Beacon Street Blog

Operations
OR
July 14, 2020

by William McCarthy, Processing and Reference Archivist

While the staff of the CLA have been working from home, we have continued to remain engaged with our collections even while separated from them. These posts will highlight some of our less well-known collections. Please note that the collections highlighted are not available online unless otherwise noted.

Today we are going to look at collection RG0069, Dorchester, Mass. Second Church records. This collection originally formed out of a donation in 1963 but was not properly added to the collection until 1989. In 2019, the CLA received a large deposit of material and the collection was re-processed in June 2019. Our collection spans the entire life of the church, including records from before it was established.

The beginnings of Second Church in Dorchester started when it was organized on January 1, 1808 by 64 members of First Church of Dorchester. These 64 members included 27 men and 37 women who had decided to split from the "Mother Church". On January 19, 1810, the group voted to name the new church South Church in Dorchester. This name only lasted two years when on April 3, 1812 they renamed the church "Second Church". The expansion into a new church was mainly meant to tackle the expanding population of the area. The first official pastor for the newly formed Second Church was Dr. John Codman. Rev. Codman was a member of an influential family and graduated from Harvard. His pastorate would be the longest for the church and during this time the church was visited by Daniel Webster and (on occasion) John Adams. The records in our collection continue up until 1991, shortly after the transfer of the church to the Church of the Nazarene. (1)

This collection is over 30 full boxes and contains a wealth of information on the day-to-day happenings of the Second Church. One thing to note is that the collection holds records from 40 auxiliary organizations. Some highlights from this section include the Chinese Sunday School's Copy of The Book of Acts in Mandarin (1909), the Couples Club records (1943-1953) and the Dorchester Gentlemen's Driving Club (1913-1915). Another area I want to draw attention too is the church building information. Included here is information on the selling of land in 1854, the purchasing of an organ in 1857 and various plans on additional projects across the 20th century. Overall, the collection gives a complete picture of church operations and desires extra attention and research.

The finding aid for this collection can be found here. If you have any interest in viewing this collection once the library reopens, or you have any other CLA related questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us at ref@14beacon.org. Stay safe and have a great day!

Bib: "History." Second Church in Dorchester. March 23, 2019. Accessed July 8, 2020. http:// secondchurchdorchester.org/about-us-2/history/.

Content:
July 7, 2020

page from Joseph Green's diary

by Jules Thomson, Assistant Archivist / NEHH Publication

Appropriately enough for a blog called "Beacon Street Diary", today I've compiled a list of diaries and journals within our current New England's Hidden Histories collections. The materials listed below (in alphabetical order by surname) are digitized and made available online via NEHH and our project partners. 

All of these diaries are sourced from the rich seam of personal documents which comprise Series 2, and perhaps represent the most intimate voices available within the digitized records. More so even than "relation of faith" documents, diaries provide a relatively unfiltered glimpse into the minds of people living in the 17-19th centuries. That is not to say, however, that they are homogenous in tone or breadth. The writers themselves run the gamut in terms of livelihoods, community standing, and even gender; Mary Cleaveland's diary provides a rare 18th-century women's perspective. Other diarists include farmers, the proprieter of a forge, clergymen, missionaries, and even Cotton Mather himself. The content of the diaries, too, is as diverse as the authors, dealing variously with agricultural concerns, child-rearing, business and finance, churchgoing, and personal spirituality.

It is my opinion that these records constitute one of the most valuable facets of NEHH overall, and are certainly unparalleled as a source of qualitative data about daily life in Colonial New England. 

Mary Cleaveland's diary, 1742-1762

Mary Cleaveland (nee Dodge) was the wife of Rev. John Cleveland, minister to Ipswich Second (Chebacco) Church and wartime chaplain. Her sporatic diary entries detail the birth of her children and the death of relatives and prominent acquaintances, as well as notable events about town.

Zaccheus Collins's diary, 1726-1769

The diary of this Lynn, Mass., man details a 43-year period of daily life, including agricultural tasks, notations on attendance at religious meetings, visits from his friends, and observations about the weather. The diary is contained within two bound volumes, the first comprising the years 1726-1750, and the second 1750-1769.

Joseph Green's diary, 1700-1715

Rev. Joseph Green was a celebrated minister of the First Church of Salem. Ordained in 1698, he inherited a divided and traumatized congregation after the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. He replaced the controversial Rev. Samuel Parris, reuniting the church and facilitating reconciliation between perpetrators and victims of the witchcraft hysteria. His diary of 1700-1715 deals mainly with day-to-day concerns such as religious study, errands and meetings, though it also touches on more monumental events such as Ann Putnam’s public admission that she had falsely accused others of witchcraft.

Gideon Hawley's journals, 1754-1806

Rev. Gideon Hawley, a noted missionary, worked for the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians under the supervision of Jonathan Edwards. Hawley accepted a position from the Society to establish a mission among the Six Nations on the Susquehanna; he was ordained in Old South Church, Boston, July 31, 1754 for this position and left for the site, near the contemporary town of Windsor, New York. With the arrival of the French and Indian War, Hawley returned to Boston and accepted a commission as chaplain to Colonel Richard Gridley's regiment. He was later appointed as minister to the Mashpee living in Mashpee, Massachusetts. The NEHH digital collections consist of four consecutive journal volumes spanning 1754-1806. These cover Rev. Hawley's time as a missionary traveling through "the Country of the Six Nations" and his experiences durig the Seven Years War. Also of note are records relating to Hawley’s long-time translator, Rebecca Kellogg Ashley.

Thomas Josselyn's diary, 1743-1775

Thomas Josselyn of Hanover and Hingham, Mass. was deacon of Hingham First Church and proprietor of a forge. On the first page of his diary, he describes his intent "to keep an account of the affairs of Divine providence, concerning myself and my family and the Church of God…". The volume consists of daily entries in which Josselyn usually devotes a sentence or two to details of his work, meetings, church attendance, visits with friends and family, and travel to Boston and other locales.

Cotton Mather's diary, 1716

Rev. Cotton Mather (1663-1728), one of the most influential Puritan ministers of Colonial America, needs little introduction. Rev. Mather was ordained in 1684 at Second Church in Boston, also known as "Old North" Church or "the Church of the Mathers". He was a prolific author, publishing some 280 distinct items. He is perhaps best remembered today for his endorsement of inoculation as a means of fighting smallpox, and for his persecutory role in the Salem witchcraft trials. NEHH's digitized material includes a portion of one of his diaries, containing entries starting in February of 1715/16 (Mather uses dual Julian/Gregorian calendar dating) and ending December 1716.

Ebenezer Storer's diary, 1749-1764

Ebenezer Storer was a Harvard and Yale-educated lay person who went on to become Treasurer of Harvard College in 1777. He was deacon of the Congregational Church in Brattle Square, Cambridge, as well as an early member of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in North America, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and several other organizations. He updated his journal intermittently, with long form entries detailing deaths in his family, spiritual reflections and prayers, and segments of poetry. He also includes occasional genealogical or family information, as well as passing observations on current events. The entry for March 11, 1764, mentions the spread of smallpox and Storer's decision to have his children inoculated.

Stephen Williams's diary, 1716-1782

This collection consists of handwritten journal entries, memoranda, and sermon notes kept occasionally by Rev. Stephen Williams from 1716 to his death in 1782. Rev. Williams’s early life was remarkable; he grew up in Deerfield, Massachusetts and was captured by French and Indigenous allies during their raid on the town in 1704 when he was eleven years old. He was liberated after almost two years in captivity, going on to graduate from Yale College in 1713 and subsequently ministering to the Congregational Church of Longmeadow, Mass. He also served as a chaplain during the French and Indian War. Rev. Williams focuses heavily on ecclesiastical matters in his journal entries. Many entries consist of written prayers and brief meditations on bible verses.

 

Content:
June 30, 2020

The books and manuscripts in the library’s collection are informative, yes, but are they also delicious? It depends on who you ask. While staff are highly discouraged from engaging in bibliophagy no matter how tasty that 18th century sermon looks, there are a number of creatures that lack the same restraint.

Many people are surprised to learn that bookworms ‘bookworm’ isn’t just a metaphor, even though the most common paper eaters aren’t actually worms. They leave behind tell-tale tunnels wending their way through a text block like those pictured above (18th c. record book of First Church Charlestown), sometimes from end to end or they leave tiny holes in covers and spines. Most often, they are the larvae of a variety of beetles, moths or cockroaches who are attracted to the adhesives, leather, cloth and other organic material commonly used in book production. Some pests, like carpenter ants or furniture beetles will infest wooden shelves and then move on to the books they find there. Booklice eat molds and other fungi that can begin to grow on books and manuscripts kept in warm damp conditions. Silverfish will eat around the perimeter of pieces of paper, leaving jagged edges behind. Mice will gnaw on paper and boxes to keep their teeth sharp or shred it for their nests.

It is practically a rite of passage to reach into a newly acquired box of material and pull out some manner of creepy crawly--I have personally been accosted by silverfish, spiders, and once, a very large moth. Don’t let the cute face above fool you; the damage that bookworms and other collection-eating pests leave behind can be devastating. Bookworm tracks and tunnels can leave text unreadable and significantly weaken the integrity of paper and bindings and cannot be repaired. The best way to prevent damage from bookworms and other pests is to make our collections less hospitable. In addition to thoroughly inspecting new acquisitions for any unwanted stowaways, all of our materials are kept in a climate-controlled environment that keeps things cool and dry. Materials that arrive to us with significant damage are placed in custom housing to provide an extra layer of protection. Fortunately, book production methods have changed, so material from the 20th century and beyond are less at risk.Our ultimate goal is to make sure that when we say our materials are ‘being devoured’ it remains strictly a metaphor.

Content:
June 25, 2020

By Zachary Bodnar, Archivist

Note: Right-click and "view image" will allow you to see the full sized versions of images used within this blog post.

As you are aware, the CLA’s staff has been working from home for the better part of three months now. But while the staff has been unable to handle physical collections during that time, they certainly have not been slacking. Documentation, policy development, digital processing, professional development and virtual conference attendance, exhibit planning, and fact-finding missions have all been happening while we are away from our office desks. In my case, a significant portion of my time has been spent on cleaning up the metadata of archival collections for the purpose of introducing our materials to the widest audience possible.

Metadata, or information about an object, is the bread and butter of the library and archives professions. The title of a book, name of an author, and publication date are all examples of descriptive metadata. Librarians and archivists gather and document this metadata entirely for the sake of our users. By documenting this metadata, we make an object, whether it be a published book or an unpublished volume of church meeting minutes, findable by the various systems employed in our professions, such as an online catalog. On the archival side, this purveyor of easily digestible and browsable metadata is the finding aid, though you might be surprised by how many different versions of a finding aid exist side-by-side.

For most users, the finding aid is the piece of paper they look at when deciding which boxes and folders within a collection they are interested in leafing through. But in fact, the CLA’s archivists produces four different versions of the finding aid. One version of the finding aid exists in a cloud-based platform which serves as the single source of knowledge for every single archival collection held by the CLA. One version serves as the user’s browsable version and is indexed by google. Another is placed within the CLA’s online catalog. And a final version of the finding aid is uploaded to GitHub for external data harvesting. While each version of the finding aid is distinct, each furthers our goal of increasing the visibility of our materials and ensuring the widest possible audience can find our collections.

All metadata about an archival collection is stored in the CLA’s cloud instance of ArchivesSpace. ArchivesSpace is, in effect, the standard archival management tool used by archivists in the United States today. Through the ArchivesSpace backend interface, staff can record nearly endless amounts of information about a collection. But more practically, it is the tool that allows the archival staff to describe and arrange a collection. Description refers to the process of assigning descriptive metadata to the collection while arrangement refers to the process of assigning an intellectual order to the physical materials within a collection. By processing a collection and inputting all of our gathered data into ArchivesSpace, we create the single source of truth (an Orwellian sounding term, drawn from the information sciences fields, that simply means the single source of editable data from which all other instances of the same data are derived) from which we create all the other versions of the finding aid.

The next version of the finding aid is the one most recognizable by our users. It is the paper version of the finding aid that can be found at the reference desk. This is the version intended for human eyes and is therefore the easiest to read and understand. Before it is printed though, this finding aid exists as a PDF derivative of every piece of public metadata that is input into ArchivesSpace. The PDF is uploaded to the CLA’s website and is searchable from there under the “Electronic Finding Aids” header. Uploading the PDF also allows for the PDF to become indexed by google which vastly improves a collection’s visibility to the wider internet world.

The next version of the finding aid that we produce is a MARC record which is ingested into the CLA’s online catalog. MARC is one of the oldest metadata standards used by librarians and the basis upon which nearly every library catalog is built upon. The MARC version of the finding aid is actually a stripped down version that focuses solely on the top level metadata associated with the whole collection, such as the title of the collection, the collection’s creator(s), and subject headings associated with the collection. Fortunately, you never see the raw MARC metadata; the catalog interprets that MARC file and displays it in a way that is familiar to all our users. We produce this version of the finding aid so that archival collections may be found alongside print materials within the catalog. This makes the online catalog the CLA’s single destination to search everything the CLA holds. This also ensures that our archival collections are automatically linked to related resources through linked metadata, such as subject headings.

The last version of the finding aid is one which you have probably never seen. This is the EAD version of the finding aid which is stored on the CLA’s GitHub. EAD is an XML based international archival metadata standard. Like MARC, EAD is not actually intended for human eyes; EAD is intended to be read by machine systems that interpret the data stored within the XML file. The CLA stores these files in GitHub so that they may be harvested by archival aggregators such as ArchivesGrid. These aggregator sites are another way for the CLA to vastly improve the findability of our materials by placing it within systems with vastly wider user bases.

Which brings me all the way back to my metadata cleanup project. In 2019 the CLA converted from producing EAD2 documents to EAD3 documents. Collections processed prior to that were therefore instantly left out of our EAD3 offerings on GitHub which means that harvesters such as ArchivesGrid would never see these older collections. Over time we have been able to go back and convert some of them, but prior to the pandemic, there were still more than 80 collections that needed the necessary metadata cleanup to ready these collections for the eventual creation of EAD3 finding aids. While the pandemic has halted our ability to process new archival collections, it has given me the time to shed even more light on these collections processed prior to 2019 and I can now say that the number of collections needing cleanup is in the single digits.

The library and archival fields are always trying to improve access to collections. Most visibly this happens when we archivists describe a collection and produce a finding aid for it. But as I hope this blog post has shown, there are significantly less visible ways in which we create access. And we are always looking towards the future for new ways to increase access and findability and ensure that everyone who might wish to look at our materials can find our materials.

Content:
June 23, 2020

by William McCarthy, Processing and Reference Archivist

While the staff of the CLA have been working from home, we have continued to remain engaged with our collections even while separated from them. These posts will highlight some of our smaller, relatively unused collections. Please note that the collections highlighted are not available online unless otherwise noted.

Today’s collection is a bit different from the others I have highlighted previously. As a library with a long and rich history, we have collections that arrived in our care with minimal information about its origins and history. While it is disappointing to find items like this, part of my job as the processing archivist is to take these “mysteries” and illuminate them for our patrons. While searching for different items in our stacks I came across a box that had no labels or identifying information. Upon looking inside, I found the subject of today’s highlight: a scrapbook filled with World War 1 and 2 patches.

When dealing with a collection that has minimal information, it is imperative to scour the items for anything you can use to identify it. The scrapbook does contain a note on its opening page that it was created and filled by “First Church” but contains no information about a town or state. This means that I am unable to provide context but does not stop me from having the collection processed properly so it could be viewed by our patrons.

