Congregational Library - Archive and Rare Book Collection - Topics

Topics

The collection is extremely rich in New England history, due to the early influence of Congregationalism in the region. Other collection strengths include New England local church records, American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions records, missionary and charitable associations records, and manuscript sermons from the 17th to the 20th century. There are a number of collections — independent and intermingled among church records — that would be of interest to women's studies scholars, including collections documenting women's missionary associations and women's charitable organizations.

Unlike other repositories, researchers may find that there is a fluidity between "Library" and "Archive." The library contains a wealth of materials that complement the archives and manuscript collection, and vice-versa. Printed and published materials in the library provide town histories, documentation of church architecture, theological works and hymnals. The rare book collection contains a large number of antiquarian Bibles and printed works documenting early Congregational history, from the 17th century on. There is also a large collection of mid- to late-19th century periodicals, many published by missionary societies, particularly women's missionary societies.

Together the library and archives are particularly useful for documenting four periods of Congregational history:

• early Congregational history
• the Evangelical revival in early 19th-century Massachusetts
• the foundation of the United Church of Christ
• the other denominations that contribute to Congregational history: National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.