Archival Collections

We have over 200 archival collections and 2,700 books, spanning the 17th to 21st Centuries and featuring the history of Cambridge. The collection includes a variety of formats from manuscript collections to organizational records and maps to photographs, documenting all aspects of life, business, government, politics, and education in the city. We are actively collecting and receive new collections all the time.  

We use ArchivesSpace, a web-based platform that allows researchers to search for descriptions of collections. The links below allow you to browse descriptions based on: 

• Format (e.g., maps, rare books, photographs)
• Type of Collection (e.g., oral history collections, photograph collections, manuscript collections)
• Subject (e.g., African Americans, activists, urban planning) 

Search all collections on ArchivesSpace. 

• Activists

• Art

• Business Collections

• Cambridge Public Library Records

• Correspondence and Letters

• Family Collections

• Graphic Novels and Comic Books

• Hispanic Americans

• Immigrant Communities

• Maps

• Newsletters

• Objects and Artifacts

• Oral History Collections

• Organizational Records

• Poetry Collections

• Political Collections

• Schools

• Urban Planning

• Women