The patches themselves are in remarkable condition and involve nearly all branches of the U.S. military. The scrapbook is divided into 5 sections: Air Forces, Navy, Marines, Civilians and CoastGuard. The Air Forces section is further divided into Ground Forces, Air Forces and Service Forces. Each page contains between 4-10 patches, with the name and rank of the officer underneath. Some of the patches indicate divisions, such as the 101st Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Division and more. Also included would be patches that appear to designate specific roles, such as Malaria Control, Storekeeper, Water Purification and more. The last section of patches I wanted to highlight were ones for civilians helping with the war effort. Examples from this section include War Correspondent, Hospital Recreation, Women's Emergency Farm Service and Women’s Land Army. Finally, I separated out two pins that were loose on the final pages. They are the Army Physical Therapy Aide Pin and the Coast Guard Lieutenant's Insignia. This scrapbook is a remarkable piece of history and shows that wherever this “First Church” was located, the members were highly active during the two World Wars.

If you have any interest in viewing this collection once the library reopens, or you have any other CLA related questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us at ref@14beacon.org. Stay safe and have a great day!

 
Content:
June 16, 2020

By Jules Thomson, Assistant Archivist / NEHH Publication

Adapted from an article originally published in the CLA’s February 2020 Bulletin.

Hidden Histories. Untold Stories. Behind the Veil. These are the titles of some archives-based history projects with which myself or my colleagues have been involved. A simple internet search will produce hundreds of similarly arcane-sounding names. Hopefully the first one rings a bell - as in New England’s Hidden Histories, the CLA’s flagship project to digitize and publish a large number of colonial-era records sourced from across New England.

But what’s up with these names? Why this particular emphasis on uncovering, unveiling, and bringing to light? By now, the litany of historical exclusion is largely familiar, even to non-historians: the experiences of women, people of color, the enslaved, Indigenous, the working poor, and LGBTQ people, among others, are generally understood to have been minimized or ignored in historical writings before the latter half of the 20th century.

In archives, libraries, and museums, the remediation of historical oversights can take many forms; on the archivists’ end, it can entail improved cataloguing, descriptions, and subject-tagging to highlight hitherto buried materials. It can also be accomplished via the production of new source narratives such as those recorded during oral history project interviews, and more generally by a broadening of the pool of statistical data available to researchers, allowing for the extrapolation of demographic trends which would otherwise remain invisible. The Internet Age has facilitated this by allowing for the confederation of collections which are physically held in separate geographic locations.

There are obvious implications here for New England’s Hidden Histories, which hosts a panoply of records including both quantitative and qualitative types of materials, sourced from myriad churches and cultural institutions across New England. Church record books and their associated vital statistics are a mainstay of our church-based collections. On the qualitative side, there are personal accounts such as those described in relation of faith documents (formalized confessions written to gain church membership), which, to quote the NEHH introduction page, “offer insight into many under-documented populations including women, children, Native Americans, slaves, and indentured servants.”

Both types of records in the NEHH collections were utilized by Professor Richard Boles of Oklahoma State University in his research into African-American and American Indian church membership in colonial New England. Richard presented this research in his lecture Interracial But Not Integrated: Colonial Churches, hosted by the CLA and the Old South Meeting house last summer as part of the History Matters lecture series (Richard’s talk was recorded by WGBH Boston and is available on YouTube).

Nonwhite church members were racially identified in church records - albeit subject to shifting vocabulary as race was continually conceptualized and re-conceptualized by those in power. This practice of racial identification, while born out of a distasteful ideology of exclusionism and white-supremacy, has had the positive effect of making people of color visible in the historical record. As part of his research, Richard compiled a broad geographical array of statistical records, particularly baptisms, in order to determine membership demographics. He was able to demonstrate a steady continuity of minority Black and Native membership, to pinpoint cases where slaves attended different churches than their owners, and to measure the effects of the Great Awakening on church attendance by people of color, among other things. The picture that emerged was one of much more diverse church membership than is usually assumed:

“For too long, many educated people and historians have written about colonial churches as if there were no Black [people] or Indians present. On the contrary, most Congregational and Anglican churches in New England included people of color in the 18th century. They participated in these churches as attendees, and through rituals of baptism and communion.”

In support of the latter point Richard also cited personal documents such as the relation of faith by Cuffee Wright (1773), an enslaved man owned by Rev. Sylvanus Conant, minister of the church in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Cuffee’s testimony, which is included in the digitized NEHH collections, appears to be a genuine personal account of both his worldly and spiritual life, though Richard was quick to point out that, prior to abolition, it is impossible to know how much enslaved people participated in church life of their own free will, versus how much they were compelled to do so by force, threats, or persuasion. I imagine this was particularly fraught when one’s owner was the minister of the church in question!

He was, however, able to cite some convincing examples of enslaved people who seem to have found genuine comfort in church life, and in the opportunities it provided for community and education. These same members also increasingly used scripture to establish a case for the abolition of slavery. Among other qualitative evidence, Richard cited the correspondence of Phillis Wheatley and Obour Tanner, and the record of a sermon preached by an enslaved black man named Greenwich, who made a biblical case for abolition in the Canterbury, CT Separate Congregational Church in 1754 while his owner, who was also a church member, presumably looked on. (Thirty-seven years later, Jonathan Edwards Jr. echoed parts of Greenwich’s phrasing to make the same point about the spiritual necessity for abolition. Better late than never?)

My summation of Professor Boles’s research is patchy at best and I encourage you to look up the full lecture (link in the end notes). But I believe it serves as a good example not only of our NEHH records being utilized for new and exciting research, but also of how more personal, subjective records can be married with plentiful data points in order to create a more holistic understanding of the past.
 

Further Reading

Boles, R. (n.d.) Interracial But Not Integrated: Colonial Churches.

Boles, R. (n.d.) People of Color Preliminary Finding Aid.

Cooper, J. F. (2013). Cuffee’s “Relation”: A Faithful Slave Speaks through the Project for the Preservation of Congregational Church Records. The New England Quarterly, 86(2), 293–310.

Content:
June 9, 2020

One of the difficulties of working with rare and archival collections is that it is not always easy to see them in person, even under circumstances far more typical than we’re currently experiencing. The materials you need may be scattered across multiple repositories or located in a different part of the country. With many libraries still uncertain when they’ll open again and what exactly “open” will look like for staff and researchers, I’d like to provide a guide to resources at the CLA that can be accessed from a distance as well as some resources to help you find what you need even if we don’t have it. You can find a list of free online resources below with brief explanations at the Congregational Library and elsewhere on the internet.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for (or are still figuring out exactly what you’re looking for), library staff are here to help! You can email us at ref@14beacon.org for help navigating our resources, locating material, or identifying other institutions that might have what you need. Don’t believe the hype--not everything is online. If you need to access something in our collection that isn’t already digitized, we may be able to scan it and email it to you, depending on the condition of the item and copyright restrictions. Currently, staff have limited access to the collections, but we’ll fulfill requests as soon as possible and keep you updated. All scanning fees will be waived while the library is closed to the public.

At the Congregational Library & Archives
 

New England’s Hidden Histories
This digitization project provides access to colonial-era records from Congregational Churches, Ministers and organizations across New England from the CLA’s collection as well as a number of other partner institutions. More than 150 collections are now available online and transcriptions are available for many of them.

Obituary Database
Our obituary database provides direct access to information on Congregational Christian ministers and missionaries, beginning with the 1600s and continuing to the present. These include dates and places of birth, ordination, and death, as well as the churches, organizations, or mission stations where they served. We’ve also provided a guide to locating the full text of an obituary here.

Online Catalog
Our online catalog provides access to much of our archival, print, and periodical collections. Here you can find links to finding aids which describe archival collections in detail, our image collection full of historical portraits, photographs and drawings of church buildings, and early photographs from international mission sites. When we are aware that material has been digitized by another institution, links are added to the catalog record. From the search results page, you can request an item and a staff member will follow up with you to let you know if it’s available online or able to be scanned.


Elsewhere on the Internet

Internet Archive
Free access to a variety of digitized content, including material from the Congregational Library’s collection like the Congregational Yearbook.

HathiTrust
Provides access to digitized books, government publications, and other documents from the collections of an international community of research libraries. You can find the Annual reports of the ABCFM digitized here. Some material may be restricted by institution.

GoogleBooks
Provides access to many books in the public domain, and often large excerpts of books that aren’t, so if you’re looking for a brief reference, you may be able to find it.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
DPLA provides access to digitized content from libraries, archives, and other cultural heritage institutions across the country. Many states have their own programs that partner with DPLA such as Digital Commonwealth in Massachusetts.

ArchiveGrid and WorldCat
Archive Grid allows you to search for archival collections in repositories around the country and often links to their finding aids. It is far from being complete, but offers a great starting point for research
WorldCat allows you to search for books and other media at libraries around the world and identify which location is closest to you. This can be a great tool for locating hard to find print material, historical or contemporary.

Your Local Public Library
Many public libraries provide access to databases and digitized collections for cardholders. Many in-library-use-only restrictions have been lifted for the course of the pandemic. For example, Boston Public Library provides access to digitized 19th century newspapers and a number of genealogical resources.

College and University Digital Collections
Many colleges and universities have digitized collections that are not easily found via search engines. If you identify material at a particular institution, consider searching for their digitized collections on the library’s web page, or contacting a librarian to see what they have available.

Content:
June 4, 2020

by Zachary Bodnar, Archivist

It has been a month now since I first wrote about the Congregational Library & Archives’ digital future and formally announced that the CLA was partnering with AVP to identify a suitable Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) to make our digital records more accessible than ever before. In that time, we have gone from having broad ideas to a solid grasp on what exactly the CLA needs from a DAMS system. So today, I wanted to speak a bit more about the future of CLA’s digital presence, and the requirements/goals we will be setting for this project.

Since its inception, the driving force behind this project has been increasing access to our digital content. But what exactly does an increase in access look like? For this project, access has specifically meant focusing on a few functional areas: discoverability, display, metadata, and delivery. By focusing on these four areas, we have been able to create a comprehensive list of functional requirements to send to vendors and a solidified image for how this system will work for the CLA’s users.

By making collections more easily browsable, the DAMS will provide massive and immediate improvements to the discovery of the CLA"s digital content. Right now, digital content is either completely sequestered onto physical flash drives attached to a collection, and therefore only findable through the finding aid, or it is part of the New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) project where content is only browsable at the website’s collection level. There is currently no way for a user to simply search our digital content. With a DAMS in place, every digital object will have its own record within the system, meaning that users will be able to search all collections at once. This will make it infinitely easier to find every instance of a material type; now, instead of having to search every individual collection for a pew deed, users will be able to get every single instance of pew deeds with a single search. Secondly, all digital content will be searchable through a faceted search system; this means that even a simple keyword search can be further refined on the fly using defined criteria such as dates, authors, or file type. Finally, the DAMS will have the capabilities to also search text within a digital object. With this new feature, if there is a transcription for that digital object, the system will be able to extend a keyword search to that transcription rather than limiting the user to just searching the record-level metadata.

A DAMS will drastically simplify the digital interface and make a lot more collections viewable. Currently, the only CLA content available online is the NEHH collection, even though NEHH does not constitute the entirety of the CLA’s digital holdings, both library and archival. The records that are available must be viewed on a separate entity from the NEHH browsing site. There is no way to browse across collections in the viewer and when viewing an object there is scant information about that item available. The DAMS will change this by embedding a file viewer directly into the object record. No more separate viewer website: users will be able to look at the object record and see all associated information, leaf through the pages of the object, and instigate another search query all in the same screen. Even more exciting, the viewer will be able to handle more than just images; text documents, video, and audio will all be able to be displayed and played within the DAMS.

Below the search queries is a second layer of topical info about a collection, metadata, with a DAMS in place we'll be able to bolster the metadata available to users and ensure that it's linked to allow users to easily spot related materials. Currently, the only metadata attached to objects is typically title, date, a scope note, and maybe information on the author if available. This information has been created outside of digital archival metadata standards, which means that the information we want to provide our users about an object cannot currently be made available. By contrast, the DAMS will have many more metadata fields (all searchable) you can expect to see fields for subjects and creators, related items, access and use note, language, file type, and location information added. Additionally, the metadata will be linked meaning that users will have immediate access to records with matching metadata. For example, if users are looking at an object, and the author is listed as Jonathan Edwards, you will be able to click the name “Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758” and bring up a list of every associated single digital object in the database.

Delivery, for this project, is the functional area related to how users can interact and use our digital content. This can cover a few things, but most exciting for our users, will be the ability to directly download files. There is no easy way for a user to download the images we provide through the NEHH viewer; it currently requires using a browser's “page info” feature. Further, there will be multiple format and resolution options when downloading files. The system will also be able to link out to licenses, such as RightsStatements.org statements or Creative Commons licenses, so that users will have a much clearer idea of how they may use the files they download.

The DAMS powerful functionality will radically change the way that users are able to interact with the CLA’s digital materials by both vastly improving current features or implementing brand new ones. The search experience will be more comprehensive, the usability of the system will be greatly simplified, and the information provided will be expanded immensely. Now that we have identified the key areas we want to improve for our users, it is time for us to start sending our   requests for proposals. Just recently we received a list of potential vendors, and we look forward to spending the summer scheduling demos and assessing each before selecting a partner. While this is a lengthy process, we want to ensure this project has careful consideration at each step of the way to ensure we can deliver on the goals and improvements outlined above.

Content:
June 2, 2020

By William McCarthy, Processing and Reference Archivist

While the staff of the CLA have been working from home, we have continued to remain engaged with our collections even while separated from them. These posts will highlight some of our smaller, relatively unused collections. Please note that the collections highlighted are not available online unless otherwise noted.

Today’s highlight is the Congregational Training School for Women. These records made their way to the Congregational Library and Archives as part of a large donation from the Chicago Theological Seminary. The collection arrived in two parts (2011 and 2014) and was fully processed in 2014. The records predominantly cover 1907-1926 when the school was active, alongside some later material that honored the death of the school’s first dean. The materials also focus on the administrative workings of the school, alumnae material, and correspondence between the school, graduates, and partners.

What exactly was the Congregational Training School for Women? It was an organization created by the efforts of many individuals working alongside the Chicago Theological Seminary and spearheaded by individuals including Ozora Stearns Davis and the eventual first dean, Florence A. Fensham. Students tended to be at least twenty-five years old, and generally from a middle-class, Midwestern background. A stipulation of entrance to the school was that students also possess a strong moral and religious character. Courses were taught under the rubric of religious, social work, and practical coursework. Some examples of practical courses included music, public speaking, arts and crafts, physical education, business skills, domestic arts, and foreign languages. At the end of their education, graduated students were sent out to become professional church workers. The first graduating class for the CTSW included five women – one became a minister of a home mission’s parish in North Dakota, two became church assistants, one worked at a settlement house, and one took a position with the Congregational Educational Society in Chicago. One interesting highlight of the collection is that the graduated students would be asked by the CTSW deans to write reviews of their new workers' education, which CTSW then used to alter or add new programs or classes.

The first dean of the school, Florence Fensham, was a fascinating individual who desired to educate women and provide them knowledge they otherwise might not have access to. Fensham began her work as the dean of an American college for girls in Constantinople. During her travels back to the United States, she would be the first woman accepted by Fisk theological seminary. She would eventually graduate from Fisk in 1902 and is considered the first female recipient of a Congregational seminary degree. Her desire to educate and prepare women for jobs is seen throughout the records, especially the documents showcasing her passion in getting the school organized. Fensham was the dean of the school until she would die in 1914, but her efforts and work would continue. The next two deans of the school were Agnes M. Taylor and Margaret M. Taylor. The records do not provide as much biographical information as it does for Fensham, but both women took on the mission of the CTSW with pride and care. The school would continue to operate until the Chicago Theological Seminary decided to allow full acceptance of women into its programs in 1926, thereby eliminating the need for a separate institution.

