The 101st Field Signal Battalion Corps was a unit in the 26th Yankee Division of the National Guard of Massachusetts. They reported for WWI duty on July 25th, 1917. In preparation for their deployment to France, they set up camp in this open field bounded by Dummer St. and Egmont St. that was then the playground of the Noble and Greenough School (located one block to the south). In the center of the photo is the house of James and Nora Ryan at 127 Egmont St. At the extreme right of the photo, barely visible above the tent, is a building on Dummer St., corner of Pleasant St., that still stands today, albeit greatly modified. The photographer would have been standing in the area of St. Paul St. looking west. The unit left its encampment for France in early September.