Uncover the history of Cambridge, Massachusetts through vintage images in this pictorial history.

Settled as New Towne in 1631, Cambridge was referred to by Wood, a seventeenth-century chronicler, as "one of the neatest and best compacted towns in New England." The founding of Harvard College in 1636 was to ensure the town's notoriety, as it was the first college in the New World. Harvard gave Cambridge a cosmopolitan flavor, but

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Formally organized in 1859 with the appointment of John C. Willey as the first chief of police, the Cambridge Police Department was then manned by only 16 officers. The department has grown dramatically from its humble beginnings and today employs 277 sworn officers and a civilian staff of 37. Cambridge Police Department, the first comprehensive photographic history of the department, contains over 100 years of historical photographs, including images...

"Born in Cambridge is both a history book and a story of contemporary events. It provides several dozen vignettes of innovative people who did formative work in Cambridge, such as African American social critic and early Civil Rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois and television chef Julia Child. It also describes inventions made here, such as the sewing machine, the instant camera and modern radar. The stories are broken down into eight chapters, focused...