Capturing Cambridge is putting local history on the map in and around Cambridge.
Discover and explore stories of local people and places and share some of your own too.
Scroll down to find out about the project, how to navigate the website and how you can get involved.
The Capturing Cambridge website was first devised as part of the Mill Road History Project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2013-16. The work of documenting the history of the Mill Road area continues at the Mill Road History Society which is part of our growing network of local and community history societies and groups (see LINKS).
Since 2016, Capturing Cambridge has been managed and run by the Museum of Cambridge (formerly the Folk Museum). We receive no funding from the City Council or University to run the site. We rely solely on donations from generous individuals, plus hundreds of hours of volunteer time, to keep the site up and running. Please consider donating to the Museum to support the ongoing development of Capturing Cambridge. You can do that by going to our website and donating online, sending a cheque to Museum of Cambridge 2/3 Castle Street CB3 0AQ, or popping by and using our ‘tap to donate’ device. Your support means we can continue to run Capturing Cambridge for generations to come. Thank you.
Articles are written and posted on to the site by a team of volunteer Community Editors who receive training and on-going support from the Museum.
Most Community Editors are based in a specific area of the city and have a connection with a local history society or community group. Others are volunteers at the Museum who research and write stories associated with objects, documents and images in the collections.
If you are interested in becoming a Community Editor for your area or if you have stories you would like to contribute to an existing project area, please contact us at the Museum at capturingcambridge@
You can explore the website in various ways – by using the map, the project areas, street and information tiles or the search box.
Using the MAP:
• zoom in and out by clicking on the + and – buttons at the bottom right of the map
• hover over a coloured dot to see the title of the article, click on the dot to see the featured image, click on the image to go to the full article
• to close the pop-up image, click anywhere outside it.
Using the Project area and street TILES:
• click PROJECTS in the main menu to see the Project area tiles
• click a project area tile to see the street and information tiles for that area
• click a street or information tile to see the articles and information for that street
• click a street or information tile to read the article.
Using the SEARCH box:
• click the magnifying-glass icon at the lower left of the home screen
• you will see a search box and a tag cloud of key topics
• click on one of the topic boxes in the tag cloud to see all articles on the site relating to that topic
• type any word or name in to the search box and click ‘Go’ to search the entire site.
At the end of every article there are reminders of how you can:
FIND OUT MORE by clicking on the further information links to documents, images and audio clips in our online ARCHIVE and via external weblinks,
SHARE the information with others via social media or email and
CONTRIBUTE to the stories on the site yourself.
Remember you can use the CONTACT form to tell us who you are and what you are interested in or if you have more information or a correction to a report that’s already been published on the site or just because you may want to help in some other way.
You can also reach us through our Facebook page and Twitter account or by email at capturingcambridge@
Enjoy discovering and sharing stories of Cambridge people and places with Capturing Cambridge at the Museum of Cambridge.
Your City. Your Museum. Your Stories.