On Friday, on a research break, I happened upon the home where Harriet Jacobs’ ran a boarding house in the 1870s in Cambridge, Mass. As I was an associate editor of the Harriet Jacobs Family Papers, and had done quite a bit of research on the people who lived in the house while Jacobs’ ran it, this is quite exciting. There is a marker in front of the house which goes into great detail about her life. (For those who don’t know, Jacobs was born a slave in Edenton, NC, escaped to NYC, and eventually wrote the slave narrative Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl.) I had always meant to seek out the house, but my research trips are usually harried, and I had never made the time. It was great to stumble across it on my way to lunch. The house is located on Story at Mt. Auburn, in case you want to seek it out yourself.
A Biographer's Blog 
Many thanks for these photos of the Jacobs house. Am doing a “Lighting the Way” tour of famous N. Bedford women in the coming weeks at the N. B. Whaling Museum (am docent there). And will do a brief spot on Harriet Jacobs. Check out the “Lighting the Way” website. it’s at historicwomensouthcoast.org.