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Massachusetts Conference Edition
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Congregational Library offers grants for record preservationby Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane October/November 2007
Historians and genealogists consider old ledger books and pastors’ diaries a rich resource for providing a unique glimpse into the lives of ordinary people, and they are an irreplaceable story of a local community’s past. The Congregational Library wants to ensure those records aren’t lost forever, so it is offering local churches the opportunity to apply for grants to have their 17th and 18th-century records microfilmed and preserved. According to Dr. Margaret Bendroth, Librarian and Executive Director of the American Congregational Association, colonial church records contain a wealth of information. “Many of New England’s Congregational churches own priceless treasures, without realizing it,” said Bendroth. “Those dusty old ledger books, perhaps stored on a closet shelf or in an old safe, are an extraordinarily valuable window into the past, especially for what they tell about the lives of ordinary people. If those books are lost or damaged, the stories of those lives are gone forever.” Virtually every church in early Massachusetts kept minutes of church meetings, lists of baptisms and memberships, records of disciplinary proceedings, and, at times, of larger debates about a wide variety of church policy decisions. In the earliest days of settlement, town and church were institutionally inseparable, and their records difficult to differentiate. These records help historians understand the complex spiritual, social, and political rhythms of seventeenth and eighteenth century life, as they were experienced by everyday folk. “Colonial church records are amazing documents,” she says. “Most of the historical records that survive from the 17th and 18th centuries came from that tiny percentage of people who were wealthy enough to read and write; the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people have mostly vanished along with them. But church records are a huge exception.” To help preserve that history, the Congregational Library has been inventorying Congregational church records since the 1970s and is dedicated to continuing to preserve them. This year, the Library announced a new program of microfilm grants for local churches. Churches that qualify will receive a professionally prepared set of microfilms, and the Library will keep an additional one, for use by researchers. “We strongly encourage local congregations to deposit the originals on permanent loan in the Library’s climate-controlled ar-chive,” said Bendroth, “to bring those scattered documents ‘home’ to the Library organized long ago by men and women committed to keeping alive the story of the Congregational Way.” According to Bendroth, already in the summer of 2007, the Library has received some “amazing treasures” from churches in Massachusetts, including Oxford, Franklin, and Bradford. Bendroth anticipates more are on their way. “Congregational church records are nationally significant documents,” she says. “Those ancient church meetings are in many ways precursors of American democracy, an early test-run for the ‘consent of the governed,’ a revolutionary ideal that would transform assumptions about power and freedom, from Massachusetts Bay to Tiananmen Square.” “Centralizing access to these key sources would provide an inestimable source of information about the way religion was practiced in early Massachusetts and about some key developments in American political and cultural history. Let’s make sure these pieces of history are preserved.” To apply for a microfilm grant or discuss permanent loans, contact Peggy Bendroth, the Library director, at mbendroth@14beacon.org. The Library – located in Boston's historic Beacon Hill – also offers regular seminars and printed guides on records management. For more information, go to www.congregationallibrary.org.
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