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Cambridge Room: Research Your Family

Cambridge Roots: Family History and Genealogy


Use our comprehensive genealogy guide to research your family's connection to Cambridge.  These resources, the majority of which are available online, are useful to research anyone who has lived in Cambridge.  

Vital Records

Birth, Marriage & Death Records can be located at the Cambridge City Clerk's Office.

Church Records

Contact the church you are interested in directly for records. 

First Church Congregational, First Church Unitarian, Christ Church, St. Paul's AME, and Union Baptist maintain records.  First Parish records are available at the Harvard Divinity School.  

For Catholic Churches, such as St. John's, St. Mary's, St. Paul's, Notre Dame di Pitié, contact the Archdiocese of Boston Archives.

Student Records

In general, it is difficult to access student records for privacy reasons.  Also, there have been many schools in Cambridge that no longer exist or have been consolidated.  This is especially true of elementary schools.  If records do exist, we haven't been able to locate them.  We suggest focusing on other avenues to discover more about the individual you are researching.

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Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection, 1846-2015
Search for birth, marriage, and death announcements or general information about your ancestor.  This collection contains the following eight newspaper titles: Cambridge ChronicleCambridge Press, Cambridge Tribune, Cambridge Sentinel, Cambridge Express, Cambridge Tab, Fax, and Boston Herald American's Cambridge Rambler.

Cambridge City Directories, 1848-1972
City directories contain a wealth of information about people, businesses, local government, and clubs and civic organizations. Names are listed alphabetically and by street address. Cambridge businesses are listed by industry. Please note: you must search within individual volumes. Directories were not published annually after 1922.

Poll Lists (Men and Women), 1904, 1932-1947
These books are voter lists; men and women are published separately. Names are listed by ward and street.

Atlases, 1833-1930
These atlases show Cambridge property owners, street names, and structures on land plots. 

Police Listings and Street Listings, 1972-Present
These voter lists are published annually by the City of Cambridge. Names are listed by ward and street so it is helpful to know the address or neighborhood of the person you are researching.  To use this resource, please contact the Cambridge Room at archives@cambridgema.gov.

Cole Directories, 1989-2017
This collection contains a street address directory, telephone directory, and office building directory. Names are listed by street so it is necessary to know the address of the person you are researching. Please note: some years are missing.  To use this resource, please contact the Cambridge Room at archives@cambridgema.gov.

St. John's School and Matignon High Yearbooks
A selection of St. John's High School Yearbooks have been digitized and are available hereCambridge Matignon School Yearbooks are available at the Boston Archdiocese Archives.  Please note that the Cambridge Public Library's Archives and Special Collections do not hold the original yearbooks from either school.  

Researching Early Ancestors, 1630-1848

Vital Records of Cambridge through the Year 1850
These two volumes of Cambridge births, marriages, and deaths were transcribed from church and grave records and published in 1914-1915.

Town and Proprietor Records, 1630-1829
These two volumes are transcriptions of original town records held by the Cambridge City Clerk: one was published in 1896 and the other in 1901. Both volumes are arranged chronologically with a name and subject index. They are exact replicas and no attempts were made to modernize language. The volumes are a good resource for researching people prior to 1846.

Lucius Paige’s History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a Genealogical Register
This book is the quintessential 19th Century History of a New England. Lucius Paige served as City Clerk and this book was his life’s work. There is a genealogical register in the back of the book as well as an index of names. Please note that a supplement and index to Paige’s book written by Mary Isabella Gozzaldi was published in 1930. There is additional information in this book that Paige’s addition lacks. It is available in the Cambridge Room and the circulating collection.

Mary Isabella Gozzaldi’s Supplement and Index to Lucius Paige’s History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a Genealogical Register
This book is a supplement and index to Paige’s History of Cambridge published in 1930. It has additional information that Paige’s book lacks and is available in the Cambridge Room and the circulating collection.

Cemeteries

Cambridge Cemetery, a 66 acre site on Coolidge Avenue established in 1856 for the residents of Cambridge, offers a street directory and map.  Contact the cemetery directly at 617-349-4890 for research questions.

The Old Burying Ground in Harvard Square was established around 1635 just inside the city limits and served as the only cemetery in Cambridge for 200 years. Burial spaces in the early years were not permanently marked and contain many more remains than the 1,218 established graves. 

Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Cambridge, published in 1845 by William T. Harris is available online. 

The Cambridge Historical Commission has the City Engineer's map of burial plots at the Old Burying Ground as well as an index and maps of the burial plots that was compiled in 2000 by Richard B. Anderson, Ed.D. These files have been scanned and can be downloaded as four pdf files: Cover material and notes;  Base map and smaller sub-maps;  Name index;  Sub-map index.  

Mount Auburn Cemetery, established in 1831, maintains a department of Historical Collections and Archives with extensive information on both the history of the cemetery as well as those buried there.  For genealogical help, contact research@mountauburn.org.

For Roman Catholic Cemeteries, contact the Archdiocese of Boston's Catholic Cemetery Association.  They provide genealogy assistance as well as information on the North Cambridge Catholic Cemetery on Rindge Avenue, opened 1846. 

Many Catholics from Cambridge were buried in the Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery, historically known as the Sand Banks Roman Catholic Cemetery or Cottage Street Cemetery, on Cottage Street in Watertown.  Burials began in 1845 a searchable database of those interred is available.

Archivist, The Cambridge Room

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Alyssa Pacy
Contact:
Main Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-349-7757
Website

Hours

The Cambridge Room is open during the following hours and by appointment:

Monday 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Tuesday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Wednesday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Thursday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Call to speak with Cambridge Room staff at 617-349-7757

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