If you have any interest in viewing this collection once the library reopens, or you have any other CLA related questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us at ref@14beacon.org. Stay safe and have a great day!

Content:
May 28, 2020

by Tom Clark, Library Director

The staff of the Congregational Library & Archives (CLA) has been blessed with good health and plenty of work to do at home during the quarantine. You’ve been able to read wonderful stories from our collections that our Librarian, Sara Trotta and Archivists, Zachary Bodnar, William McCarthy and Jules Thomson have been spinning on the blog pages.

Today, I’m going to deliver a bit of a different message and though it will still draw from our wonderful collection – the real players will be from nature.

I live in Reading MA, typical suburbia where wildlife is typically only seen in glimpses or if you really are looking for it. However, since quarantining at home starting in mid-March, I’ve watched five new members come into our neighborhood and put smiles on everyone’s faces. A mother fox built a den under my neighbor’s shed in the cold days of March and within a month had a litter of 4 kits who soon became the talk of the town and put shows with their unbridled joy. Check out this almost nightly show we get to watch.

So, how does this tie into the CLA collection? Seems like there have been people trying to deliver the message that wildlife is a necessary part of our world and we have the books to prove it.

On our shelves is an early edition of Rev. John Toogood’s The Book of Nature. A Discourse on Some of Those Instances of the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, Which Are within the Reach of Common Observation where Toogood holds nature in Godly reverence and speaks lovingly of God’s creatures (not a commonly-held belief at the time).

We also have a copy of William Hamilton Drummond’s Humanity to Animals: the Christian’s Duty: a Discourse. Drummond was an early 19th century animal rights activist (and librarian at the Royal Irish Academy).

Lastly, we have a wonderfully illustrated copy of Wood’s Bible Animals: a Description of the Habits, Structure, and Uses of Every Living Creature Mentioned in the Scriptures where we learn that fox and jackal are often described as one and the same. My son Adam, a Wildlife Biology student at UNH, offers that this is probably a result of common species of fox in Northern Africa and the Middle East being either the Fennec Fox, Ruppell’s Fox or Blanford’s Fox and these species appear more “jackal like.” Even the Eurasian version of the Red Fox appear with less hair when in the desert.

The fox family isn’t the only member of nature putting a smile on our faces. At the CLA building on 14 Beacon St. in downtown Boston, a pair of Red-Tailed hawks have been regular patrons all Spring (on the window ledges on the Granary Burial Ground side or on our roof taking a bath). John Beattie, our building superintendent reports that the pair of hawks have a new family in their next at 25 Beacon St., and that male hawk stopped by to let us know (he must have dropped the cigars on the flight over). Here is a picture John took of the proud papa perched outside our windows.

Books owned by CLA:

Drummond, William Hamilton. Humanity to Animals the Christians Duty; a Discourse. Hunter, 1830.

Toogood, John. The Book of Nature. A Discourse on Some of Those Instances of the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, Which Are within the Reach of Common Observation. Printed by Samuel Hall, 1802.

Wood, J. G., et al. Wood's Bible Animals: a Description of the Habits, Structure, and Uses of Every Living Creature Mentioned in the Scriptures...; to Which Are Added Articles on Evolution by James McCosh ; Research and Travel in Bible Lands by Daniel March. Bradley, Garretson & Co., 1881.

Content:
May 26, 2020

by Jules Thomson, Assistant Archivist

*Content warning: this article discusses potential domestic abuse in the context of a historical court case

Some of the most colorful, subjective, and unusual New England's Hidden Histories records come from our “personal papers” series, otherwise known as Series 2. Personal papers are differentiated from the church administrative records which comprise Series 1, and the conference and non-church organizational records of Series 3.

A prime example came to us recently via our project partners at the Connecticut Historical Society: the fascinating, mystifying, and rather depressing disciplinary case records of one Mrs. Mary Tilden. The case actually involved a dispute between Mary and her husband Stephen Tilden, but, tellingly, Mary was the one on trial. The reason? She had absented herself from the marriage and fled to live with relatives.

The Tildens were members of the First Church in Lebanon, Connecticut. If you read my last blog post, A Drama In Connecticut, you might remember that this is the same church where congregants split into riotous factions and arrested each other during the infamous "Meeting House War". There must be something in the water!

Before the separation of church and state, even seemingly civil cases such as Mary's were tried by the local church committee, presided over by the minister. In this case the minister was Rev. Solomon Williams, a Harvard graduate and clergyman of some distinction in his day. According to author Emerson Davis (1798-1866) Williams “held a prominent place among the clergy of New England and had an extensive correspondence with American and European divines.”

The disciplinary case proceedings reveal that Mary had separated herself from her husband Stephen sometime before or during 1732. Marital separation was not acceptable in the eyes of the church committee, representing as it did a breaking of the couples' sacrosanct vows. The onus was consequently on Mary, the absentee, to defend her actions and offer up some reasonable excuse.

Mary's statement in her own defense claimed that her husband had “committed ye sin of fornacation [sic] with Sarah Ellis” and gave this as the reason for her alleged absenteeism. The fairly limited picture which she presents is fleshed out by witness testimony. An acquaintance of the couple, Mary Nicols, paints a disturbing picture of Stephen's potential for violence, describing an incident in which she heard him threaten to 'beat a boy’s brains out' because a part for his cart was missing. She adds:

“the little time I was there, I see him act so towards his wife and children, I thought he had ye least tenderness I ever see in any man in my life.”

The second, and only additional recorded witness, Humphrey Davenport, presents a view of Stephen so radically different from Nicols's that it seems impossible that the two witnesses are describing the same man:

“By ye singular expressions of his love and tender regards towards her, which he so variously manifested & so often repeated that during ye whole of my abode at his house I did esteem him…a real patern of conjucal love.”

The limited and contradictory evidence of the case leaves the modern reader with more questions than answers. Nicols's testimony certainly implies that Stephen was capable of violence, and yet Mary herself never mentions physical abuse as part of her plea. I found myself wondering if perceived "discipline" by the paterfamilias toward his wife and children, whether physical or verbal, was accepted to a certain degree, and consequently would hold up less well in court. Fornication, of which Mary does accuse Stephen, was considered illegal as well as sinful, and may have presented a more convincing legal argument.

In the era of #MeToo and #BelieveWomen, it's almost unthinkable to consider Mary's case without reference to feminist critique and modern awareness of spousal or intimate partner abuse. Davenport's description of Stephen as unusually demonstrative and loving, paired with the alleged outbursts witnessed by Nicols, would not be out of place in a modern profile of a charismatic abuser. But ultimately, and especially without further testimony from Mary Tilden herself, the truth behind the dramatic conflict will always remain a mystery.

In any case, Stephen Tilden was granted official leave to demand that Mary return to him. To add insult to injury, he also insisted that she publicly apologise for all the ‘trouble’ she had caused. Mary however seems to have thumbed her nose at both Stephen and Rev. Williams's demands. Her brother Joseph Fowler, with whom she had been staying, replied to a church summons in December of 1733 by claiming that his sister had recently left town. A note below his letter, probably penned by Rev. Williams, records the church's decision "to suspend the consideration of said case for some time till something farther appears."

 

Special Thanks

This digital resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Content:
May 19, 2020

Judging a book by its cover gets a bad rap, but the outside of a book can tell you a lot about the owner and the value they placed on what’s on the inside. Historically, books have been status symbols and there is virtually no end to the way they can be decorated to show off the owner’s superior taste and finances from intricate bindings made from expensive materials to decorative hardware like clasps and cornerpieces.

A book’s edges are also commonly decorated in any number of ways. They may be gilded on all sides, or only the top edge is you’re looking to impress anyone perusing your bookshelves from above while also saving a few bucks. They might be gauffered, where designs are carved into the text block. Or, they may be painted. Often, these decorative fore edge paintings are not obvious. It’s like a magic trick--they only appear when the text block is fanned out. Otherwise, when the book is closed, they look like a normal gilt edge, or maybe a slightly dirty one. We have two such examples in the library’s collection.

The first is 1798 Book of Common Prayer printed in Oxford at the Clarendon press by W. Dawson, T. Bensley, and J. Cooke (RBR 11.4.388 1798). It depicts a scene of a building (maybe Oxford?) in the background with greenery and deer in the foreground.

The second is a more recent ‘discovery’-- it’s a copy of the New Testament written in Hebrew published in London by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in 1813 (RBR 4.7.67). The painting looks like it might depict the arrival of the three Magi.  I use the word ‘discovery’ here with some mixed feelings--someone in the past had helpfully noted the fore-edge painting on the fly leaf but it had never been documented in the catalog record. We didn’t realize what we had until we were packing the books in the Rare Book Room in preparation for our renovation.

Fore-edge paintings like these were popularized in the mid-18th century and have remained popular into the modern era. Paintings commonly depicted landscapes, portraits, or religious scenes, and so the examples in our collection are typical in that respect. Paintings were added by booksellers, owners or artists themselves which accounts for the wide variety in subject matter. Paintings are created by fanning out the text block and securing it while the image is painted on. Some books have a second fore-edge painting visible when the text block is fanned out in the opposite direction.  The work is expensive and time-consuming, so it was used most commonly on books that were highly valued by their owners.

Although we have no knowledge of other paintings in the collection at this time, I don’t think finding another is outside the realm of possibility. I’m looking forward to resuming ‘the hunt’ once we can safely access our collections again.

Content:
May 15, 2020

by Zachary Bodnar, Archivist

In the information age, digitization is access.

When we digitize records, as either an individual or as an organization, we are actively deciding which materials will be more widely accessible, and to whom. Digitization is, at its heart, about providing access to the widest possible set of current and potential users. For the Congregational Library & Archives are as diverse as they come: institutionally backed researchers, family genealogists, church members, underserved populations within the Greater Boston Area, and more. Accessibility is not just about convenience – it is also about bridging the gap between historically-privileged groups with ready access to information and those who may have had minimal or no access to information. Accessibility is the key to understanding the selection and appraisal workflows within archives and correcting historical injustices found within today’s collections.

I find that there are fewer processes more fraught or stressful than appraisal within the archival workflow. New materials in hand, I am forced to ask, does this have a place within the archive – and, by extension, in the history that we make accessible to our patrons? This is the moment of most power for an archivist. We can single handedly alter the context and meaning of a collection in that moment. It is a daunting task, but it is one I often face as the archivist responsible for new acquisitions at the Congregational Library & Archives.

On their face, terms such as “appraisal” and “value” seem to have more to do with Wall Street than with the archival field. Within the archival context, appraisal is, according to the Dictionary of Archival Terms, “the process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be” added to the archive. Value, to an archivist, is “the usefulness, significance, or worth” of a record based on internal collecting policies and historical context. It is my job, when presented with new collection, to appraise records and determine whether they have value within their cultural and historical context. Only these materials of “value” will be formally archived.

If this process of deciding what pieces of our human story are of value sounds daunting (and it is!), it should be known that the CLA actually has a fairly relaxed acquisition and appraisal policy compared to other archives! That is mostly a function of the amount of materials we handle; large archives that receive many more materials must be stricter with their appraisal procedures. Still, there are times when I have to weed out materials which fall outside of our collecting purview – a print book unrelated to congregationalism or a single church bulletin without context may be among the first items to be removed from a collection. While these weeding decisions are never made lightly, and are backed by internal checks and balances, it is always difficult to throw away a recorded moment in our shared experience.

However heavy these decisions are on their own, however, their weight is magnified by the historically oppressive practices associated with archival work. The appraisal process has been used to bury and eliminate the history of marginalized and underserved groups Rarely were these appraisal processes blatantly exclusionist, but implicit biases born of the time and the archivist themselves largely resulted in today’s archives consisting predominantly of the records of white heterosexual men. Only in the last two decades has there been a growing awareness of this and active efforts undertaken to reverse this unfortunate pattern. In fact, it was only in 2010 that the Society of American Archivists added a diversity and inclusion statement into the code of ethics that archivists vow to uphold. The weight of this history bears down on all archivists and it is our duty to ensure it never happens again.

Small wonder, then, that born of all these momentous considerations comes one of the most fraught tasks of all: selecting which materials should be digitized. Selection is ostensibly the same process as appraisal; the archivist makes decisions about which materials will be digitized based on archival value. However, the cost, time, and preservation concerns associated with digitization limits the scope of any digitization project. Each time one document is digitized, it results in the delay, if not outright exclusion, of another document. This unfortunate reality, combined with the current lack of diversity within archives, can easily prolong historic exclusionary processes within the field. And the loss of digitization means the loss of information accessibility.

Increasing access must then become the guiding principal behind all selection decisions before cost and time come into consideration. The New England’s Hidden Histories is a great example of this selection criteria in action: the project began by bringing historic early-American church records, stored on site where they were minimally accessible to church members (let alone the general public), online, where they are freely available to anyone with an internet connection, either at home or at a public library. Selection will always be a balancing act between competing pressures, but keeping decisions focused on user accessibility, will help to guide selection criteria away from convenience, and aid in correcting historic injustices. When archivists focus on bridging the information gap, the documents they select for digitization are going to be those which are most inaccessible and most important for marginalized and underrepresented groups.

While there is incredible energy within the field to enact these guiding principles, there are always factors which slow down the rate of change. Issues of trust, internet access, and the outsized role academia in digital humanities are just some examples. However, the staff at the CLA are keyed into these incredibly important issues and are active participants in the dialogues taking place right now within the library and archives field. Sara Trotta’s recent work with the library collections has been foundational for these conversations. We are constantly working on improving our internal policies to ensure marginalized groups are not excluded from our records, including our digital and digitized content. The staff want to see the CLA become a leader when it comes to bridging the access gap between marginalized groups and information providers.

Content:
May 13, 2020

by William McCarthy, Processing and Reference Archivist

While the staff of the CLA have been working from home, we have continued to remain engaged with our collections even while separated from them. These posts will highlight some of our smaller, relatively unused collections. Please note that the collections highlighted are not available online unless otherwise noted.

Today’s highlight is MS1009, the Woods Family papers, 1796-1896. This collection highlights various members of the extended Woods family, starting with the marriage of Leonard Woods and Abigail Wheeler. They would have 10 children together and this collection contains letters sent between various members of the family. The most well-known of their children was their son Leonard Woods Jr., who became the 4th president of Bowdoin College. The collection highlights a large, extended family in the 19th-century and how they dealt with various events both external and internal.

Leonard Woods was born in Princeton, Massachusetts and eventually graduated from Harvard in 1796. He was ordained at Second Church of West Newbury, Massachusetts on December 5, 1798; He held onto that position until May 25, 1808 to become Professor of Theology at the Andover Theological Seminary. He played a role in founding numerous societies including the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missionaries, the American Tract Society and the American Temperance Union. While a professor at Andover he educated nearly a thousand ministerial candidates and his lectures were known for their solid content and earnest delivery. During the 1820s he had a well-known disagreement with Henry Ware, professor at Harvard. They disagreed on ideas of human nature with Ware arguing that human nature was essentially good while Woods thought humans were depraved by nature. He would also write a five-part history on the Andover Seminary which would be completed by his son Leonard Jr. His son would also write a popular translation of George Christian Knapp’s Christian Theology.

Letters in this collection are family-focused and show a tight-knit family that continued to connect with one another even while apart. For Leonard Sr., many of the letters from him are directed to his daughter Mary Smith. Many of the letters by Abigail are addressed to “our children” and show the affection and care she had for her kids. The collection also has letters from most of the Woods’ children to other members of the family. The letters in this collection can illuminate how a large family communicated across the 19th century. They discuss news, events, stories, experiences, worries, and hopes, just like families today. While physical letter-writing is not the preferred method anymore in favor of text and email, this collection shows that the content may not be all that different.

