[3] The Cambridge Social Union (CSU), founded in 1871 and formally incorporated in 1876, taught classes for adults in the former Brattle house which it had moved into in 1889 after purchasing it.

[4][5][1] CSU withstood the financial troubles of the First World War and the Great Depression.

[6] In 1938, in conjunction with the Boston Center for Adult Education, the Cambridge Social Union became the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

It offered evening courses to local residents and in 1941 became an independently run organization.

[1] In the spring semester of 2011, the CCAE offered courses in the following areas:[7]