Congregational Library

Discover our treasures in a series of talks that highlights the history, significance, and provenance of rare and special items and books in our collection. Two treasures to b...

We are aware that http://www.congregationallibary.org is not accessing our web site. We are working on this. Our alternate address is available http://www.14beacon.org but not entirely up-to-date. Thank you for your patience.

Deanne and Abby came into the Library yesterday letterboxing. They were successful in their hunt but we won't reveal their secret. If you are interested in finding out more about letterboxing check out: www.letterboxing.org/ or www.letterboxing.info/Great fun for the whole family.

If you are looking for a book to take with you this summer, you can’t go wrong by picking up this one. It is not beach reading but it will engage you on that plane, train, bus, or car trip (as long as you aren’t driving)...

In 1958, Corrine M. Nordquest was hired as Assistant Librarian replacing retiring Assistant Librarian Florence K. Babcock. Rev. John A. Harrer was then Librarian of the American Congregational Association (ACA)...

You have to scroll down a bit, but it is the third item with a recommendation of our Necrology database. eNews Vol. 11, No. 25 Whole #432 June 24, 2009

Yesterday I started getting notes from librarian friends- Ohio's public libraries are about to be in a world of hurt if their budgets end up getting cut by 50%, which is the current path the Strickland camp are currently taking...

The following is a post by one of our most recent Simmons interns, Meg Rampton. --------------I started at the Congregational Library very excited and anxious to process my very first collection after started my masters degree at Simmons College last fall...

On Saturday the Globe ran an article about our building superintendent, John. I ended up talking to the reporter, so this wasn't a complete surprise...

Charles Chauncey Wells and Suzanne Austin Wells, authors of Preachers, Patriots & Plain Folks: Boston's Burying Ground Guide to King's Chapel, Granary and Central Cemeteries, visited the library on Thursday this...

One of the nice things about staying in the same city where you go to library school, particularly in the case of Simmons/Boston, is that on occasion, you get to stay in touch with people who were in the program with you.Brian Sullivan, the archivist at Mt...

We regret that we are canceling the Church Librarians Lunch on June 13 at the West Parish in Barnstable. We will reschedule at a later date.

We have just launched a new database of obituary information on Congregational clergy and missionaries; it’s available on our website (under “digital resources”)...

Although the Congregational Library does not collect fiction, here are two books recently recommended by friends who know of my interest inthe Salem witch trials...

On June 13, Librarian Claudette Newhall hostsa meeting and luncheon for church librarians. Enjoy lunch and a great opportunity to network and share experiences with your colleagues...

Beginning May 28 and every other Thursday until September Explore our historic Library with Claudette Newhall as she tells the story of the Library and provides visitors with an in-depth tour of the main Reading Room, the Pratt Room, as well as the ‘stacks.’ During the tour, you will also...

I've been teaching a class to help churches deal with keeping and organizing their church records for several years now, but foolishly never came up with templates for a records management policy or a retention schedule...

News Item: The follow up lunch for those who've taken the records management class is canceled for this Friday, 5/29 at the Salem Tabernacle Church.Related ponderings on the cancellation: I started offering this event last year and had a lovely response for the first lunch, and since then folks...

I'm sure you're all very curious to know how the poll is going since we posted that almost a week ago. It turns out that 60% use Facebook, 40% use RSS, and only 20% go directly...

From the First Annual Report of the Directors of the Congregational Library Association, May 30, 1854: On Wednesday, at 2 o'clock, P.M., the members of the Association, with their ladies, and other invited guests, sat down to a collation in Fanueuil Hall, which the Directors had prepared in...

If our lovely viewing audience would be so kind as to follow this link to a survey that will tell us how you get to these posts, as we suspect it's not just in the traditional via Typepad's URL. We will be using the results at our annual meeting in a few weeks. Thanks- Click Here to take survey

The first Bible printed in America is a translation of the Old and New Testaments into the Algonquin language by John Eliot (1604-1690), “Apostle to the Indians.”  Rev...

Thanks to the fantastic work of this semester's interns, plus my own diligence, our web site and online catalog has a number of newly organized collections. The following descriptions are pulled from the finding aids. Hopkinton, New Hampshire- First Church. Records, 1757-1909...

Jonathan Mayhew (October 8, 1720 – July 9, 1766) was a noted American clergyman and minister at Old West Church in Boston.  Mayhew was born at Martha’s Vineyard, being a descendant of  Thomas Mayhew (1592-1682), an early settler and the grantee (1641) of Martha's Vineyard...

  Jonathan Edwards (May 26, 1745—August 1, 1801) was a theologian and linguist. Born in Northampton, MA he was the second son of Jonathan Edwards, the elder. He graduated from Princeton in 1765. He was tutor in Princeton (1767-69), and pastor in New Haven, CT (1769 -95)...

From today's Brown Bag lunch series. In 1606, dissatisfied with the corruption and lapsed nature of the Church of England, religious Separatists in the village of Scrooby broke away from the established church. Scrooby Manor was William Brewster's home and became a meeting place for dissenters...

When you work on something day in, day out- for weeks or months, you want to share what you've been doing. Particularly if you don't feel like you will be done soon. Last week I had a major break through on one of these kinds of projects...