If you have any interest in viewing this collection once the library reopens, or you have any other CLA related questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us at ref@14beacon.org. Stay safe and have a great day!

Content:
May 11, 2020

by Richard Elliott: Board Chair Elect, American Congregational Association; Director of Campus Operations, Park Street Church

Miss Treadwell had all the neighborhood kids over every Saturday to eat popcorn and watch movies— bonafide films from the library—on a projector that we used to fight to help her thread through the gates and sprockets.  Unlike our parents, she was always happy to see us with a cookie jar that was perpetually, magically full.  Years after she passed, I learned from my mother about the pain that Miss Treadwell experienced in her life.  The bigger, and not better, portion of her years were spent in bitter alcoholism where she lost friends, family, and entire years.  Somehow, thankfully, she found both recovery and faith and was guided by the poem, The Waking, by Theodore Roethke, which goes in part—

I wake to find, and take my waking slow
I learn by going where I have to go.

These days, we are all learning by going where we have to go, and it doesn’t feel entirely pleasant either.  The norms and comforts of our habits and traditions are disrupted and shaken, and we all wonder when we get back to normal after Covid 19…what will “normal” look like?  At Park Street Church, just around the corner from the Congregational Library and Archives, our 890 person sanctuary has turned into (of all things) a “production studio” where small numbers of appropriately socially distancing ministers, musicians, and choristers, gather to worship to a (thankfully) much larger streaming congregation.  The chat feature on the sidebar of the YouTube stream lights up at one particular point in the service:

…peace of Christ- Everybody.
…peace to you- wish I was there!
…peace of Christ.  I’m in Turkey right now, worshipping with you.

Passing the peace of Christ has gone virtual.  We are learning by going where we have to go, indeed.

We also learn, however, by discovering where others before us have gone; for example, a good friend and former Director of the Congregational Library, Margaret Bendroth, calls this engagement the “spiritual practice of remembering.”  And, when tired of swiping from our news feed, to Instagram, to Facebook, and back again while riding a dull carousel of boredom, we can remember that there is an entire world at our fingertips at 14 Beacon Street.  These archives can uplift and enrich us with a perspective, wisdom, and comfort where all the social media in the world will never scratch the surface.

The main perspective is simply this: the unsettling world of pandemics, contagion, and economic turmoil where we find ourselves is hardly “new” news.  The veneer that has been stripped away to expose our fragile mortality, which we are all seeing in technicolor through our news feeds today, was in fact a constant companion of life in the 1700s and 1800s.  In the Congregational Library and Archives’ New England Hidden Histories, one page of church records from the Byfield Parish Church heartbreakingly records the deaths of 11 different children in the congregation due to such maladies as “throat distemper,” or simply a vague “sudden illness”… and this all on one page.  Faith was not merely a comforting blanket; rather, it was a life preserver that our forefathers and foremothers clung to for dear life… as should we.

We are also learning that there is much encouragement to be gleaned in these trying times.  Last week, Park Street Church spent the week discussing how to meet the desperate and daunting challenges facing the homeless in our community.  By trying to find a way to respond in a meaningful way in the face of such need, I was encouraged by a church member who lived 160 years earlier.  In 1859, Senior Pastor Dr. Silas Aiken, who was able to choose from any number of illustrious members to pay tribute to for the church’s semicentennial, honored Mr. George Homer “which called out such an affecting demonstration of esteem on the part of crowds of the poor, and those in humble conditions in life, whom he had relieved or assisted in ways unsuspected by the world.”  Likewise, Jesus reminded his disciples that the poor would always be with us; but seeing how our church’s history has always been marked by acts of benevolence and charity, I was encouraged to think about the legacy that our churches should be leaving as I perused our archives.

In our Pre-Covid 19 culture, it was not a cognitive leap to suggest that the world was becoming more insular, less connected, more narcissistic, and vapid… what we needed most was to turn off the computer and get outside.  Consider then the irony of Coronavirus as we were asked to turn to technology more, stay indoors, and rely on the internet for education, familial and social connections.  Perhaps the better part of learning “by going where we have to go” lies in realizing that our amazing history has not been tried and found wanting—maybe it just needed to be tried.

In the past weeks, I have taken the opportunity to read testimonies of faith, and pour over journals, sermons, and church histories; real hours have been spent wandering the virtual stacks of the Congregational Library and Archives.  I have been encouraged, uplifted, and instructed, and I am grateful.

Content:
May 7, 2020

by Jules Thomson

Move over, Tiger King. There's a new cathartic docu-drama for these pandemic times, and it's called: Congregational Meeting House Location Disputes! (we're still workshopping the title).

What better way to escape our current worst timeline than full immersion into the bitter, decades-long rivalries of New England townsfolk upset about the location of their meeting houses? And when I say upset, I mean full on, mobs-fighting-in-the-streets upset.

This Reality-TV worthy material comes to us from the New England Hidden Histories program. In the last few weeks my work with NEHH has revolved around digitized materials from our partners at the Connecticut Historical Society, and in particular the collections of the First Congregational Churches in Durham and Lebanon, CT (Lebanon is still pending publication). While describing the documents for public consumption, I was surprised to see how much of both church's records were taken up with fierce battles over the location of their meeting houses.

There is already a lot of drama in our collections at large - a sizeable portion of NEHH records consist of documents generated in the course of disputes, whether on behalf of an entire church, a subset of aggrieved bretheren, or an individual congregant or minister. (I choose to interpret this plethora of argumentative material as a consequence of the denomination's robust mediation and appellate processes, rather than evidence of a particular orneriness on the part of Congregationalists themselves - though actual congregants may beg to differ).

Even within this context, however, the protracted and sometimes explosive battles in Durham and Lebanon stand out. When I initially looked over the Durham First records, I thought the frequent references to "Northerners" and "Southerners" had something to do with the Civil War. While it actually had nothing to do with the national conflict, it was indeed a civil war on a local scale. Lebanon's dramatic dispute also tellingly became known to history as "the Meeting House War".

Both the Durham and Lebanon "wars" had a similar catalyst; a previous meeting house building had become untenable (in Durham's case, it was destroyed by fire), and the situation stoked pre-existing tensions over the building's location. And the real issue in both cases, besides time spent travelling to and fro, was money. Members who were far removed from the meeting house resented having to pay for the repair or replacement of a structure on the same inconvenient spot.

In Durham, the argument was between residents living north and south, respectively, of the central "Mill Bridge" in the mid-1800s. When their third meeting house burned down in November of 1844, subscriptions were immediately raised for its replacement. However, a dispute soon arose over whether to build on the former site or to move it north, with factions forming on both sides. Among many records produced as part of the ensuing arguments, one letter by the southern faction, written for the benefit of the First Church at large, accused the northerners of inciting prejudice:

"the members of your Church and Society, residing south of your impassable gulf, would represent that the proceedings of many of the members residing north of the gulf by influencing the committee in their decision in locating the meeting-house, were fallacious, and unexpected from the followers of him whose character was without guile."

the authors conclude with the ominous warning:

"do not drive us to a step which we must take to ward off a greater evil."

The conflict eventually resulted in the separation of the First Church and Society into separate North Congregational and South Congregational churches in Durham by 1850.

This schism, as traumatic as it must have been at the time, was a far happier result than what occurred in Lebanon. Their Meeting House War began in 1724, when the Society voted to replace the former building, and lasted a whopping eight decades. Residents living north of the historic town center (amusingly referred to as "the Village People") were eager to move the building closer to what had become, effectively, the new parish center. However, a somewhat murky "ancient agreement" from Lebanon's foundation had stipulated that the building could never be moved from its location on the town common. Upon a major renewal of hostilities in 1772, the southerners enlisted some of the oldest town residents, who remembered "the ancient agreement" firsthand, to testify to its legality.

Meanwhile, the old meeting house was in a sorry state, and each round of repairs fostered new conflicts over who would pay for them. After decades of infighting, in which the Connecticut General Assembly was frequently called on to intervene, a concillatory agreement was reached in 1804. It was decided that the old meeting house should be disassembled and relocated to the north. However, when southern residents saw their beloved church under the hammer, they formed a mob and arrested the workmen who were attempting to demolish the structure. According to D. Hamilton Hurd in his History of New London County, Connecticut:

"A large crowd assembled from every quarter, with mingled emotions of grief and anger so highly excited, as to forebode actual violence."

This was followed in the ensuing days by a rallying of the northerners, who formed their own mob and arrested any southerners trying to prevent the demolition.

After multiple lawsuits in which both sides sued each other for damages incurred in the riots, the state's "Supreme Court of Errors" finally ruled in favor of the southerners, and the First Congregational Church in Lebanon is, to this day, situated at the town common as the "ancient agreement" intended.

 

Special Thanks

This digital resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Content:
May 4, 2020

When you tell someone you’re a librarian, it’s only a matter of time before you hear a Dewey Decimal joke. Surer than the sun rising in the east, or people’s eyes beginning to glaze over when I tell them that, actually(!), Dewey Decimal is only one of many classification systems, and isn’t usually found outside schools or small public libraries. The Congregational Library, for instance, has its own bespoke way of classifying books. A recent deep dive into our collection has resulted in taking a much closer look at our classification scheme and its quirks. I’ve come to know it intimately the way you know an old house. Because you’ve lived inside it, leaky roof, drafty windows and all. I’d like to offer a glimpse behind the curtain.

Most classification schemes used in academic or public libraries are designed to describe and organize the whole of human knowledge--a lofty goal! The parameters of the CLA’s collection are far narrower, and so while our classification scheme doesn’t need to be quite so expansive, it does need to allow our patrons to find the very specific things they’re looking for, such as sermons about murders and dueling or the histories of small churches in New England. Dewey is simply not up to the task. As far as anyone can tell, our classification scheme began with the library. Librarians tend to be inveterate record keepers, but unfortunately any documentation about how our classification scheme came to be or changes that have been made over time were either not recorded or have been lost. What that means is that when I go through the collection now, a large part of my job is imagining what some long-gone previous cataloger was thinking.

The CLA’s classification scheme is an artifact in and of itself. The particular language choices and ideas about how things are organized in relation to one another reveals a lot about the worldview of whoever first created it. In the American history section, I was amused to find material about the Civil War described as “the War of Southern Rebellion”. As someone who grew up watching an irate Yosemite Sam insist it should be called “the War betwixt the states”, this was a nice counterpoint. Of course, when you take into account Congregationalists’ historical support for abolition, this makes sense. Some peculiarities are mostly a testament to inertia. Also within the American history section, we have material on the states arranged alphabetically across four sections; however, many books on the history of Hawaii are actually found under a fifth section, the one for U.S. territories. Hawaii hadn’t yet become a state when the scheme was created, and these books were never reclassified (more recently published books on Hawaii are classified correctly). Because our stacks are closed, correct classification is generally less important than robust description which allows material to be found by patrons in our online catalog. Since these books have always been findable, I can see why other projects were prioritized ahead of correcting these errors, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be changed going forward. To leave material on Hawaii in this section for the past 60 years is to reinforce the idea of it as different from other states, something fundamentally ‘other’.

Sometimes, it takes a bit of research to understand the scheme’s peculiarities. Before restructuring our section about non-religious societies, I was confused to find that the section about Freemasons listed material on the Klu Klux Klan as a subset. After a bit of digging, I learned about a pervasive conspiracy theory that the KKK was founded as a wing or reincarnation of the Freemasons. Given that most of our Freemason material is actually ANTI Freemason material (and one very interesting 18th century pamphlet about the illuminati), it would appear that some mysterious past cataloger fully bought into that particular conspiracy theory. The section on Roman Catholicism is similarly reflective of the historic prejudice and mistrust Congregationalists felt towards them. It is divided into two sections, “general” and “controversial” works, but one is equally likely to find explicit anti-Catholic sentiment in either.

These quirks give us a glimpse into the mind of those who created the classification scheme and how they saw Congregationalism in relation to the rest of the world (and vice versa) and for that reason they are worth documenting. It’s also proof that the ways in which we organize information are only as neutral as we make them. Some of the language and organizational choices here may seem like humorous anachronisms, but leaving these descriptions unexamined and un-updated reinforces the same biases in place when they were created. When we are classifying material as ‘controversial’ or looking at which changes have been prioritized and which haven’t, it behooves the librarians and archivists on staff to ask ourselves “why” and make those things clear. As our classification scheme is rewritten and language is updated, we will strive to do better by correcting historical biases while preserving them in historical notes so that the information they convey won’t be lost to time. This work is on going, and the librarians and archivists on staff in the future will certainly be making similar changes years from now.

Content:
May 1, 2020

by Zachary Bodnar, Archivist

Adapted from a recent article that appeared in the CLA’s monthly newsletter.

The current lockdown caused by the coronavirus may have shuttered the Congregational Library & Archives’ physical space, but it certainly has not stopped the staff from looking towards the CLA’s future. This is especially true on the digital side of things where there is plenty of exciting movement happening even as our weekly meetings have migrated to Zoom and much of our work has focused on metadata stored in the cloud. Digitization and born-digital collections have been very much at the forefront of our thoughts recently. First, three members of the CLA’s staff, Jules Thomson, Tom Clark, and Zachary Bodnar, were able to attend the virtual version of Digital Commonwealth’s annual conference in April. And beyond that, the CLA staff have recently partnered with AVP to bring proper access to the CLA’s digital holdings.

Digital Commonwealth is a non-profit collaborative digital library organization that “provides resources and services to support the creation, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives.” Each year Digital Commonwealth hosts a conference where library, archives, and museum professionals can come together to share their digitization projects and discuss varied topics related to digitization. This year the conference was held on April 7 and the bulk of the conference was devoted to the ethics of digitization and social justice. The conference began with Elaine Westbrooks’ (University Librarian, UNC Chapel Hill) keynote discussing the pervasive systems of inequality which have led to racial disparities in the preserved record. In order to correct these systematic issues, Westbrooks encouraged conference attendees to reflect on our organizations and identify how we have contributed to exclusion, both historically and currently. The theme of self-examination continued through discussions on privacy concerns, content warnings, use of language, and how to identify and create projects that promote diversity. Some of those projects that were highlighted throughout the day included the Visibility for Disability Project out of UMass Amherst, a digital history of Chinese students at the Phillips Academy, and various projects devoted to LGBTQ+ history.

The CLA is not immune to the need to self-reflect. New England’s Hidden Histories has been, to date, the largest sustained digitization project undertaken by the CLA. While the project has been able to uncover and capture some of the history of Congregationalists of color, the fraught history of slavery and New England churches, and the history of relations between European colonists and Native Americans, the very nature of the records in question ensures that the NEHH project cannot capture the type of diversity that Westbrooks and others argue we must begin actively seeking out and making accessible. NEHH is an incredibly important digitization project, and there is little chance that the momentum we’ve built up over the years with the project will let up, but there will be conversations going forward about how we at the CLA can expand the scope and breadth of the project in the coming years. The CLA also recognizes that it holds within its collections important records related to marginalized groups and it will be necessary to bring these collections to the forefront in the immediate future. For example, the CLA’s vast missionary records, while often problematic and colonialist, can also be used to give voices to minority populations and restore their place properly within Congregationalist history. And the CLA holds records important to understanding the impact LGBTQ+ individuals have had on Congregationalism through our Open and Affirming Coalition collection and the papers of Robert Wood, a WWII veteran, gay clergyman, and author of “Christ and the Homosexual.” Making these valuable collections widely available through digitization efforts will be incredibly important for the CLA as an organization moving forward.

