I heard from some attendees last year that these are an absolute blast. They’re certainly a rare opportunity to get behind-the-scenes.

Cambridge’s Fourth Annual Archives Crawl

 

The Open Archives Tour is a chance to go behind the scenes at a number of unique archives and collecting agencies in Cambridge. This year, twelve archives will be featured over four days, from July 9 through July 12. The tours are divided into four categories:

 

City Collections – July 9, 5:00-8:00 pm  

  • Cambridge Historical Commission
  • Cambridge Room of the Public Library
  • Cambridge Public Works Department

Harvard Collections – July 10, 3:00-6:00 pm  

  • Harvard University Archives
  • Houghton Library
  • Schlesinger Library

Cultural Collections – July 11, 5:00-8:00 pm 

  • Mount Auburn Cemetery
  • Cambridge Historical Society
  • The Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site

MIT Collections – July 12, 3:00-6:00 pm  

  • List Visual Arts Center
  • Institute Archives & Special Collections
  • MIT Museum

You can sign up for one, two, three, or four tours, but you must sign up for each tour individually: $3 fee per tour. Space is limited.

Click here to register for the 2012 Open Archives Tour.