Many visitors to the library have seen this remarkable desk and we have written about it previously. As we prepare for Thanksgiving, we thought we'd recall the response to this gift in 1896:
Annual Minutes, May 25, 1896:
"A gift which is worthy of special mention has come to the Library recently through the bequest of Hon. Charles Carlton Coffin; namely the desk of the parish clerk in Scrooby, England, the first gathering place of the hunted Separatists who became the Plymouth Pilgrims. The desk is doubtless contemporary with those forefathers, for it is reputed to be more than three hundred years old. With its solid oak, its quaint carvings, and its centuries of history, it is an object not to be regarded without emotion."
William Brewster (1560-1644) led the Separatists (Pilgrims) from Scrooby Parish to Leiden, The Netherlands, and then on to Plymouth Colony. The desk is believed to have been used during Elder Brewster's tenure at Scrooby. The clerk's desk would have been located in the church below the pulpit. It may have been below a reader's desk as well. The Parish Clerk sat or stood facing the congregation, whom he lead in responses printed in the prayer book, led the "lining of the psalms," and made community announcements.
The donor of this desk, Charles Carlton Coffin (1823-1896), was an author, journalist, war correspondent, and member of the Massachusetts legislature 1884-1885.
--Claudette
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