Beacon Street Diary

Storage Cases of the Past

Storage Cases of the Past

When unpacking an historic collection at the Congregational Library, we never know exactly what we'll find. Not only are the documents themselves often fragile, beautiful, and fascinating, but so are their storage cases. They too, sometimes in intangible ways, tell us something about the material culture of a time period. It's interesting to see what's valued in a certain era — how much effort is put into wrapping, ornamental detail work, bookplates, as well as clever design and packaging. Equally interesting is the evident shift to strictly utilitarian storage containers in the 20th century.

Here are a few quick examples of historic storage containers we've received as part of new accessions to our archive. Notice anything familiar from your own collections? Included are:

• Metal boxes, one from 1877 that's painted and lacquered (complete with beautiful keys)
• Wooden lantern slide boxes
• Plastic floppy disk case
• Various kinds of cardboard and wooden cases

During the course of processing these collections and making their finding aids available on our website, we'll rehouse the documents and retire these storage containers. We do this because the majority of storage cases are not archival — meaning, at minimum, they are not acid-free and over a long period of time they become inhospitable to the items they contain. Beyond that, any wooden or late 19th- or 20th-century paper-based storage container also contains lignin**, a chemical compound found in wood that makes the items it contains yellow and brittle (think of old newspaper print) as it biodegrades. We'll also rehouse documents that come to us in plastic containers because as plastic degrades, it gives off gases and is often chemically deleterious to documents in its vicinity.

These are just a few of the easy steps you too can take with your own collections or personal papers to help them endure as long as possible. Nothing is made to last forever. While we can't stop the aging process entirely, we can help slow it down considerable by removing historic items from chemically hostile storage containers and providing more neutral enclosures for them.

-Cristina

 

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** Fun fact: Lignin breakdown is also what gives old books their distinctive vanilla-like smell.

Robert Wood collection ready for researchers

This is just a quick follow-up to announce that the Robert Wood collection is now officially complete. This collection focuses on Rev. Wood's life as an advocate for LGBT rights, particularly regarding marriage equality and military service, more than as his work as a United Church minister. The collection has topics including: materials from conferences and seminars; correspondence, both career and personal; publications and writings; and audio visual materials. The collection includes personal papers and photographs of Wood's husband, Hugh M. Coulter.

The guide to the collection is now up on our site and searchable in our catalog.

-Jessica

Congregationalists -- a sharp-dressed bunch

We here at the Congregational Library are a well-dressed group of people, as were the librarians who came before us (remember Miss Emma White?), and if our image collection is anything to go by, Congregationalists have, traditionally, been a rather dapper group. We here at the library were reminded of this fact last week when a routine inventorying of our collection lead us to a white leather glove which supposedly once belonged to Rev. James Diman (1707-1788) (although we doubt the veracity of this claim). Naturally, this discovery sparked some discussion amongst the staff — and then someone said the magic words: "It could go with our hats!"

...Hats?

Yes, hats. And what hats they are! Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about the origin of these hats (Why do we have them? Did they once belong to someone important? Were they just left in the building and given to us as the natural resting place for such things?), but we do know that they are from Collins & Fairbanks Co., purveyors of young men's hats, gloves, and canes, located at 383 Washington Street here in Boston. We also know that, being top hats, they're super cool. We hope you think so too!

-Sari

Scheduling notice -- closed for Memorial Day

The library will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day.

All our online resources will be available as usual. If you have questions to ask the staff, leave us a voicemail or send an email, and we'll get back to you when we return to the office on Tuesday.

New archival collection -- Haverhill, MA: First Congregational Church

We are pleased to announce a new addition to our collection! The First Congregational Church of Haverhill, MA records have been processed and are now available to researchers. These records document the history of the church and its various iterations from 1859 to 2012.

First Congregational Church traces its roots back to the 17th-century First Parish in Haverhill. Its building was constructed in 1859, when it was named North Church, and boasted beautiful Tiffany stained glass memorial windows installed at the beginning of the 20th century. Overall, this collection offers considerable insight into the changing nature of the church and the city of Haverhill in the 19th and 20th centuries.

