New online exhibit features XX. Mini exhibit on display at Somerville Public Library through February.

SOMERVILLE – City Archivist Nadia Dixson announces the latest in a series
of exhibits looking into the City of Somerville’s historic past, featuring Somerville’s Board of Health records from the early 20th century.

The records in this exhibit came to the archives via the City Hall attic. The Historic Preservation Office safeguarded the letters and reports of Laurence Howard, Executive Clerk for the City of Somerville from the early 1900s until 1930. Just as today, the Board of Health oversaw a wide range of activities to protect public health, however the conditions in Somerville, the state of medical care, and national issues were very different. This exhibit chronicles the reports from the beginning of the century, painting an interesting picture of historic Somerville.

The exhibit can be found online at http://somervillearchives.omeka.net/. A mini exhibit is also set up at the Somerville Public Library’s Main Branch through the month of February.