Congregational Library & Archives

Buying Christian books in a 19th-century slave insurance office? This troubling intersection was just one piece of Dr. Sonia Hazard’s full book talk on how the American Tract Society built a massive 19th-century mass media empire.

It’s our 173rd birthday! 🎂 To celebrate, we’re unwrapping some history. In this clip from our “Oxford Handbook of Puritanism” program, Dr. Francis Bremer explains how Congregational church covenants quietly laid the groundwork for participatory democracy in the US.

From Mary Easty’s moving final pleas to testimonies about talking cats, explore how digital archives are providing more access than ever before to the original records of the Salem witch trials.

What would American liberty be without Congregationalism? Dr. Emerson “Tad” Baker traces a thread of puritan influence from the Salem witch trials to the Bill of Rights in this clip from our “Oxford Handbook of Puritanism” roundtable.

Are records managers tyrants? According to CLA Archivist Zachary Bodnar, in an ideal universe, they might like to be. 😆 Jokes aside, in this clip from our “CSI Goes Digital” video, Zachary explores the "push and pull" of managing church records and why the best records management is collaborative.

NEHH is using early New England Congregational church records to uncover hidden stories of enslaved people and Indigenous history that our textbooks skipped.

“So I think he would invite people to think about who that you can trust with your story… And I think he would be very zoned in on who it is that you allow to dictate the terms of, comment on your experience.”

“Mather, I think, is unique in that he is the most prolific. So, of all of the colonial fellows [of the Royal Society of London], he certainly writes the most letters. And I think that's one of the reasons the collection is so significant.”

“Transcription is what makes the records accessible. . . . Being able not only to see but to read the texts shatters some of our stereotypes.”

“And so he's not the minister, right? . . . But he's the one who's doing the work. He's doing the organizational work. He's doing the leg work. . . . And he ends up being a major founder and figure for Newport's Black Christian community.”

John Hancock’s signature might be why many people know about him today, but where did it come from, and what does it have to do with his roots as a Congregationalist?

“Wherever we have built a church, we have built a school next to it, because we believe that faith and education, they go hand in hand. And without school, there is no survival for the church.”

Early New England Congregational church records provide unique access to women’s words and perspectives. Hear more of Mary Tilden’s story in Tricia Peone’s essay for our NEHH@20 exhibition: congregationallibrary.quartexcollections.com/online-exhib...

This Giving Tuesday, let Rev. Dr. Maxwell Grant, Chair of our Board of Directors, share how your support can help us preserve the Congregational story; amplify new voices; and inspire scholars, students, and history enthusiasts. Partner with us today at congregationallibrary.org/donate