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