Beacon Street Diary

Five Mile Prairie Congregational Church

I thought about giving this post the title, "Who is sitting on the steps of the church?" The photograph, below, is of Five Mile Prairie Congregational Church, Spokane, Washington, which was in operation between 1907 and 1924. The sepia-toned print is dominated by the church, which is at the center of the camera's focus. Since we knew the church's name and location, it was easier to find basic information about the church's history through Richard H. Taylor's The Congregational churches of the west (Benton Harbor, Mich.: R.H. Taylor, 1992). Look at the photo and think of a question about what is seen.

The question that I asked was "Who is sitting on the steps of the church?" There are five people in front of the church, but they are not identified. Are they members of the church or just passing through? This is another one of the qualities of photography that appeals to me. We do not know what is happening outside of the frame or what happened before or after the shutter opened.

For more information on Congregational Churches in Washington state, search the online catalog for "Congregational churches - Washington (State)".

--Abraham

UCC Roots: Revisiting the ARDA website's family tree

Over the past 11 years, I find myself getting to explain to people what is Congregationalism and how does it fit into the current denominational structures? I rarely get a straight forward question such as that, but I find that there's a lot that isn't in the greater public consciousness: not a full and known portrait. The past few years, particularly after editing Peggy's history videos, I am gaining a great deal of confidence in my information telling. I even have to ask my friends or new acquaintances to have me scale it back a bit if they think they've hit information overload. It's always good to have resources to supplement my planned and impromptu history lessons.

Claudette sent me a link to this very neat family tree, which traces the roots of the tree that is the United Church of Christ. You will find that if you hover over the red links, you'll get access to further information and more links. The hosting site, The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) has an extensive list of other denominational family trees, which reminds me how complicated some are. For example, check out the significant number of splits for the Baptists. ARDA has a very rich site beyond this. I hope our patrons will find it helpful.

-Jessica

Welcome Megan

How cool is it to have someone with the last name Book working in a library! Megan Wheaton-Book has joined us as Administrative Assistant and Records Management Specialist. She is replacing Susan Thomas and will be assisting Jessica Steytler with managing the records of the Association.

Megan began as a volunteer in the Library in September, 2010. She has assisted with the weeding project and with the Chicago Theological Seminary donations. She checked titles for duplication and reviewed copies for condition. Currently, Megan is a student at Simmons in the dual Masters degree program which includes Library Science, concentrating in Archives, and History. She anticipates receiving her degrees in May 2012.

Her previous experience includes office and customer service experience at William Sonoma and University of Vermont. She completed archive internships at Harvard Art Museum Archives and Framingham State College Archives and Special Collections. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Vermont. She is married to Andy Book.

-Claudette

Our Annual Meeting: a reminder

A quick reminder: the library reading room will be closed next Monday for our annual meeting.

-Jessica

Mary L. McClure Booklet

Mary L. McClure was a Massachusetts native who traveled to China in 1919 as a missionary. The following booklet tells her story through news clippings and photographs.

For more information on more missionaries to China, search the Congregational Library catalog for the subject "Missionaries - China."

--Abraham