Congregational Library

Memorial Service for former Congregational Library staff member

A memorial service for Linda L. Roberts will be held on Thursday, August 6 at 10:00 AM at Bethany Congregational Church, 18 Spear St., Quincy, MA. A collation will follow. Donations may be made in Linda's memory to the Congregational Library.

Linda was an employee of the library from March 1989 to August 2002. Tom Boates, past Chairman of the ACA Board, remembers Linda: "She was a warm and welcoming presence at the library desk. We are grateful for her contributions then and now."

All are welcome to attend. For directions see the church website. The church is accessible via public transportation on the MBTA red line.

Fall Events at the Congregational Library

We are beginning to schedule events both at the library and off site for the fall. We plan to hold several Brown Bag Lunches including one in November spotlighting our Pilgrim Treasures. Our workshops on Tech 2.0 for church members and on Records Management will be offered. Peggy will lead her seminar on the History of Congregationalism. Additionally, we will host workshops for church librarians and church members writing histories for their church's anniversary.

Library tours and Congregational walking tours of Boston are available on request.

If you have program or event suggestions, please contact us.

Treasures -- Bishop Stubbs Collection

In 1902 the Congregational Library purchased over 6,000 books for $5,500. These books were from the library of Bishop William Stubbs, a working scholar who was both a leading historian and a high official in the Church of England. The books purchased, mainly in Latin, included works relating to the Church of England, its progeny, and English history. It took the Assistant Librarian three years to catalog these volumes. The collection is shelved in Rare Book Room. A portion of this collection has been sold to Yale University.

William Stubbs was born June 2, 1825, the son of William Morley Stubbs, in Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Educated at Oxford, he graduated in 1848 with a first class in classics and a third in mathematics. Prior to becoming Bishop, Stubbs concentrated on historical study and his written works were grounded on learning and veneration for antiquity. He believed that English history should be thoroughly investigated beginning with each parish. In his time, no English historian was as universally acknowledged as the leader of all English historians.

After attending the funeral of Queen Victoria and preaching the following day, he became critically ill. Bishop Stubbs died on April 22, 1901.

Christian Preservation Project

Thanks to Craig Showalter for the following links to materials on the history of the Christian Church:

Some materials can be found on the Restoration Movement web pages of the Memorial University: http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/

 

Electronic copies of the 7 booklets by J. P. Burnett can be found here:

http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/people/jburnett.html

 

More publications by the Christian Publishing Association can be found by searching here: http://books.google.com/ or

http://www.archive.org

 

 

REMINDER: Growing Deeper Roots: Exploring the History of the Congregational Tradition

This mini-course started last Tuesday but there is still time to register for the next two classes. Peggy Bendroth, historian of American religion and director of the Congregational Library, welcomes all students at all levels for this class covering three and a half centuries, from Congregationalism's English Puritan roots to the denominational merger which created the United Church of Christ in 1957.

Class meets July 28 and August 4 from 1:00-3:30PM. Cost is $30. Call 617-523-0470 to register.

More information about Puritan Tours

Article about Linda Palmer Hudson Woman Wearing History on Her Sleeve

REMINDER: Where did the Puritans Go?

On Wednesday, July 29 at 12 noon, join historical re-creator Linda K. Palmer, in the guise of Puritan colonist Ann Vassall, for a brown bag lunch (bring your lunch) and walking tour of nearby Puritan landmarks. The character Linda Palmer portrays was a passenger on board the Arbella, the ship that brought the first Puritans and the Charter from King Charles I to America.

Learn what it is like to live in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 and why Vassell thinks this is the year that will make or break the colony.

The tour begins in the Congregational Library with a narrative given by Linda Palmer then moves outside to visit such landmarks as the statue of Quaker rebel Mary Dyer at the State House and King's Chapel Burying Ground.

Each participant receives a copy of the Bonner map of 1722 with Puritan sights highlighted.

For additional information contact us at 617-523-0470.

New Resource on our site

Last Friday we launched a new page on the web site: a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for churches in the process of closing. It is very unfortunate that this resource needs to exist, but we get questions fairly regularly on what a Congregation should do in this transition. This list is not necessarily complete or a perfect answer for each church's situation, so be prepared to contact us for further clarification.

National Council of Congregational Churches Minutes

Now available on our web site are links to the digitized Minutes. These reports may be accessed under Digital Resources and are listed by year from 1852 to 1923.

American Congregationalists did not meet nationally until 1852.  The Albany Convention of that year, and a subsequent meeting in Boston in 1865, paved the way for the formation of the National Council of Congregational Churches in 1871.  This Council met every three years.  After the merger of Congregationalists and the General Convention of Christian Churches in 1931, the national body took a new name, the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches. This terminology continued until the merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Churches which created the United Church of Christ in 1957.

A bit of perspective in a digital-centric time

Some of you may have heard about the goof that Amazon has had with their Kindle books. If you haven't, do follow the link or you can take this biased Information Professional's summary: Some of the books they offered- specifically George Orwell's- were disputed by publishers to not have copyright permission, and so those who bought Orwell's titles found the books no longer on their Kindle readers. The one saving grace was that the customers' money was returned.
I will admit that I have been toying with the idea of getting a Kindle or a Kindle-clone. I do travel and my daily commute is a minimum of an hour and a half. It would be nice to never be caught out without something to read and never have to carry a big hard-back. I also argued with myself that I still buy CDs, but use iTunes as my default mode of listening. It is a safe bet I'd not give up on paper books.
However, after this latest incident, I think I'll wait for them to sort out a few more of their customer service and technical bugs. DRM is obnoxious. iTunes managed to shed itself from it. I suspect e-books will, too. Eventually.

In the meantime, my addage: "digital is about access, but not about preservation," holds true. ... well, unless they take away your access, too.
-Jessica