One of the earliest and purest forms of Democracy in the United States took place at “town meetings”- a practice established in Massachusetts and distinct to the New England region. Unlike in our present-day use of “town halls”, qualified residents had the opportunity to not only discuss matters particular to their communities, but to actively … Continue reading Town Meetings in the Northwest Precinct of Cambridge, 1736-1795
Ceramic objects in the AHS collection span centuries while telling local stories. Of these ceramics, several plates uniquely celebrate and document Arlington history. These pieces are known as commemorative or souvenir plates. Popularized toward the end of the 19th century, plates of this kind were relatively cheap to produce and a novel way to memorialize … Continue reading Commemorative Plates
On Tuesday, April 24, 1917, Nina Winn wrote about attending a Historical Society event in which “Aunt Sue read a poem & Elizabeth Smith wore the ball dress she wrote of – made by Hannah Hall [later Mrs. Cyrus Cutter] & given by Mrs. Sterling & Mrs. Bates. Then the ‘[Old] Peabody Pew’ was presented and … Continue reading Ballad of the War of 1812
This fall the Kimball Farmer House at 1173 Massachusetts Avenue, recently renovated to create three affordable-housing units by the Housing Corporation of Arlington, welcomed all of its tenants to their new homes. This event provides a welcome opportunity to broadly share the history of the house and the Farmer family, featuring photographs from the Society’s … Continue reading Kimball Farmer House
These are selected images from the 2013 Centennial Celebration of Arlington Town Hall display at Robbins Library, and the “Picture Postcard Perfect!” display installed in the lobby of Town Hall. The complete storyboards, displayed throughout May 2013, were designed and written by Richard A. Duffy. Images are from the collections of the Arlington Historical Society … Continue reading Centennial Celebration of Arlington Town Hall
[box]This is the third installment of three on the Winn Family Silhouette Album. The prior installments are here: The Winn Silhouette Album — Roots in Arlington, MA; Types, Techniques and Analysis of Silhouettes[/box] In the collection of Winn diaries there were only five diaries for the decade spanning 1870 to 1880, two of which were … Continue reading Knowing Susanna Adams Winn
[box]This is the second installment of three on the Winn Family Silhouette Album. The first is here: The Winn Silhouette Album — Roots in Arlington, MA[/box] There are three basic types of silhouettes: painted, hollow-cut or cut-out. Painted silhouettes were most frequently created using black ink or paint to apply the likeness to a base, … Continue reading Types, Techniques and Analysis of Silhouettes
[box]This is part one of a three part series on the Winn silhouette album[/box] In 1999, the Arlington Historical Society (Arlington, MA) received a collection of artifacts, images and documents that belonged to the family of Albert and Sarah (Prentiss) Winn who settled in the town of West Cambridge (now Arlington) in 1835. Among the … Continue reading The Winn Silhouette Album — Roots in Arlington, MA
This beautiful drum, from The Arlington Historical Society archives, pictured here, is a lovely soft green with blue undertones. Wooden bands of a soft, sad red anchor the main green body of the artifact on either end, held together with neat rows of rivets. Emblazoned on one side is a painting of a ship and a sunrise.
Mabel Hartwell married George Winn, Wednesday, October 14, 1903. Because the diary of George’s sister, Nina Winn, is being serialized for Arlington residents in a local e-list through the kindness of local resident, Stu Galley, we have heard much about the couple.