-Cristina

Boston Immigrants -- digital exhibit by the Mass. State Library

Our neighbors at the State Library of Massachusetts have created a digital version of their current historical exhibit on their Flickr page. This exhibit showcases materials from the library's collections highlighting the history of Boston's immigrants and their contributions to the Commonwealth. Although the full physical display will be leaving the State House after tomorrow, you can still access the images and information highlights online. If you've got a little time, go take a look and learn something.

--Robin

Job opportunity -- Administrative Assistant

We're in search of a new part-time Administrative Assistant to join us in June. This position covers a variety of tasks including publicity, donor support, event coordination, records management, and more. See the full job description on our website for details and contact information.

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UPDATE: Submissions are now closed.

Robert Wood collection almost ready

Robert Wood, right, with his husband, Hugh Coulter

John Boyd wrote up a fantastic tribute to Robert Wood yesterday in honor of Rev. Wood's 89th birthday. John and I have been in conversation regularly in the past week or so about the collection of Wood's papers that have been on deposit with us for several years, and about Wood's book, Christ and the Homosexual. These papers have been under access restrictions while his biography remained unpublished. However, Rev. Wood has decided that the time has come to lift that restriction and offer his work to everyone.

As John optimistically wrote, I am going to try to make this collection ready for the public this week. I have a few folders to sort out and the finding guide to polish up. So, do keep an eye on this blog or our website where we will announce its official publication.

-Jessica

People of the Stacks #9 -- Evelyn Vrandenburg

Evelyn Marston Vrandenburg, 1908-2000

Evelyn Marston at UNH

Evelyn Vrandenburg (nee Marston) was born in New Hampshire Lakes District in 1908. She earned a degree from the University of New Hampshire in history and went on to teach high school history in Laconia, New Hampshire. She continued her education with classes at Tufts University in theology and religion and, upon her employment at the library, at Simmons College for classes in cataloging and reference. Mrs. Vrandenburg also taught religious education in public schools in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. She joined the staff in 1962 as Assistant and Associate Librarian. In 1971 she was promoted to replace Rev. Dwight Cart as head librarian. Mrs. Vradenburg's interest in history served her well while working at the library. She was known as an expert reference librarian. Her retirement from the library marked the end of her professional career. Mrs. Vrandenburg enjoyed another 23 years before dying of heart failure in 2000.

-Sari

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Infant Damnation (Or Were Afraid to Ask)

We are on NPR! It turns out that Peggy Bendroth, our executive director, is a resident expert on the eternal fate of newborn children — don't ask how this happened. She participated in a recent discussion with The American History Guys about childbirth past and present, and the ways in which early American religion influenced the ways we approach it today. You can listen to the podcast episode or extended interviews with the participants on their website.

 

About the episode -- Born in the USA

To mark the rebirth of BackStory as a weekly program, the History Guys set out to explore the earliest stages of life in America. They begin with a few of the basic assumptions we have about birth in America today, and spend the hour exploring how those assumptions came into being. How is it that hospital doctors moved in on what had been midwife's exclusive territory? Why did Puritans think their newborns were damned from the outset? When did courts start ruling that fetuses had legal rights? Why have generations of Americans resisted the notion of birthright citizenship?

 

About the Show

BackStory is a public radio program and podcast produced by Virginia Public Radio that brings historical perspective to the events happening around us today. On each show, renowned U.S. historians Ed Ayers, Peter Onuf, and Brian Balogh tear a topic from the headlines and plumb its historical depths. Over the course of the hour, they are joined by fellow historians, people in the news, and callers interested in exploring the roots of what's going on today. Together, they drill down to colonial times and earlier, revealing the connections (and disconnections) between past and present. With its passionate, intelligent, and irreverent approach, BackStory is fun and essential listening no matter who you are.

You can also check out BackStory on Facebook, and subscribe to their podcast through iTunes.