of backgrounds and experiences is crucial to this process, and we invite you to share your thoughts with us as we plan for Cambridge 400.
History Cambridge started in 1905 as the Cambridge Historical Society. Today we have a new name and a new mission. We engage with our city to explore how the past influences the present to shape a better future. We recognize that every person in our city knows something about Cambridge’s history, and their knowledge matters. We listen to our community and we live by the ideal that history belongs to everyone. Throughout 2026, we are focusing on the history of West Cambridge. Make history with us at historycambridge.org.
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