The good news is that the CLA is also currently working on the infrastructure necessary to truly operate a robust and standards-focused digital archive. The CLA has recently begun to work with AVP, a consulting and software development house focusing on the management and preservation of digital materials with an eye towards the needs of cultural institutions, to find and begin implementing a digital asset management system (DAMS).
Digital asset management systems come in many shapes and forms, but at their most basic function, they allow an organization to manage, organize, and share digital materials. DAMS have increasingly become an important part of how libraries and archives deliver their digital content to their users. To give an idea of what these systems can look like, you need look no further than the likes of Digital Commonwealth and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). These digital libraries, and many like them, run off a highly specialized and powerful DAMS built specifically for libraries and archives.

While we do not yet know what specific DAMS the CLA will end up with, that is what AVP is for after all, we do have some idea of how this will change and improve everyone’s ability to find and interact with our digital materials. Long gone will be the days of browsing through our website to find an item digitized as part of the NEHH program. Instead each digital object, such as a volume, will be independently searchable through a robust faceted search system that will allow users to refine by keywords, dates, creators, and more. The NEHH viewer will also be replaced by this DAMS with a built-in media viewer that will be able to handle multi-page volumes on top of audio, text, and video files. Users will also be able to download access copies of most digital files directly from the online record. And the system will expose the CLA to many new users; metadata from our DAMS will be harvestable and searchable by larger systems like the DPLA and Digital Commonwealth so their users will also ultimately become our users.

Overall, the DAMS will make the CLA’s digital files more accessible than ever before. Most immediately this will affect the CLA’s NEHH content, as that is the biggest source of digital content right now. But a DAMS will also open many new avenues of collecting for the CLA. Born digital content created by churches and individuals are already collected by the CLA, but currently we have little way of making these files accessible to users except by providing them in person through a USB device. With a DAMS in place, the CLA will be able to make these born digital materials available to all without the hindrances of physical and technical restrictions. Further, this system will allow us to more proactively collect digital content from churches and individuals shortly after the creation of that digital material. For example, the CLA is currently planning on soon directly collecting church records and digital content, such as streamed services and sermon texts, created in direct response to this COVID-19 crisis and the DAMS is already a vital part of that plan.

There is lots of work to be done yet to prepare the CLA for the digital future, but we are already actively doing that work. We are having the tough internal discussions regarding how the CLA can ensure equitable access to our collections and diversity in the voices represented within our collections, digital and physical. And we have just completed phase one of our work with AVP to develop a requirements short-list which we can present to potential DAMS providers. There is much to be excited about regarding the digital future of the CLA and while it may be somewhat premature, I am confident that we will make heavy strides towards that vision within the next year.

Content:
April 29, 2020

by William McCarthy, Processing and Reference Archivist

While the staff of the CLA have been working from home, we have continued to remain engaged with our collections even while separated from them. These posts will highlight some of our smaller, relatively unused collections. Please note that the collections highlighted are not available online unless otherwise noted.

Today’s highlight is collection number MS0087, the William A. Hallock journal, 1822-1823. Mr. Hallock was an agent of the New England Tract Society and the journal highlights his time working for them between September 1822 and September 1823. The New England Tract Society was formed in 1814 with the goal “...to promote the interests of vital godliness and good morals, by the distribution of such Tracts, as shall be calculated to receive the approbation of serious Christians of all denominations”.(1) They sold tracts across the country and also had yearly and lifetime memberships. The organization decided to formally change its name in 1823 to the American Tract Society. In 1825, the New York-based Religious Tract Society called for a national American Tract Society; the formation of that society happened the same year. During his time working with these organizations, Mr. Hallock served as a Corresponding Secretary for the New England Tract Society and as a member of the American Tract Society’s Publishing Committee. (2)

Our collection contains a single journal from William A. Hallock which chronicles his work for the society between 1822-1823. The journal indicates that his job took him to various towns within New England in order to sell tracts, promote society subscriptions, and occasionally preach. The journal itself is organized into 5 columns throughout, though he does stop filling in some of the columns starting in May 1823. The columns included the date, his location, a description of his day, the miles he traveled, and the amount of money he made. From May-September 1823, Mr. Hallock switches to talking mainly about his day and indicates the date. The journal’s overall impression is that Mr. Hallock traveled extensively and was highly dedicated to both the New England Tract Society and American Tract Society.

Mr. Hallock’s travels took him to towns across New England and the journal takes a few “breaks” to tally his travels within a particular time frame. One such example can be found on page 19 of the journal where he comments “Thus in 17 days, I have travelled 383 miles mostly on foot, and collected $434.45. It has been me breaking up of spring, and I ought to be thankful that I am still in health. Expenses have been $13!!!!!!!” This statement is striking on multiple fronts as his numbers would indicate he walked an average of 22 miles a day and collected an average of $25 dollars of subscriptions a day, all while keeping his expenses under a dollar a day. His efficiency is certainly something to admire and his journal entries indicate nearly every action he undertook in that period. The historical value of Mr. Hallock’s journal is multifaceted and can inform us on the state of economics, travel, salesmanship, and more in 1822-1823 New England.

A link to the catalog record for this collection can be found here. If you have any interest in viewing this collection once the library reopens, or you have any other CLA related questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us at ref@14beacon.org. Stay safe and have a great day!

Sources:

1. S.J. Wolfe, “Dating American Tract Society Publications Through 1876 from External Evidences,” last modified 2001, https://www.americanantiquarian.org/node/6693#1.

2. “A Brief History of the American Tract Society, Instituted in Boston, 1814, and Its Relations to the American Tract Society at New York, instituted 1825.” MSU Libraries, 1857, https://archive.lib.msu.edu/AFS/dmc/ssb/public/all/briefhistory/brie.html

Content:
April 1, 2020

by Jules Thomson, Assistant Archivist

Elder bark, succory root, rum, madeira, turpentine, quicksilver, hog’s lard, white lead, clove oil…

Snake oil cures for Covid-19? No, but good guess. These are some ingredients from medical “recipes” compiled in the mid-18th century by Congregational minister Ebenezer Parkman. Rev. Parkman, a Harvard graduate who resided mainly in Westborough, Mass., is most historically notable for the detailed diaries which he kept throughout his life. He also amassed a large amount of documentary material in the course of his daily affairs which provide a fascinating window into life in New England in the 1700s.

Separate collections of these materials are held across several cultural institutions including the Congregational Library & Archives, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Westborough Public Library. The Congregational Library & Archives digitized many of his personal and professional paper as a part of the New England Hidden Histories project, resulting in the confederation of physically disparate records, all of which can be found here.

Rev. Parkman’s medical remedies, for ailments as diverse as consumption [tuberculosis], dropsy [edema], jaundice, epilepsy, worms, lock-jaw, sore nipples, and “great fatigue” are kept in loosely bound notebooks and at first glance appear to be culinary recipes. At the time there was little distinction between the two, and indeed most manuscript cookbooks before the 20th century were interspersed with such remedies, many of which utilized common kitchen ingredients.

The notes comprise headings with the name of the particular ailment, followed by lists of ingredients and (often, but not always) relative amounts of each, and dosage instructions. The general sense is of a running roster of treatments jotted down as and when Rev. Parkman read or heard about them, creating a primitive version of a family first aid book – and he was indeed a family man, with no less than 16 children by his two wives, Mary Champney (d. 1736) and Hannah Breck, though as was common at the time, many of their offspring did not survive into adulthood.

Some of Rev. Parkman’s accumulated treatments seem to be derived from personal acquaintances or at least area locals, as in this fascinating account:

“Mr. Joseph Jacobs of Mansfield was cured of [scrofula] by a powder given him by an Indian at Middletown in Connecticut, which he has great reason to think was the root of meadow violet dried and pulverized”

Others are copied from newspapers, magazines, and similar publications:

“Frost Bitten: Fat of a dunghill fowl; rub the place affected with it morn and evening over a warm fire, and wrap it up with a piece of woolen cloth well greased with the said fat. It soon cures. See Boston Evening Post for January 21, 1765.”

“Against worms – White lead and linseed oil wonderfully cured a boy. See London Magazine for Aug. 1759.”

Locally-sourced remedies came to the fore during the Great Throat Distemper, a devastating outbreak of what was probably diphtheria. The Distemper ravaged most of New England from 1735 onwards, causing widespread childhood mortality. No less than three separate treatments for ‘the terrible & mortal throat disease’ are evidenced in Rev. Parkman’s papers. One is sourced “from Timothy Bryant in Middleborough” and one copied from The Boston Evening Post. The remedies contain a number of prescriptions almost guaranteed to make the condition worse, including ingesting mercury, bleeding the child “from under the tongue”, and induced vomiting. The third recipe (unattributed) also adds the unfortunate addendum: “in the beginning of the distemper use a plaster of dog’s dung & honey on the outside of the throat”.

It gets worse. Parkman goes on to note, for instance, that “The blood of a pigeon is a most excellent remedy in all wounds & contusions of the eyes” and blithely suggests, as a treatment for consumption, “The herb foxglove. Make a decoction in water or wine or half water half wine for ordinary drink.” (No dosage instructions are mentioned, which is rather unfortunate given the plant’s potentially deadly toxicity.)

It’s tempting to poke fun at the ignorance of our predecessors– something I admit I have done on many occasions, even as a trained historian. But Ebenezer Parkman and his contemporaries had no knowledge of germ theory, and limited understanding of sanitation and immunity. Inoculation, a precursor to vaccination, was controversially promoted in North America as early as the 17th century, by learned men such as the Rev. Cotton Mather, but medical science and epidemiology still had a long way to go.

Nowadays, we certainly don’t have the same excuse – but our supposedly rational modern society hasn’t yet eliminated the spread of medically unsound advice and snake oil salesmanship. Collodial silver, which sounds very much like something that might be included in one of Rev. Parkman’s medical recipes, was just proposed as a cure for the novel coronavirus by US televangelist Jim Bakker. Popular conspiracy theorist Alex Jones promoted the use of a toothpaste containing the same substance. Perhaps he could compliment his newly patented ‘paste with Rev. Parkman’s 1764 instructions on how to make and use a toothbrush:

“A Butcher’s skewer or the wood with which they are made, must be bruised a bit at the end, till with a little use it will become the softest and best brush for this purpose. Cleanse your teeth with this brush alone – only about once in a fortnight, not oftener, dip your skewer-brush into a few grains of gun-powder breaking them with the brush – wash the mouth well after the operation.”

Some of the alleged “cures” for Covid-19 being bandied about on social media are relatively benign, and perhaps even promote a modicum of wellbeing, though they are certainly no cure - garlic, hot baths, and “drinking lots of water”, for instance. Many of Parkman’s remedies are similarly innocuous, if ineffective, and in some cases sound downright pleasant to consume, such as this recipe “against weakness with a cough”:

One pound of raisins

½ pound figs

½ ounce liquorice

¼ ounce cloves beat up with a pound of sugar into a conserve

2 or 3 times a day

Never mind that sugar is likely an immunosuppressant - as is alcohol, frequently suggested as a recipe additive in Parkman’s notes, mainly in the form of wine and rum; one hopes that placebo effect was able to at least partially compensate.

However, you may well point to the horrifying addition of (among other things) “white lead” and “mercurial ointment” to some of Parkman’s recipes, as evidence of our ancestors’ laughable ignorance. But lo, what’s this from BBC news, March 8, 2020?

“YouTuber Jordan Sather, who has many thousands of followers across different platforms, has been claiming that a "miracle mineral supplement", called MMS, can "wipe out" coronavirus. It contains chlorine dioxide - a bleaching agent."

Turns out, we have a lot more in common with Rev. Parkman and his contemporaries than we might like to imagine. But we also have many more advantages: global epidemiology experts and advisors, a public health infrastructure with trained medical personnel, scientists working around the clock, and, despite some notable exceptions, a populace which is much better informed than they would have been 250 years ago. Still, I can think of no better time to meditate on the lessons of history, to look to our predecessors for perspective, insights into the peril of disease, and sometimes, warnings about “what not to do”.

 

 Links to primary documents:

loosely bound notebook of medical recipes and remedies, 1768-1771

notebook of various medical recipes, circa 1772

recipe for throat distemper, undated

 

Special Thanks

This digital resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Content:
March 18, 2020

by Sara Trotta, Librarian

As we smile and wave to our neighbors from a respectable 6 foot’s distance before returning home to furiously wash our hands and anxiously wait for the next press conference, it may be comforting to remember that social distancing to brace ourselves against the spread of a global pandemic is nothing new.

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918, otherwise known as the Spanish flu1, was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. It infected 27% of the world’s population and resulted in the deaths of 50 million people. To slow the spread of the virus, public gatherings were discouraged. Schools, theatres and even churches were closed.

Across the country, churches closed either voluntarily or by order of the local government to contain the spread of the disease and, to use more modern parlance, “flatten the curve”. Some congregations refused to comply until police intervened while others moved services outdoors so church-goers could keep their distance. In the Congregational Library’s collection we have Seven Little Messages: Written during the Churchless Sundays of the influenza, for Utahns, through the Salt Lake Tribune by the Rev. Peter A. Simpkin of Phillips Congregational Church. Initially these messages, stand-ins for a regular sermon, were circulated weekly in the newspaper while churches were closed in the Fall of 1918.

On the topic of social distancing, Rev. Simpkin offers these thoughts: “That scourge that dims today the altar lights and closes the doors of God’s house offers to us a singular opportunity. In the midst of the home peace, where the dear ones gather, the compulsory apartness should be a thing of blessedness. Out of the quiet should rise to bless every home in the city some truths alike for comfort and consecration.”

He is speaking explicitly about the coming end of World War I and the hope that some time for quiet contemplation will allow people to feel grateful for peace and the sacrifices made to make it possible. Our present moment is not quite the same, and it might be difficult to feel blessed when your neighbors have hoarded all of the toilet paper in a 10 mile radius.

At this moment, it feels like a very fine line to walk between entertaining and informative and dismissive of the justified fear and uncertainty so many people are experiencing right now. The existence of this pamphlet is proof of the lengths people will go to reach out to one another in the face of isolation. These efforts towards connection may look quite different today--in neighbors coordinating sing-alongs from their windows or houses of worship live-streaming their weekly services--but the impulse is the same.

The staff at the library are grateful we are able to continue much of our work remotely. We’re here to answer your questions and we very much hope you reach out.


It became known as the Spanish flu because the earliest reports of the infection came from Spain. Spain had remained neutral during World War I which allowed them to report on the spread of the infection unencumbered by the wartime censorship in place in other countries.

Content:
February 3, 2020

Sarah Vowell's The Wordy ShipmatesIt should come as no surprise that when librarians (and archivists) want to learn more about something, they hit the books. In order to deepen our knowledge of the collection, the CLA staff has resolved to start 2020 off by reading and discussing one book a month related to the collection and our work within it.

We eased into this with our first book club pick, The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell, who you might know from NPR’s This American Life, or as the voice of Violet in The Incredibles. In her characteristic arch style, Vowell introduces us to Boston’s Puritan forebears, led by John Withrop, and the ways in which the ethos of this group still impacts us today.

Vowell places heavy emphasis on Winthrop’s sermon, “On Christian Charity” which famously calls on those in the colony to establish “a city on a hill”, an image which has echoed through American culture. In many ways, this speech prefigures the best and the worst of the Puritans and of us, at once “yoked together” and committed to mutual aid and also chosen by God to serve as an example to others, and therefore above reproach.  Rather than revert to tired stereotypes of stodgy Puritans, Vowell imbues these complex historical figures--John Winthrop, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson--with humanity. She describes them lovingly, but doesn’t shy away from criticism. There’s a lesson here about how we can approach the discussion of more complicated aspects of material in our collection.

