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COTTON MATHER AT THE CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was born in Boston to Increase Mather and Maria (Cotton) Mather. A major spiritual and intellectual figure in early New England, Cotton Mather played an active role in colonial politics and was a prolific author who published hundreds of works in his lifetime. The Congregational Library & Archives holds a significant collection of these titles. 

To mark the 350th anniversary of Mather's birth, the Congregational Library & Archives presented a 2013 symposium, "Mather Redux: New Perspectives on Cotton Mather," where eminent historians offered a revised and relevant portrait of the much-maligned preacher and his time. The revival of interest in Mather and his legacy motivated us to survey our own and others’ collections to provide a resource for historians and scholars with this annotated bibliography. In 2023, the Congregational Library & Archives hosted a discussion with Ken Minkema and Reiner Smolinski, editors of A Cotton Mather Reader (Yale University Press, 2022), which provided new perspectives on Mather’s life and legacy. 

With the generous support of the Carnegie-Whitney Foundation and the H.W. Wilson Foundation, we created an annotated bibliography of all books and manuscripts related to Cotton Mather in the Congregational Library & Archives’ collection.

This bibliography contains a recently discovered genealogical chart of the Mather family. Also of note is A Servant of the Lord, Not Ashamed of His Lord. A Short Essay to Fortify the Minds of All Persons, Especially of Young Persons, against the Discouragements of Piety, Offered in the Derisions of the Impions [sic]. Made, in a Sermon to a Society of Young Persons, Meeting for the Exercises of Religion, on the Lords-Day Evening (Boston, 1704), the only known copy of this work according to the English Short Title Catalogue. The accompanying annotated bibliography includes more recent materials from additional websites and other repositories.

New Light on Cotton Mather | February 2022

Watch the full video of our recent virtual discussion with Reiner Smolinski and Kenneth Minkema, editors of A Cotton Mather Reader (Yale University Press, 2022), an authoritative selection of the writings of one of the most important early American writers. In this program, Smolinski and Minkema discuss new perspectives on the life and legacy of Mather, a major spiritual and intellectual figure in early New England who played an active role in colonial politics, the Salem witchcraft trials, and wrote one of the earliest and most influential histories of New England.

WORKS BY COTTON MATHER

  • Manuscripts (Digitized)

    Diary, 1716
    Cotton Mather’s diary entries dating from February 1715/1716 to December 1716.

    Directions for a Son Going to the Colledge, c. 1718-1719
    Advice by Cotton Mather to his son Samuel (1706-1785), who entered Harvard College in 1719. Transcribed by Samuel Mather.

    List of Marriages, 1717
    A single-page document listing the marriages Cotton Mather performed in 1717.

  • Manuscripts (Digitized Through NEHH)

    The documents in this section have been digitized in partnership with the American Antiquarian Society and made available through our New England Hidden Histories (NEHH) project.

     

    Cotton Mather Diary, 1692
    This volume contains diary entries from Cotton Mather for the year 1692. Of particular note are observations from Cotton Mather on witchcraft and the witchcraft trials in Salem, which were contemporaneous events.

    Cotton Mather Sermon Fragments, Undated
    This item appears to contain fragments from at least two sermons written and preached by Cotton Mather. The second sermon cites Psalms 106:23.

    Cotton Mather Sermon Notebook, 1691-1692
    This item is a notebook containing sermons written and preached by Cotton Mather between 1691 and 1692. The volume is preceded by an index of sermon citations.

    Cotton Mather Sermon Notebook, 1692-1693
    This item is a notebook containing sermons written and preached by Cotton Mather between 1692 and 1693. The volume is preceded by an index of sermon citations.

    Cotton Mather Sermon Notebook, 1694-1695
    This item is a notebook containing sermons written and preached by Cotton Mather between 1694 and 1695. The volume is preceded by an index of sermon citations.

    Cotton Mather Sermon Notebook, 1694-1695
    This item is a notebook containing sermons written and preached by Cotton Mather between 1694 and 1695.

    Cotton Mather Sermon, 1 Samuel 4:24, 1693
    This item is a manuscript sermon on 1 Samuel 4:24, written by Cotton Mather and preached by him in 1693.

    Cotton Mather Sermon, 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, 1694
    This item is a manuscript sermon on 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, written by Cotton Mather and preached by him in 1694 in Lynn, Massachusetts.

    Cotton Mather Sermon, Ezekiel 22:30, 1694 June 7
    This item is a manuscript sermon on Ezekiel 22:30, written by Cotton Mather and preached by him on June 7, 1694 before the General Assembly of Massachusetts.

    Cotton Mather Sermon, Jeremiah 44:10, 1692 December 2
    This item is a manuscript sermon on Jeremiah 44:10, written by Cotton Mather and preached by him on December 2, 1692.

