Congregational Library

Final Word from Katherine Williamson

I have had such a lovely experience working at the Library. I have not only learned a great deal about Congregationalism from the materials I've worked, but also about the archival profession from the staff I've had the pleasure of spending time with.

Before this summer, my knowledge of Congregationalism was fairly limited. I knew that it was considered the "Pilgrim" church, and that individual churches were self-governing. Beyond this basic information, I knew hardly anything about the history or philosophy of Congregationalism. After 130 hours wading through archival material, researching and writing historical descriptions, I cannot claim such ignorance any longer! I have learned about the activities of prominent missionary organizations, such as the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the lives of prominent theologians (I had no idea that Jonathan Edwards had a sweet tooth!), as well as the impact of Congregationalism on New England society and politics.

Over the past six weeks, I have steadily worked on creating a digital exhibit of collections from the Small Collections (an artificial collection that consists of collections consisting of just one or two folders). Many steps went into the preparation of this exhibit, including appraising, researching, writing historical descriptions and, of course, digitizing collection materials. None of this would have been possible without the guidance and sage advice of Peggy and Jess, who kept me on the right track throughout the duration of this project.

Through completing this project, I have gained a tremendous amount of insight into the duties and responsibilities of an archivist and the evolving services offered by archives. I have learned about the challenges associated with creating and sustaining digital content and the significance of providing various avenues to facilitate discovery.

For me, this project truly embodied the merging of archival theory and practice. It allowed me to deepen the knowledge I've gained from graduate coursework and understand how the actual day-to-day workings of an archive contribute to evolving scholarly discussions and professional practices.

I had such a wonderful time at the Library; I don't think I could have asked for a more enjoyable or educational experience!

-Katherine

Changes

There are a lot of comings and goings here at the library:

Both our summer interns, Katherine and Peter, will be wrapping up this week. Everyone on staff is queued up for some vacation time, as one expects by this time of the season, and by this time next month we will be saying goodbye to Abraham and saying hello to Sari.

And finally a leave-but-come-back: The project I've been working on for the past 9 months is almost done and ready to meet the world. There's still some work to be done over the next few weeks at the cellular level. In other words, I'll be on maternity leave starting sometime within the next few weeks and returning in November. When the Little Bean has acclimated, there will be a notice here, per the request of several folks.

-Jessica

Church Records and Community Preservation Funds

Many local congregations in Massachusetts have access to a source of funding for historical preservation, made possible through the Community Preservation Act. Some are already tapping these to cover the costs of preservation and digitization of their records.

The Library also has funding available for digitizing records, and we are actively encouraging local churches with records pre-dating 1800 to contact us. Our mission is to preserve these very important documents of the past, and to make them fully accessible to researchers.

Here is a map and a list of Massachusetts towns that have CPA funds available.

These two articles will show you how to access CPA for historical documents, and to use this public money for private owned assets like church records:

Documents are Historic Resources, Too (April 2009)

Can CPA Fund Private Projects? (January 2008)

Do you have old records sitting in a closet or under the stairs? Please contact us here and we can discuss other options. If you don't have access to CPA funding, contact us. We are here to help!

-Peggy

We have a new toy!

Using microfilm for research just got a lot easier at the Congregational Library. We are now the proud owners of a ScanPro 2000 microfilm scanner. It allows you to not just look at the microfilms as they are, but it also comes with image editing software to improve the experience. You can clean up older texts, magnify for easier reading, and select only the portions of the records you want. There are several output options as well -- print a hard copy, email files, or save files to a flash drive.

Just by playing around with the interface during my training, I can tell that some of our researchers are going to find this extremely helpful. If you've been daunted by the thought of using microfilm before, please consider giving it a shot on our new machine.

 

--Robin

Update from Library Intern Peter Laurence

I've really been enjoying my time this summer as a Simmons intern at the Congregational Library. My work mostly involves cataloging books and sitting at the reference desk in the beautiful CL reading room. Over the last two months I've gotten to know the collection better, especially the library's important holdings of sermons dating back to the 17th-century. For many of these titles, the library has one of the few, if not the only print copy in the United States. It's been great to work with these books because they are especially valuable to researchers.

I've also worked on reference questions that have sent me searching through a variety of print, microfilm and archival sources ranging from Old South Church baptismal records to material on the founding of the first mission in Palestine. Along the way I have also become interested in the life of Henry Ward Beecher, whose father's portrait hangs prominently in the reading room. I'm now reading a biography of this impassioned (and a little controversial) pastor, abolitionist and orator entitled The Most Famous Man in America. You can find it in our collection.  

Everyone at the library has been wonderful to work with, and I've learned a lot. I recommend taking a break from the heat and stopping by to get acquainted with some part of the library's rich and historic collection. 

-Peter

Scheduling notice for our researchers

We're pleased to welcome scholars from the Congregational Foundation for Theological Studies once again this coming week. They are always a lively bunch who keep the staff jumping as we help them track down resources on their areas of interest.

If you're not attending CFTS and are planning to come into the library to do research of your own, we suggest avoiding those two days -- Wednesday the 27th and Friday the 29th -- so that we can offer you our full attention (and guarantee you a place to sit).

Cyrus Hamlin – Missionary and Educator

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions [A.B.C.F.M.] sent missionaries across the world to spread the gospel. While spreading gospel was one of the core missions, the A.B.C.F.M. missionaries also frequently engaged in soft-infrastructure development, which included setting up hospitals and schools. Cyrus Hamlin (1811-1900) was one such missionary who worked in Turkey from 1839 to 1876.

Hamlin, ordained in 1838, worked under the American Board from 1839 until 1859 to train the youth in Turkey in theology, especially grooming the youth for work in the ministry. After leaving the A.B.C.F.M., Hamlin helped Christopher Robert found Robert College. Hamlin was president of the college until 1876, when he returned to the United States. He was later a professor at Bangor Theological Seminary, his alma mater, and president of Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont.

For more information on the missionaries in Turkey or the American Board in Turkey, search the online catalog for "Missionaries – Turkey", "Missions – Turkey", or "American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions - Turkey".

--Abraham

Jeopardy! CL Edition

Work on the Library's upcoming digital exhibition has been going swimmingly. The list of collections to be included in the exhibit has been finalized, my research is coming to a close, and scanning will soon commence.

As promised, I will share some hints about the content of the exhibition. Sadly, I am not clever enough to construct a proper riddle, and I believe that creating an anagram would be too time consuming and would divert my efforts away from the project at hand.

So, in lieu of these puzzles, I've decided to provide my clues in the form of Jeopardy!–style questions (or, rather answers) for three of the collections that are included in the project.

See if you can guess the collections!

Mystery Collection #1
The Category is: "Creator"
•    Herman Melville dedicated his novel Moby Dick to this New England author.

Mystery Collection #2
The Category is: "Subject"
•    Derivations of this word related to slavery can be used as both a verb and a noun.

Mystery Collection #3
The Category is: "Creator"
•    Scholars believe that this famous eighteenth century preacher was a chocaholic, as "cakes" of chocolate were in steady demand in his household.

-Katherine

Edwards and the 21st Century

Abraham talked about Jonathan Edwards earlier this week, and now my news is that we had our first request to have images for an e-book: Faithful Narrative (Jonathan Edwards's Works).

Product Description:

A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton is an essay written in 1737 by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) about the process of Christian conversion in Northampton, Massachusetts during the Great Awakening, which emanated from Edwards' congregation in 1734.

This Kindle edition is well formatted, includes illustrations (Courtesy of the Congregational Library, Boston, Massachusetts), [emphasis mine] references and endnotes that help the reader to understand better the book, its time and people, mentioned in it.

The text from the 1832 edition of "Edwards on Revivals" by Dunning & Spulding, NY. (http://books.google.com)

Reverend Edwards: Welcome to the 21st Century.

-Jessica

Jonathan Edwards Portraits

When people think of the First Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is one of the figures most associated with the revivals in the American colonies. While he was a minister in Northampton, Mass., Edwards gained a reputation as a powerful orator and was known for sermons like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". After leaving Northampton, Edwards acted as pastor in Stockbridge, Mass., which was a missionary post to the Mahican and Mohawk natives of the area. The following is a portrait of Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards' son, Jonathan Edwards (1745-1801), may be less well known today, but he still had an accomplished career. The younger Edwards became a minister, but he held different opinions than his father, such as opposing slavery. The younger Edwards also wrote on the American Indian languages. The following is an portrait of Jonathan Edwards, the younger, from when he was President of Union College.

For more information please search our online catalog. For the elder, search "Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758", and, for the younger, search "Edwards, Jonathan, 1745-1801". For a good biography of the elder Jonathan Edwards, I recommend George M. Marsden's A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards, which I read during my studies at Simmons College.

--Abraham