Throughout the book, Vowell weaves history with her contemporary experience of it, describing her visits to our neighbors, the MA State Archives and the Massachusetts Historical Society,  and the Pequot History museum in Connecticut. She sheds light on a period of history often glossed over in textbooks and history class and describes the complicated conflicts of religion between the Boston colonists and others, and all of the factors that preceded King Philip’s War.

After finishing Wordy Shipmates, staff have come away with a better understanding of who the Puritans were (even those of us who grew up in close proximity to the Mayflower waterslide), a deeper understanding of parts of American history that are often glossed over in school and the ways material in our collection ties into these stories and how we can share them in a way that’s both engaging and informative.

Our February read will be The Book: a History of the Bible by Christopher De Hamel.

Content:
December 1, 2019

by Debbie Gline Allen

Many thanks to Debbie Gline Allen for this endorsement of “Plymouth’s Pilgrims,” which we’re re-posting. She’s the author of the “youth version” of the study guide – also available on our website.

When Margaret (Peggy) Bendroth, the Executive Director of the Congregational Library and Archives, approached me last winter about writing youth materials to honor the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower on this continent, I was not exactly sure how I felt about the project. While I love learning interesting facts about our history, and I come from an ancestry that dates back to the next boat after the Mayflower, our United Church of Christ values of justice and concern for all of God’s children caused me to pause before accepting her request.

What do we do with the parts of our history that include colonialism and slavery? How should we feel about what happened, and continues to happen, with the peoples who first inhabited this land? Is it even possible to offer reparations or find ways to turn back what was considered progress, but diminished the rights of non-white people?

Listening to Peggy talk about history — the fact that we can’t change history, but we can learn from it — caused me to realize that we have an opportunity and an obligation here after 400 years. And our shared love of history inspired me to offer our teenagers a way to wrestle with our congregational history and allow it to inform the way they live their lives today. We challenge them to look at the past in order to make good judgements for the present, and the future.

I am pleased to let you know that these resources are now available to download for free. Click here  to locate Plymouth’s Pilgrims: Their Church, Their World, and Ours. There is a link to the Adult Discussion Guide, and another link to the Youth Discussion Guide. While it is critical that the leaders who offer these materials to teens read the Adult Discussion Guide, I have some colleagues who believe that adults should engage in the activities recommended for the youth!

As you make your plans for the year 2020, consider adding this study to your calendar. It is perfect for Confirmation programs, and would only be enhanced by an intergenerational learning experience for both adults and teens together.

There are four sessions:

They Were One Body In Christ
They Were People of the Book
They Were Colonists; They Were Colonizers
They Were Congregationalists

Each session opens with an engaging history of the session focus, beautifully written by Linda Smith Rhoads, the Editor Emerita of The New England Quarterly: A Historical Review of New England Life and Letters. Key players, both European and Wampanoag, are introduced alongside essential understandings about the influences of the day that made them who they were. This is followed by four discussion questions that engage both scripture and reflections on how these events compare to who we are today and the choices we make as people of faith. In the youth materials, the history is presented as readers’ theater, storytelling, or a choral reading. This is then followed by four or five learning activities — from word clouds to prayers and from discussion questions to creating memes.

Incorporating these resources into your congregation’s learning environments will be a great way to celebrate and learn from the courage and insights of our ancestors — both European and Native American. I invite you to be transformed!

Debbie Gline Allen is the part-time Christian Education & Youth Ministry Consultant for the Massachusetts Conference United Church of Christ.

Content:
January 17, 2019

The Congregational Library & Archives will be closed this coming Monday, January 21st, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

All of our online resources will be available as usual. If you have questions for the staff, please send an email or leave a voicemail, and we will get back to you when we return to the office next week.

Content:
December 5, 2018

We are excited to announce the arrival of newly digitized documents in our New England's Hidden Histories program, brought to you in partnership with the historic First Church in Natick. Materials digitized while on loan from the church have been added to our existing Natick First collection page, which previously only included the earliest church record book, dating from 1721-1794.

The new digital accrual has allowed us to feature later records of the church and associated documents including eighteenth-century sermons and correspondence. The historical note has also been expanded to elucidate the tumultuous and often racially-charged fluctuations in church membership and affiliation throughout Natick’s three-hundred-year history. Of particular note are the forced removals of early Indigenous parishioners to Deer Island during King Philip’s War in 1675, and a schism in 1798 which largely resulted in the segregation of whites and Native congregants into two different localities, both of which retained the designation of Natick First.

 

Natick, Mass. First Congregational Church

Known contemporaneously as a "Praying Indian" community, the town and church of Natick came about in 1651 as a result of the missionary efforts of Rev. John Eliot, who sought to convert local Native populations to Christianity, famously publishing an Algonquin-language translation of the English Bible with the assistance of a Montaukett interpreter. The new converts were mainly members of the Massachusett tribe, whose territory had encompassed the Massachusetts Bay area before the upheavals brought about by European immigration. Together with white and black members they formed a diverse congregation based in old South Natick, which persisted until the beginning of the nineteenth century with the removal of the fourth meetinghouse to the increasingly segregated Natick Center. The digital collections include the earliest church records (1721-1794), associated eighteenth-century correspondence and sermons, as well as a record book (1802-1833) and financial records (1822-1862) from the "Center" division of the church after the 1798 split.

 
Content:
November 15, 2018

These new collections in our New England's Hidden Histories program are provided in partnership with the New England Historic Genealogical Society. They comprise notes for eighteenth-century sermons preached by four New England Congregationalist ministers, all of whom originally hailed from Massachusetts. Two of the collections (Rev. Eells's and Rev. Parsons's) contain only a single sermon, while the other two are more comprehensive. The quality of the notes varies widely depending on their author, since they weren't intended for posterity. While some, such as Rev. John Hooker's, generally include dates of preaching and location information, others comprise hastily-written outlines without identifying headings. Each collection offers unique insights into sermon content, as well as the drafting and writing process.

 

John White's sermons

Rev. John White (1677-1760) was a Harvard graduate ordained in 1703, serving as minister to the First Church of Gloucester, Mass. until his death. He was married three times; his second wife was the widowed Abigail Blake (née Mather), daughter of Rev. Increase Mather. This small volume of loose papers contains fragmentary notes on sermons preached by Rev. White in Gloucester, Mass.

Nathaniel Eells's sermon

Rev. Nathaniel Eells graduated from Harvard in 1728 and became the minister of the East Congregational Church in Stonington, Connecticut in 1733. He was the son of Rev. Nathaniel Eells, Sr. of Scituate, Mass., and was evidently visiting his father's parish when he delivered this single Thanksgiving sermon on November 13, 1740. His chosen verse text was Ephesians 5:20: "giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ".

Moses Parsons's sermon

This single sermon on Galatians 6:3 was first delivered on July 27, 1746 by Rev. Moses Parsons of Byfield Parish Church in what is now Newbury, Massachusetts. Dates and locations of subsequent preaching are noted at the end of the document.

John Hooker's sermons

By far the most comprehensive collection of these four, the sermon booklets authored by Rev. John Hooker (1728-1777) span his entire career at the Congregational Church of Northampton, from 1753 until his death from smallpox in 1777. The quality of information provided varies extensively; a number of volumes are undated and lack a specified location. A prayer request is also included among the notes.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
November 8, 2018

The latest additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program come from our project partners, the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The collections comprise papers from two prominent Massachusetts families, the Hoveys and the Wigglesworths. Cumulatively they span a broad timeframe, from the late seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth. Both collections begin with the personal papers of the family patriarchs, Rev. Michael Wigglesworth and Rev. Ivory Hovey. Later materials consist of their children's and grandchildren's correspondence, business, and legal records.

Both families were heavily involved in contemporary society. Rev. Wigglesworth was a popular poet, and his son and grandson were professors of divinity at Harvard College. The Hovey family documents bear witness to significant historical events of the time, including the 1775-1776 Siege of Boston, the 1783 evacuation of New York, the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and the American retreat from Ticonderoga. Also of note is Olive Hovey Pope's letter home to her parents, in which she describes her experience on the Maine frontier, including mention of "a grate plenty of woolves" which were troubling the livestock.

 

Wigglesworth family papers

This collection includes personal papers from three generations of the Wigglesworth family of Massachusetts. The majority of them were produced by Rev. Michael Wigglesworth (1631-1705). Rev. Wigglesworth was also a poet, penning The Day of Doom in 1662, which went on to become one of the most popular poems in New England at the time. Other papers in the collection belong to his son Edward Wigglesworth, Sr. (ca. 1693-1765) and grandson Edward Wigglesworth, Jr. (1732-1794). Both men served as professors of divinity at Harvard College, and Edward Jr. was also a merchant in Boston. Their papers include correspondence, deeds, estate papers, poetry, and records of estate settlements and property exchanges. Many of the documents are written using various systems of shorthand.

Ivory Hovey's papers

Rev. Ivory Hovey (1714-1803) was minister of the First Congregational Church of Mattapoisett, and later the Second Church of Plymouth at Manomet in 1770. He and his wife Olive Jordan had five children who lived to adulthood; three of his sons served in the American Revolution and his daughter Olive settled with her husband on the Maine frontier. The family material includes four letters from Rev. Hovey's sons, Dominicus (b. 1740), Ivory III (b. 1748), and Samuel (b. 1750), who witnessed notable events of the American Revolution. The items in this collection include correspondence, sermons, ecclesiastical council decisions, church records, vital records, and other papers relating to family affairs and Rev. Hovey's congregations.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
November 1, 2018

These new additions to our New England Hidden Histories program are provided in partnership with the New England Historic Genealogical Society. They consist of extensive notes on sermons heard by three lay individuals living in Boston in the 17th and 18th centuries. Two of the authors are identified and one is anonymous. Judging from the names of preachers mentioned in the texts it is probable that the anonymous author was attending Boston's Old South Church in 1723, and that Boston merchant Joshua Green (1731-1806) heard most of his sermons at Brattle Street Church. Each notebook is fairly standardized in form, consisting of sermon summaries with headers identifying the preacher, date, and citations for the bible verse upon which the sermon is based.

 

John Lake's memoranda

In John Lake's single memoranda booklet he records sermons heard during 1687-1688 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lake's notes include the name of the minister, the date, and abstracts of sermons preached by such dignitaries as Rev. Cotton Mather, Rev. Increase Mather, Rev. Samuel Willard, Rev. Samuel Phillips, Rev. John Higginson, Rev. Joshua Moody, Rev. Israel Chauncy, and a "Mr. Leverett" and "Mr. Baly", among others.

Unknown author's memoranda book

In this booklet, the anonymous author records a diverse array of sermons and preachers heard in Boston in 1723. Their handwritten notes include the names of the preachers, date of delivery, the verse text, and a detailed summary of each sermon. The sermons were likely delivered at Boston's Old South Church, due to the predominance of those preached by resident ministers Rev. Joseph Sewall and Rev. Thomas Prince. A number of other ministers are also included, however, including Revs. Colman, Scivall, Cooper, Thatcher, Wordsworth, Webb, and Gee.

Joshua Green's memoranda

Joshua Green (1731-1806) was a merchant in Boston, and kept extensive records on sermons he attended, which are contained in several volumes spanning the years 1768 to 1775. The location of the preaching is not specified, but it is likely that most were delivered at Brattle Street Church in Boston, the pastorate of the most frequently cited preacher, Rev. Samuel Cooper (1724-1783). Green's summaries consist of a short series of annotations on each sermon, and a header with the date, the name of the preacher, and citations for the relevant bible verses. There are also occasional notes about local deaths and other noteworthy events. At the end of the booklet Green cites the total number of sermons he heard, how many were preached by each minister, and the liturgical occasion of each.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
October 17, 2018

These latest additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program come from our project partners, the New England Historic Genealogical Society. They constitute three eighteenth-century diaries composed by Massachusetts residents, all of whom were actively engaged in their local Congregational parishes. Two of the individuals were lay deacons and one was Longmeadow minister Rev. Stephen Williams, notable for having survived the 1704 raid on Deerfield, Mass. as a child. While Thomas Jossely's diary consists of faithfully-kept short daily entries, Storer and Williams's volumes are more sporadic meditations on spiritual matters.

 

Stephen Williams's diary

This collection consists of handwritten journal entries, memoranda, and sermon notes kept occasionally by Rev. Stephen Williams from 1716 to his death in 1782. Rev. Williams’s early life was remarkable; he grew up in Deerfield, Massachusetts and was captured by French and Indigenous allies during their raid on the town in 1704 when he was eleven years old. He was liberated after almost two years in captivity, going on to graduate from Yale College in 1713 and subsequently ministering to the Congregational Church of Longmeadow, Mass. He also served as a chaplain during the French and Indian War. Rev. Williams focuses heavily on ecclesiastical matters in his journal entries. Many entries consist of written prayers and brief meditations on bible verses.

Thomas Josselyn's diary

Thomas Josselyn of Hanover and Hingham, Mass. was deacon of Hingham First Church and proprietor of a forge. On the first page of his diary, he describes his intent "to keep an account of the affairs of Divine providence, concerning myself and my family and the Church of God…". The volume consists of daily entries in which Josselyn usually devotes a sentence or two to details of his work, meetings, church attendance, visits with friends and family, and travel to Boston and other locales.

Ebenezer Storer's diary

Ebenezer Storer was a Harvard and Yale-educated lay person who went on to become Treasurer of Harvard College in 1777. He was deacon of the Congregational Church in Brattle Square, Cambridge, as well as an early member of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in North America, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and several other organizations. He updated his journal intermittently, with long form entries detailing deaths in his family, spiritual reflections and prayers, and segments of poetry. He also includes occasional genealogical or family information, as well as passing observations on current events. The entry for March 11, 1764, mentions the spread of smallpox and Storer's decision to have his children inoculated.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
October 10, 2018

These two dramatic additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program come from our project partners, the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The collections relate to judicial cases which were played out within the ecclesiastical framework of the Colonial era, before the separation of Church and State. The first collection dates to 1728 and consists of a Medford minister's overview of a 1720 witchcraft case in Littleton, Mass. The second dates to 1811-1814 and contains two large volumes of correspondence related to the disciplinary case of a female parishioner at Boylston, Mass. and heated arguments over church jurisdiction.

 

Ebenezer Turell's account of a witchcraft case

Rev. Ebenezer Turell, minister of the First Parish in Medford, Massachusetts, offers his opinion regarding a 1720 witchcraft case at Littleton, Mass. in this somewhat polemical essay. The handwritten volume contains a summary of alleged paranormal events besetting a Littleton family, local opinions and reactions, and an advisory section in which Rev. Turell warns against deceitful children and encourages watchfulness and the application of corporal punishment by adults. He advises against the conflation of "tricks and legerdemain" with genuine Satanic covenants. Rev. Turell's essay was written more than three decades after the infamous miscarriage of justice at Salem, Mass. during the 1692 witchcraft hysteria, in which the testimony of children was instrumental in the indictment and execution of innocent townspeople.

Ward Cotton's correspondence

This collection contains correspondence dating from 1811-1814, relating to a dispute between Congregational churches in Boylston and Worcester, Mass. Parishioner Betsy Flagg was a vocal opponent of the ministry of Rev. Ward Cotton and was consequently suspended from services until she recanted. Instead, Flagg began attending the nearby Congregational church of Worcester, Mass. under the auspices of Rev. Samuel Austin. Her lack of an official dismissal from Boylston created a disagreement between Revs. Cotton and Austin, escalating into mutual accusations and calls for arbitration by an ecclesiastical council. Ultimately the case was decided in favor of Rev. Cotton and against Miss Flagg, whose acceptance by the Worcester parish was deemed an overreach of the church's authority.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
October 3, 2018

The latest additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program come from our project partners, the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This material relates to the Massachusetts parishes of West Stockbridge and Boylston (formerly part of Shrewsbury), and consists of church record books and associated materials. Both collections are primarily comprised of eighteenth-century records, which include admissions, member lists, baptisms, marriages, and funeral registers.