    Cotton Mather Sermon, Lamentations 3:40, 1694 April 19
    This item is a manuscript Fast Day sermon on Lamentations 3:40, written by Cotton Mather and preached by him on April 19, 1694.

    Cotton Mather Sermon, Lamentations 5:21, 1693 May 14
    This item is a manuscript sermon on Lamentations 5:21, written by Cotton Mather and preached by him on May 14, 1693.

    Cotton Mather's Quotidiana, volume 1, undated
    This item is one of several volumes of Cotton Mather's Quotidiana, which largely contains notes about works Mather read. The content of the Quotidiana is akin to a commonplace book, and contains notes about theology, poetry, Bible verse citations, notes about authors, and ruminations on various subjects. The majority of the volume is written in English, though there are sections written in Latin. Small portions of the volume also contain modern Greek writing.

    Cotton Mather's Quotidiana, volume 2, undated
    This item is one of several volumes of Cotton Mather's Quotidiana, which largely contains notes about works Mather read. The content of the Quotidiana is akin to a commonplace book, and contains notes about theology, poetry, Bible verse citations, notes about authors, and ruminations on various subjects. The majority of the volume is written in English, though there are sections written in Latin. Small portions of the volume also contain modern Greek.

    Curiosa Americana, 1723
    This document is a manuscript draft of Cotton Mather's Curiosa Americana, which was submitted to the Royal Society of London and won him membership in the Society. Curiosa Americana demonstrates Cotton Mather's interest in science and his particular interest in American commentary and phenomena.

    Letter from Cotton Mather to Increase Mather, 1690 May 17
    This letter, likely from Cotton Mather to his father, Increase Mather, discusses religious topics.

A CHRONOLOGY OF COTTON MATHER'S WORKS

WORKS ABOUT COTTON MATHER

BOOKS FROM COTTON MATHER'S LIBRARY

Owen, John. A Discourse of the Work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer. With a Brief Enquiry into the Nature and Use of Mental Prayer and Forms. London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, 1682.
Ownership inscription of Cotton Mather, dated 1683, on title page.

OTHER COLLECTIONS AND REPOSITORIES

The Mather Project. Georgia State University.
An outgrowth of an ongoing effort to publish Cotton Mather's holograph manuscript Biblia Americana (1693-1728), a huge commentary on the Bible, currently edited by an international team of scholars, and collaboratively published in ten volumes by Mohr Siebeck (Germany) and Baker Academic (USA) intended to provide access to the unpublished and select number of published family papers of Richard Mather (1596-1669), Increase Mather (1639-1723), and Cotton Mather (1663-1728).

Cotton Mather Papers, 1636-1724. Massachusetts Historical Society.

Increase Mather Papers, 1659-1721. Massachusetts Historical Society.

Second Church (Boston, Mass.) Records, 1650-1970. Massachusetts Historical Society.
Includes material dating from 1685-1728, when Cotton Mather served as a minister.

Kenneth Silverman Research Materials on Cotton Mather, 1661-ca. 1841. Massachusetts Historical Society.
Research materials on Cotton Mather gathered by Kenneth Silverman for his 1984 book The Life and Times of Cotton Mather. Includes copies of original documents in various repositories, notes, copies of secondary materials, and microfilm.

Mather Family Papers, 1613-1819 [PDF]. American Antiquarian Society.

Mather Family Library. American Antiquarian Society.
A collection of more than 1,500 printed books that once belonged to Richard, Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather, their families, colleagues, and correspondents. The collection is the largest extant portion of the Mather family library, most of which was acquired from Hannah Mather Crocker (Cotton's granddaughter) in 1814.

Mather Family Collection. American Antiquarian Society.

Mather Family Collection, 1645-1722. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728, Papers. Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Papers of the Mather Family, 1683-1784. University of Virginia.

The Tracy W. McGregor Library of American History. University of Virginia.
The library's holdings include a collection of the Mather family, particularly of Increase and Cotton Mather, including the manuscript of the latter's diary. The Mather collection was originally gathered by William Gwinn Mather and is one of the three Mather collections in existence.

Mather Papers/Manuscripts. Boston Public Library.
The Boston Public Library holds a number of manuscripts and rare publications by Cotton Mather.

Smolinski, Reiner. "Cotton Mather." In Oxford Bibliographies Online: American Literature. Aug 28, 2014.
Written by a leading contemporary Mather scholar, this bibliography provides a thorough survey of books and articles of scholarly criticism about Mather, along with readily available works written by Mather. Arraigned thematically, an introductory paragraph begins each grouping by providing details on the historical development of Mather studies. Each entry includes an annotation.

CREATED WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM

 

Carnegie-Whitney Foundation grant provided by the American Library Association.

The New England’s Hidden Histories Project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom