Welcome
Located in Boston's historic Beacon Hill, the Congregational Library offers researchers, readers, and browsers an extensive array of contemporary and classic religious material. Our collection includes a wide variety of resources on American religion, New England local and town histories, and, of course, three hundred years of records documenting the history of American Congregationalism. Our reading room, overlooking Boston's famous Granary Burial Ground, is open to visitors from Monday through Friday with our new hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday until 6.
At present, our on-line catalog includes only a fraction of the 225,000 items in the collection. If you do not find an item through an online search, we may still have it! Researchers are welcome to contact us about our holdings by phone (617-523-0470) or by email ().
We are also available to answer reference questions, though unfortunately, for longer questions our staff time is limited. Some questions may be answered by consulting our list of "FAQs"; if not, researchers may also direct calls to the archivist or send an email (). Please make sure you include CL in the subject line as well as a personalized subject heading. For longer, more complicated questions, we will suggest hiring a local researcher from a list we will provide, or making a donation to the Library, of $25 for each hour of work required. In either case, the archivist will be glad to assist you.
The Congregational Library also loans books, either by mail or in person. Books are loaned for a period of four weeks, with a limit of two books for new patrons. Only contemporary (less than 35 years old) material circulates. In order to renew, the patron should call the library or send a postcard prior to the due date. Fines for overdue books are 10 cents per weekday.
Visitors are always welcome and, with advance notice, we are happy to arrange tours for larger groups. Please contact the executive director if you are coming by. We will look forward to seeing you!