 

West Stockbridge, Mass. Congregational Church

The First Congregational Church in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts was founded in 1789, along with the town itself. The meeting house was also used for civic purposes, and was shared with a local Baptist congregation until 1793. A Second Church was formed in 1833 to serve the area's growing population. The volumes include the First Church's record book, as well as an assortment of loose documents found inside the volume.

Boylston, Mass. First Church

The North Precinct or Parish of Shrewsbury, Mass., was established in 1742, with Rev. Ebenezer Morse ordained as its first pastor. This parish remained a part of Shrewsbury until 1786, when it was established as the town of Boylston and its church became the Congregational Church of Boylston. The church record book consists of handwritten entries of member admissions, baptisms and marriages. It was composed by Rev. Morse, who was ultimately dismissed in 1775 for his loyalist sympathies.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
October 1, 2018

With great sadness, the Congregational Library & Archives notes the passing of the Reverend Robert Wood who died on August 19. The CLA's friends and followers may already know Rev. Wood's name, as he donated his papers to us in 2004, and I've written about him a few times in the past. In June this year I was honored to have been able to visit him for at Havenwood-Heritage Heights, the United Church of Christ's retirement community in New Hampshire. While there I presented a brief lecture with a Q&A on his collection to the residents, visiting friends, and the UCC's New Hampshire Conference. The event served as an opportunity to ask Rev. Wood directly about his life and experiences.

For those new to his story, Rev. Robert Watson Wood was born May 21, 1923 and is known among the LGBTQ community for his steadfast dedication to civil rights. That journey started with his book, Christ and the Homosexual, published in 1960 under his own name as an ordained United Church of Christ minister. He was part of the first group to picket a federal building in 1965 and he argued in favor of same-sex marriage decades before Obergefell.

One of the biggest defining aspects of Wood's life was his relationship with his husband, Hugh "Buck" Coulter. The two met in New York City in 1962 and remained devoted to each other until Coulter's death in 1989. Coulter was a World War II veteran, a rodeo cowboy, and an abstract artist. Circumstances kept the two from ever sharing a house or being legally married. Despite that, they made the most of their time together. Wood's collection includes significant representation of Coulter's life: photographs, correspondence, and samples of his art, particularly.

Another major facet of Wood's life and identity was as a decorated combat World War II veteran. Wood knew he was gay when he was in high school. Before he could truly navigate the ramifications of coming out, the US joined the war. Wood was open about his anxiety over being discovered and punished. Nevertheless, he volunteered, fought for our country, and survived with a strong sense of duty that he directed towards LGBTQ civil rights. During this past June's presentation, someone asked why he risked his safety and well-being, coming out and fighting for equal rights. He answered that he did it because nobody else was. It's that sense of purpose, service, compassion, and bravery that I celebrate as I remember him. I'm proud to have known Robert Wood and even more proud to care for his personal papers. Moreover, I do not take his sacrifices and hard work for granted.

Rev. Wood's memorial will be at Havenwood on Wednesday, October 3, at 2 pm.

Those interested in learning more about Robert Wood and his life and work are welcome to visit the Congregational Library & Archives. His papers are open to the public and the CLA welcomes all visitors interested in research. My trip in June included adding new material for Rev. Wood's collection and I've spent a great deal of time reviewing what we already held and integrating the photos, letters, original diaries, and so much more for our patrons. That new material is not yet reflected in our current guide, but stay tuned.  

—Jessica

Content:
September 27, 2018

These two new collections in our New England's Hidden Histories program are provided in partnership with the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Rev. Jonathan Parsons and Rev. William Rand were both Congregationalist ministers in Massachusetts, but the two men held very different opinions of the Great Awakening, the evangelical zeitgeist of the 1730s-40s which swept through much of Britain and America. The movement emphasized personal salvation and encouraged a degree of unity across different denominations. Ironically, it also created serious divisions within existing traditions, which began to fracture along the lines of converts and traditionalists.

Rev. Parsons was a convert to the movement and a personal friend of the famous evangelist George Whitfield, while Rev. Rand became a staunch opponent of the new theology. Despite their differences, the two ministers did have one notable circumstance in common; the views of both men were at odds with their congregations, who consequently swapped them out for more suitable candidates. Both Rev. Parsons and Rev. Rand were rehoused with congregations whose views more closely matched their own.

 

Jonathan Parsons's sermons

Rev. Jonathan Parsons (1705-1776) graduated from Yale in 1729, and was the minister at the First Church in Lyme, Connecticut from 1729/30 to 1745. He was heavily influenced by the Great Awakening, particularly by the evangelists Gilbert Tennent and George Whitefield, the latter of whom became his personal friend. Rev. Parsons was subsequently compelled by traditionalist parishioners to leave his parish in Lyme. George Whitefield personally recommended him to the new Presbyterian Church of Newburyport, Mass., and he took up ministry there from January 1745/6 until the end of his life. The collection consists of notes for sermons delivered by Rev. Parsons in his home parish of Newbury, as well as a published print copy of a sermon originally delivered at the funeral of George Whitefield, who died suddenly "of a fit of asthma" in Newburyport in 1770.

William Rand's sermons

Rev. William Rand (1699-1779) was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in 1721. He was the minister at Sunderland, Mass. from 1722 until 1745, when he was dismissed due to his opposition to the Great Awakening. He subsequently replaced the Rev. Thaddeus McCarty as minister at Kingston, Mass. when the latter was dismissed for inviting the evangelist George Whitefield to preach there. Rev. Rand remained at Kingston from 1745 until his death in 1779. The volumes in this collection contain a large number of Rev. Rand's sermons preached after his move to Kingston. These were largely delivered in his home parish, but also in neighboring communities such as Plymouth and Duxbury.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
September 18, 2018

These latest additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program come from our project partners at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. They include record books and associated material for three coastal churches founded in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries: Sandwich First, the Congregational Church of Hull, and Newbury Third. The church records comprise registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, admissions and dismissions, meeting minutes, and tax lists. The Sandwich First collection includes town meeting minutes in addition to the ecclesiastical records.

 

Sandwich, Mass. First Church

Sandwich's First Church was founded in 1638 as part of the original Plymouth Colony. The collection consists of two record books, cumulatively spanning 1691-1853. The first contains admissions, baptisms, proceedings, deaths, and dismissals ranging from 1691-1818. The second contains meeting minutes for the first precinct in the town of Sandwich, as well as those for parish meetings from 1786-1853.

Hull, Mass. Congregational Church

The First Church in Hull (formerly Nantasket) was founded in 1644. The volume comprises handwritten transcriptions from the First Church's records dating from 1725-1767. These include listings of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. The records were copied in 1847 by Charles J. F. Binney from the records of Rev. Ezra Carpenter for 1725 to 1746, and the records of Rev. Samuel Veazie for 1753 to 1767. The earlier records for this church (1644-1725) were destroyed in a fire sometime before 1847.

Newbury, Mass. Third Church

The Third Church of Newbury, Mass. was founded in 1726, after the establishment of the First Church in 1635 and Second Church in 1695. The volumes were transcribed from various books and papers in 1737 by the church's first minister, Rev. John Lowell, and later continued by Edith R. Wills. The Third Church experienced a denominational split in 1746, when a number of parishioners left to form the Newbury Presbyterian Church. The Third Church became part of the parish of Newburyport in 1764.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
August 21, 2018

We are pleased to make four more collections of valuable church documents available as part of our New England's Hidden Histories program. These records from the northern and central parts of Massachusetts further enhance our holdings by shedding light on the complexities of these communities. Church and parish records are as much town records as they are records of the church community. Vital records and sermons offer clues into the daily lives of everyday people, and financial records provide insight into the economics of a time long past. These records also mark an important milestone in the NEHH program as they are the last manuscripts to be published as part of our three-year NEH grant. But don't worry. There are many more manuscripts to be published over the next three years thanks to other grants.

 

Marlborough, Mass. First Church

The town of Marlborough was incorporated in 1660. The First Parish Church was originally organized in 1666. The first meetinghouse stood on the old Common, but was burnt down by Native Americans in 1676. In 1833, 50 members of the First Parish withdrew in order to form the First Evangelical Congregational Society, though by 1836 the two churches reformed as the single Union Church in Marlborough. These extensive records include the earliest extant church records which include meeting minutes, vital records, membership lists, and pew records. The collection also includes sermons, financial records, records related to two early pastors, and the records of the First Evangelical Congregational Society.

West Brookfield, Mass. First Congregational Church

Though established during the 1660s, the earliest history of the First Congregational Church is Brookfield has been lost to fire. Our records begin with the construction of the third meetinghouse in 1755. West Brookfield split from Brookfield in 1848. The church and parish records include meeting minutes, records of petitions and their signers, committee reports, baptismal and marriage records, historical sketches, and copies of the church's covenant.

Merrimac, Mass. Pilgrim Congregational Church

The parish was first organized in 1725 and a year later the church itself was founded as the Second Church of Christ in Amesbury. The town of Merrimac separated from Amesbury in 1876, and in 1879 the church was renamed to the First Congregational Church, though it was popularly referred to as the Pilgrim Congregational Church. The collection includes meeting minutes and records of votes, financial records, membership lists, baptismal and marriage records, church communications, and the results of ecclesiastical councils. Rev. Paine Wingate, the first minister, is also heavily featured within the records, and the collection includes his final will and testament.

Wendell, Mass. Congregational Church

The Congregational Church of Wendell was formed in Wendell, Mass. in 1774. The first meetinghouse was built in 1783, and a second in 1846. Even though the church was relatively small throughout its history, the Congregational Church of Wendell contributed to domestic and foreign missions, including mission work in China. This collection includes meeting minutes, vital statistics, public confessions of guilt, church correspondence, and deacons' records. The collection also includes extensive financial records.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Content:
July 13, 2018

The latest additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program are three collections of association records representing a diverse set of Massachusetts churches. These early records offer insight into the administration of geographically linked churches and the communities these conferences fostered. They afford a look into the installations and ordinations of ministers, and the controversies surrounding some of these appointments. The records also include ecclesiastical councils for disciplinary cases, highlighting how these early associations provided fellowship between individual churches and pastors. These collections represent some of the earliest direct foundations for the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.

 

Berkshire Association of Congregational Ministers

The Berkshire Association was formed in 1763. Due to its significant size, the association separated into two distinct organizations in 1852 — the Berkshire North and Berkshire South Associations. Included within this collection are four volumes of association and ecclesiastical records which cover a broad range of topics including meeting minutes, voting records, committee reports, copies of founding documents, and council results. This collection also includes extensive records related to disciplinary cases and controversies within the conference.

Hampden Association of Congregational Ministers

The first mention of the Hampden Association — divided into East and West — is in the Massachusetts General Association meeting in 1814, though the association dates to a much earlier year. The bulk of this collection is association minutes and reports, which broadly contain meeting minutes and records of votes, ordination proceedings, the results of ecclesiastical councils, discussions of religious matters, and disciplinary cases. Also included in this collection are a volume of association records, which includes the association constitution, and correspondence related to religious and ministerial matters.

Marlborough Association of Congregational Ministers

The Marlborough Association was formed and first met in 1725 in the house of Rev. Robert Breck, the second minister of the Marlborough First Parish Church. The association dealt with "cases of conscience, questions of difficulty in church discipline, or matters of disagreement, between the parties in a church, or between pastor and people." Due to declining membership, the ministers decided to dissolve the association in 1814. This collection includes two volumes of records which contain meeting minutes and the results of votes, committee reports, membership lists, and copies of the association's founding documents.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Content:
July 3, 2018

The Congregational Library & Archives will be closed on Wednesday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day.

All of our online resources will be available as usual. If you have questions for the staff, please send an email or leave a voicemail, and we'll get back to you when we return to the office on Thursday.

We hope you have a safe and happy celebration.

 


image of fireworks over the Charles River in Boston courtesy of Pablo Valerio via Wikimedia Commons

Content:
June 29, 2018

Today, the records of two historic churches join the New England's Hidden Histories program and continue to expand the program’s offerings of valuable church records from areas south of Boston. These records from Berkley Congregational Church and the First Congregational Church of Harwich offer illuminating insights into eighteenth- and nineteenth-century religious and political life within New England. The diverse types of materials covered by these two collections include sermons, vital records, pew deeds, disciplinary cases, and copies of the petition submitted to the Massachusetts General Court which led to the formation of the South Parish in Harwich.

 

Berkley, Mass. Congregational Church

The First Church of Christ in Berkley was gathered in 1737 in the newly incorporated town of Berkley, Massachusetts. In 1737, the town agreed to settle Samuel Tobey, a young graduate of Cambridge. After Rev. Tobey passed in 1781, Thomas Andros, a self-taught veteran of the American Revolutionary War, was settled in Berkley in 1788 following a seven year search. The records in this collection include manuscript sermons preached by both Rev. Tobey and Rev. Andros, two disciplinary cases related to members of the church, and the oldest record book of the church, all of it in Rev. Tobey’s hand, which includes both administrative and vital records.

 

Harwich, Mass. First Congregational Church

The First Congregational Church of Harwich, Massachusetts, was founded in 1747 when the town of Harwich was split into the North and South Parishes. On April 8, 1747, the precinct voted to complete construction on a meeting house which was finally completed in 1748. In 1747, Edward Pell, a Harvard graduate and Boston native, preached to the South Parish, and soon after he accepted a call to become the first minister of the new church. Present within this collection are five volumes of extensive church records, including valuable financial records, pew deeds, vital records, members lists, meeting minutes, and treasurer reports. Also within the collection are church communications and records related to the formation of the South Parish in Harwich, including copies of the petition submitted to Massachusetts General Court.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Content:
June 22, 2018

This newest batch of digitized material from our New England's Hidden Histories program is once again provided in partnership with the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. It primarily includes the sermons of four ministers from northeastern Massachusetts — Revs. Edward Barnard, Dudley Leavitt, Samuel Phillips, and John Richardson — spanning more than a century. These documents provide a look into the topics they found important and how they addressed them. Take a look and see what stands out to you.

 

Edward Barnard's sermons

Rev. Edward Barnard was a Harvard graduate like many of his ilk, and went on to become minister at the First Church in Haverhill, Mass. from 1743 until his death. This collection contains more than 200 of his sermons, covering much of his career from 1739-1774. The first three volumes are dated and contain the majority of the sermons, with a further six smaller volumes of undated material. Rev. Barnard recorded the locations and dates of preaching in the sermon headers — like many ministers of the time he recycled sermons through the years, performing some of his "greatest hits" at appropriate liturgical occasions. The earliest ones were delivered at various locales such as Bradford, Wilmington, Salisbury, and Andover, and later re-used in his home parish of Haverhill.

Dudley Leavitt's sermons

Rev. Dudley Leavitt, a Harvard graduate like most early New England ministers, was served at the Salem Tabernacle Church from 1745-1762. He succeeded the controversial Rev. Samuel Fisk, whose dispute in 1735 with the First Church in Salem had led to the Tabernacle Church's creation. This collection consists of two short volumes of Rev. Leavitt's sermons, preached from 1740-1751 in Salem. The second volume includes a foray into politics, with a 1746 sermon condemning the Jacobite Uprisings in Scotland.

