Foundation Purchase of Historic Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Enhances CPL Archives

Drew Griffin, Senior Librarian for Adult Services, and Alyssa Pacy, Archivist, examine the Holmes letter in the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

The Cambridge Public Library Foundation is pleased to announce the acquisition of a historic piece of Cambridge Public Library memorabilia: a letter written in 1890 by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. declining an invitation to sit on the Library’s Board of Advisors.  Holmes, the son of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., a prominent Cambridge author and physician, went on to serve as a United States Supreme Court Justice.  

​Holmes’ letter, along with letters by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere, and Margaret Fuller, will be featured in the upcoming lecture, American Treasures from the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections, presented by Drew Griffin, Cambridge Public Library’s Senior Librarian in Adult Services.  The lecture will take place virtually on May 13 at 12 p.m. as part of the popular Lunchtime Lectures from the Cambridge Room.  Registration for the workshop is available here:   bit.ly/cpltreasures. Don't miss this exciting event!

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Letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 3 July 1890 "Circumstances which it is unnecessary to mention prevent, I am sorry to say, my acting on the advisory board for the Cambridge Library . . . ."