Isaac Pendleton Langworthy
"When Dr. Langworthy was elected Librarian at the May Meeting of 1862, he had already been a farmer, teacher, physician, pastor, and denominational secretary." So writes Frederick T. Persons in a retrospective on former Congregational Library librarians. Indeed, Rev. Dr. Isaac Pendleton Langworthy, the Congregational Library's third librarian, can claim many interesting distinctions. He was a graduate of Harvard Medical School, Yale College, and Yale Seminary; a founder of First Congregational Church in Chelsea, Massachusetts and then its pastor for 17 years; and founder and editor of Congregational Quarterly. He became Librarian in 1862 when the Library and Association were located on Chauncy Street, remained in office when the library moved to 40 Winter Street, was still in office when the property on Somerset Street was purchased, and (not content to only be the librarian) was the designer of the first Congregational House's oval reading room.
During his tenure as librarian, Dr. Langworthy undertook the process of weeding out duplicate material, organized books into a rough classification scheme, and began cataloging the collection in earnest (a task which was put into the hands of Assistant Librarian Miss Mary E. Stone). Dr. Langworthy spent much of his time collecting publications and manuscripts for the library, and upon his retirement in 1887, claimed an average annual increase library's holdings of 1,194 volumes during his tenure. He died at the age of 82 in 1888, leaving the Library $10,000 in his will to be spent on "town histories, genealogies and commentaries". The library holds seven items penned by Dr. Langworthy, including two articles which are also available online.
-Sari
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