Samuel Phillips's papers

This collection includes two sets of sermons by Rev. Samuel Phillips, minister of the Congregational Church of Rowley from 1651-1696. The first volume (1670-1695) contains three iterations of sermons preached on Exodus 20:12. The second volume (1690-1723) is more varied in content, and also includes a posthumous document detailing the Proceedings of a Council at Reading in 1723. Also included is the transfer of Boxford Second Church parishioner Elizabeth Holt by Rev. John Cushing in 1746.

John Richardson's sermon notes

Like many New England ministers of the day, Rev. John Richardson was a Harvard graduate, receiving his degree in 1666 and staying on as a tutor at the college. In 1675 he was ordained as minister of the First Church of Newbury, Mass., where he remained for twenty-one years. The digitized collection comprises detailed notes for some sermons preached towards the end of his life in 1692-1693.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

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June 12, 2018

Our New England's Hidden Histories program continues to grow, with the latest collections provided in partnership with the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. They encompass records from four historical area Congregational churches: Newbury Second, Salem First, Boxford First, and Topsfield. Together these collections represent a wealth of data and historical documents ranging from the colonial era to the nineteenth century, encompassing witchcraft trials, heated theological disputes, and letters to Paul Revere.

 

Salem, Mass. First Church

Salem's First Church was the first truly Congregational Church in America, founded in 1629 with governance by church members. Its history also has a dark side, with numerous clergy and parishioners involved in the Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692. Four volumes of church records ranging from 1629-1843 are included in the collection, three bound and one loose. These include meeting minutes, member and pew listings, baptisms, financial records, and historical chronicles. Loose records include correspondence relating to the church and community as well as administrative documents and officer lists. Of particular note are four letters from John Punchard on behalf of the church committee in 1806, requesting a church bell from Paul Revere's foundry in Boston.

Newbury, Mass. Second Church

The Newbury Second collection includes a bound volume of church records from 1696-1857, which contains accounts, meeting minutes, member lists, seating lists, and a register of baptisms. There is also a collection of correspondence relating to a dispute in the 1740s between religious revivalists in Newbury First Church and their staunchly traditionalist pastor Rev. Christopher Toppan (Rev. Toppan was rumored to have brought a whip into church with which to "scourge the heretics"). Also included are the Second Church's 1729 Articles of Agreement, updated after the acquisition of a new meeting house.

Boxford, Mass. First Church

The Boxford First Church records consist of loose documents ranging in date from 1703-1823, which include meeting minutes and member listings. The bulk of them, however, are correspondences related to a lengthy dispute between two Boxford First parishioners during the ministry of Rev. Isaac Briggs – sparked when one man accused the other of stealing his sheep. These records are part of a much larger archival collection, the Perley Family Papers.

Topsfield, Mass. Congregational Church

Another venerably historic church, Topsfield Congregational was founded in 1663, although there are no surviving records from the earliest period. The extant collection consists of two bound volumes of church records dating from 1684-1869. These include meeting minutes, admissions and member lists, and listings of baptisms, marriages, and deaths.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this re

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May 25, 2018

The Congregational Library & Archives will be closed on Monday, May 28th in observance of Memorial Day.

All of our online resources will be available as usual. If you have questions for the staff, please send an email or leave a voicemail, and we'll get back to you when we return to the office on Tuesday.

historical American flags

 


image of historical American flags courtesy of PBS.org

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May 21, 2018

These latest additions to the New England's Hidden Histories program again come from our project partners, the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. The two collections constitute a treasure trove of documents relating to a single individual, Rev. John Cleaveland, who lived from 1722-1799 and ministered to the Chebacco Church in Ipswich for 52 years until his death.

Rev. Cleaveland lived through both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. He was an army chaplain during both conflicts, first as a British colonial serving against the French, and later as an American resisting British overreach. Rev. Cleaveland's story is both an intimate and universal example of shifting loyalties and identities during the formation of the United States.

 

John Cleaveland papers

Seldom are we treated to so comprehensive a collection as Rev. Cleaveland's personal papers, which reveal diverse aspects of 18th-century life in thrilling detail. These include an extensive array of correspondence, religious papers, biographical material, church administration, handwritten sermons, and relations of faith from local parishioners. Also included is a short diary by Rev. Cleaveland's wife, Mary Cleaveland, in which she details the births of her children. Among the most notable records are documents related to Rev. Cleaveland's expulsion from Yale, a long and somewhat fraught correspondence with his eventual fiancée, a letter urging the conversion of Native American peoples, and a sermon against British tyranny.

John Cleaveland sermons

These two volumes contain Rev. Cleaveland's handwritten notes for sermons preached from 1752-1799. Most were delivered multiple times, with dates and locations specified in the headers. Rev. Cleaveland's home parish of Chebacco served as the main location, however some were delivered to neighboring parishes, and also while encamped during his service in the French and Indian War.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
May 16, 2018

This new collection in our New England's Hidden Histories program comes from the Church of Christ in Westborough, Mass. These earliest records begin with the founding of the church in 1724 under Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, and chronicle the congregation's growth through 1787. During the First Great Awakening, both George Whitefield and Johnathan Edwards preached there.

This digital resource has been provided by the Westborough Public Library, where the original manuscript is held.

 

Westborough, Mass. Church of Christ

The single volume in this collection includes church meeting minutes, records of votes, marriages, baptisms, admissions and dismissions, membership lists, and church covenants.

 

Special Thanks

NEH logoThis digital resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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May 14, 2018

More digital content is now on offer via our New England's Hidden Histories program, in collaboration with the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. These new collections include two personal diaries from the early 1700s, one belonging to a celebrated Salem minister, the other to an ordinary citizen from Lynn, Mass. Despite the authors' differences, the two accounts share striking similarities, such as a preoccupation with local weather, farming and husbandry, travel, and visits with family and friends. As if these personal records weren't fascinating enough, the third collection is a legal testimony by John Stockman of Salisbury, Mass. admitting to a physical assault on the King's Highway.

 

Joseph Green diary

Rev. Joseph Green was a celebrated minister of the First Church of Salem. Ordained in 1698, he inherited a divided and traumatized congregation after the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. He replaced the controversial Rev. Samuel Parris, reuniting the church and facilitating reconciliation between perpetrators and victims of the witchcraft hysteria. His diary of 1700-1715 deals mainly with day-to-day concerns such as religious study, errands and meetings, though it also touches on more monumental events such as Ann Putnam’s public admission that she had falsely accused others of witchcraft.

Zaccheus Collins diary

The diary of this Lynn, Mass., man details a 43-year period of daily life, including agricultural tasks, notations on attendance at religious meetings, visits from his friends, and observations about the weather. The diary is contained within two bound volumes, the first comprising the years 1726-1750, and the second 1750-1769.

John Stockman testimony

In this document John Stockman admits wrongdoing and apologizes to a Mr. Caleb Moody, Jr., whom he assaulted "in the Night under the temptation of Satan". The Moodys and Stockmans were both prominent families in the Newbury/Salisbury area during the early 18th century.

 

Have a look through these collections to get a sense of what daily life in New England was like during the early 1700s, through the words of those who lived it.

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
May 10, 2018

These latest additions to our New England's Hidden Histories program come from our project partners, the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. Both collections comprise the personal papers of two prominent Salem ministers, Rev. George Curwen and Rev. Samuel Fisk. The two men served consecutively as pastors in the First Congregational Church in Salem during the early 1700s, not long after church members had been rocked by the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Rev. Fisk infamously caused a split in the congregation with his alleged mishandling of records and his doctrinal peculiarities. He and his supporters went on to form the Third Church in Salem, which would later become known as the Salem Tabernacle.

 

George Curwen papers

The collection includes an array of biographical material such as professional and personal correspondence, church administration, and posthumous legal records.  A number of sermons delivered by Rev. Curwen during his time at Harvard are also included. These were preached under the auspices of various local ministers, including a "Rev. Mather" who was either the famed Rev. Cotton Mather or his son, Rev. Increase Mather.


Samuel Fisk papers

These manuscripts are part of the Joseph Bowditch Papers, a larger collection at the Phillips Library. They contain a sizeable amount of correspondence concerning Rev. Fisk, both personal and legal. Most of the records relate to the split within the First Church's congregation during (and due to) Rev. Fisk's controversial ministry. These include heated letters back and forth, Rev. Fisk's official dismissal at the hands of an ecclesiastical council, and a legal ruling on the case by the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

 

Anyone with an interest in the history of the Congregational Church in Salem will find these collections a useful primary source, and — in Rev. Fisk's case — also quite a juicy read!

 

Special Thanks

These digital resources have been made possible in part by the Council on Library and Information Resources, through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource do not necessarily represent those of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Content:
May 3, 2018

 

The people of Gloucester—the English one, not its namesake in Massachusetts—are remembering their native son, George Whitefield, in a very practical way. The St. Mary de Crypt Church, where he was baptized educated, and preached his first sermon, has undertaken an ambitious restoration project. The Discover DeCrypt project is bringing the church into the twenty-first century as a place of worship as well as community center and part of a Whitefield heritage trail.

Last fall we met Mark Jones and Richard Atkins, who came to the Library from Gloucester. They were, like George before them, traveling up and down the East Coast, tracing Whitefield’s career for a BBC radio program. What was the connection with the Congregational Library? Rev. Whitefield was not, of course, a Congregationalist, but we possess a rare portrait that hangs prominently in our reading room. And I was glad to be interviewed for their program, which aired last winter.

Both of the de Crypt buildings are very old, and as the renovations have progressed, more of their history is unfolding. Below the schoolroom floor, archeologists on site discovered remains from the fifteenth-century (maybe not old by English Gloucester standards but pretty impressive here).  The congregation also discovered a collection of Whitefield sermons from 1742, given to the church in 1899.

Projects like this one are expensive, and we are passing the word along about the renovation in hopes that some of our readers might want to contribute. US donors can give directly through the website (www.discoverdecrypt.org.uk). It’s gratifying to see George Whitefield’s home town remembering one of the most famous people of the eighteenth century in such an ambitious and thoughtful way.

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May 3, 2018

Our reading room will be closed to the public on Friday, May 4th from noon to the end of business. The staff will be doing some reorganizing of our stacks, and don't wish to disrupt any researchers with the noise.

All of our online resources will be available as usual. If you have questions that require staff assistance, please send an email or leave a voicemail, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Content:
April 30, 2018
By: Douglas Winiarski
 
Historians of religion in early America ought to be shouting “Huzzah!” for the Congregational Library & Archives these days. Since 2011, Jeff Cooper and a team of scholars at this important research archive on Boston’s Beacon Hill have been gathering at-risk Congregational church records from basements, bank vaults, and private homes. The goal of the Library’s New England’s Hidden Histories project is stunningly ambitious: to preserve, digitize, and transcribe tens of thousands of pages of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century church records.
 
I’ve been fortunate to serve on the steering committee for the program, which is led by Cooper and the Congregational Library’s executive director, Peggy Bendroth. Many of the key manuscript collections cited in Darkness Falls on the Land of Light are now available online through the NEHH portal, while many others are coming soon.
 
Highlights from the NEHH collection (so far) include:
 
More than 500 church admission relations from Haverhill, Middleborough, and Essex, Massachusetts—all in full, glorious color!
  • Church records from the “praying Indian” church at Natick;
  • Ministerial association record books from nearly every county in Connecticut;
  • Lists of men and women admitted to the First Church of Ipswich, Massachusetts, site of one of the largest religious revivals of eighteenth-century North America;
  • Minutes from the Grafton, Massachusetts, church record book, with transcription, detailing the troubled pastorate of the ardent revivalist clergyman Solomon Prentice and his separatist wife, Sarah;
  • Disciplinary records resulting from the bitter New Light church schisms in Newbury and Sturbridge, Massachusetts;
  • Miscellaneous church papers from Granville, Massachusetts, featuring letters by the celebrated African American preacher Lemuel Haynes;
  • And a wide range of sermons, theological notebooks, and personal papers by eighteenth-century Congregational clergymen, including luminaries Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and Samuel Hopkins.
Cooper and Bendroth have forged partnerships with New England’s leading history institutions, including the American Antiquarian Society and Peabody Essex Museum. And they have digitized An Inventory of the Records of the Particular (Congregational) Churches of Massachusetts Gathered 1620–1805, the indispensable guide compiled by Bendroth’s predecessor, Harold Field Worthley.
 
For teachers eager to show their students what seventeenth- and eighteenth-century history is made of; for undergraduate and graduate students seeking primary texts for papers; for genealogists searching for baptismal records of long-lost ancestors; for scholars engaged in major book projects—NEHH is now the go-to hub for online research on the history of New England puritanism and the Congregational tradition.
 
As with all digital history initiatives, NEHH is a work in progress. They’re always looking for volunteers to support their crowd-sourced transcription projects. It’s a great opportunity to involve students in the production of new historical knowledge. For more information, contact Jeff Cooper or Helen Gelinas, director of transcription.
 
Thanks to a second $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Bendroth, Cooper and their colleagues at the Congregational Library will be churning out high quality digital images and transcriptions of rare Congregational manuscript church records for years to come. Congratulations, CLA! Huzzah!
 
To read more about the NEH grant, check out this article from the Christian Science Monitor.

This blog was originally featured in Douglas Winiarski's blog The People Called New Lights

Content:
April 23, 2018

On Tuesday, April 17, James “Jim” Matarazzo, Dean and Professor Emeritus, Simmons College School of Library and Information Science, passed away in Boston. To those of us in the Library and Archives’ field, Jim was a legend. For almost 50 years, he guided students from the classroom to successful careers, always being available and never forgetting anyone and their life. His gentle and humble nature belied a brilliant and cagey navigator of the working world…and he always paved the way into that world for his students.

The mention of Jim’s name always elicits a smile to the many whose lives he touched. The image of Jim’s pleasant smiling visage with his beloved pipe will forever be etched in my heart. His ability to remain calm and understanding while subtly being relentless in your behalf were the building blocks of his success. He was the Will Rogers of the Library and Archives world…never meeting a person he didn’t like and he took that easy-going nature a step further and always connected good people with each other.

Here at the Congregational Library and Archives, we are forever indebted to Jim for his tireless work on our behalf to help move many projects and endeavors forward with wisdom and funding. Many a student has walked through our doors with confidence and abilities that Jim helped craft.

We are among the many who will miss Jim dearly, but his confidence in us (and everyone) is contagious. A day won’t pass without someone whispering thank you for a successful path he started.

Content:
April 9, 2018

The Congregational Library & Archives is happy to announce that our “New England’s Hidden Histories” project, which seeks to locate, digitize, transcribe, and place online New England’s earliest manuscript church records, has been selected to receive a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant supports projects that provide an essential underpinning for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. Funding from this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible through the use of digital technology, which closely aligns with the mission and directive of “New England’s Hidden Histories.”

“New England’s Hidden Histories” will collect and publish an additional 18,000 pages of records from the nation’s founding era from the archives of churches in the American Northeast; 7,000 of these pages will be transcribed. The documents are of immeasurable value to anyone "exploring political culture, social history, linguistics, epidemiology and climatology...as well as to genealogists and members of the public interested in a range of subjects," The National Endowment for the Humanities said in its announcement.

Early New Englanders recorded the most intimate details of their lives and communities in their manuscript church records. Spirited church debates, disciplinary hearings, personal narratives, and vital statistics listing marriages, births, and deaths, can all be found in often lost or hidden church records. “New England’s Hidden Histories” looks to reveal the texture of early New England society, sharing the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary detail. The project has already produced tens of thousands of digital images of these documents in its ongoing effort to freely share this historical resource with scholars, teachers, genealogists, and all interested members of the public on the website of the Congregational Library & Archives.

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.

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