Adopt a book from our collection and partner with us in preserving the Congregational story.
In conjunction with our Preserve, Amplify and Inspire Annual Appeal, the CLA is proud to launch our third annual Adopt-A-Book program. By adopting an item, you support our efforts to build and make accessible our world-renowned collections.
The Preserve, Amplify & Inspire Adopt-a-Book program will support the CLA’s annual acquisition program. Hundreds of historic and new printed works and scores of linear feet of manuscript records come into the CLA each year, documenting the 400+ year history of Congregationalism. Our staff works diligently to assess, catalog, and make these materials accessible to students, scholars, church members, and anyone interested in the history of religion in America.
Twenty-one staff-recommended selections are up for adoption this year, chosen to represent the breadth of our collection. These include a series of Marvel Team-Up comics by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema that feature Cotton Mather; a five-volume set of the works of seventeenth-century Congregational minister John Cotton; and church cookbooks including Our Daily Bread, published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Iao Congregational Church in Wailuku, Maui, Hawai’i.
To celebrate their adoption, donors will be recognized with:
- a virtual bookplate in our online catalog;
- an adoption certificate detailing the item’s provenance and history; and
- a physical bookplate added to your selected item.
Adopt-a-Book is also a wonderful way to honor someone special to you. When completing your adoption form, simply identify the person in whose name the item will be adopted. We will make sure their name appears on all documentation.
Scroll down to view the materials up for adoption. Once you’ve made a selection, click on the item to complete an adoption form. A staff member will be in touch soon after you submit your information to walk you through the payment process and finalize your adoption.
All Preserve, Amplify and Inspire Adopt-a-Book donations are tax-deductible. Donors will receive a formal gift acknowledgment with tax receipt information.
Questions? Contact Director of Development Heather Kurtz at hkurtz@14beacon.org or 617-523-0470 x230.
Books Available for Adoption
A Statement of the Case of Rev. Barnabas Phinney, Who is Accused of The Crime of Adultery with, And Seduction of Aurelia Chalker (Westborough, MA, 1836)
Anonymous
ADOPTED FOR $150
A pamphlet detailing the many sins and crimes of Rev. Barnabas Phinney, minister of the Evangelical Church of Westborough, Massachusetts. Phinney gained popularity after leading a religious revival but was soon faced with accusations of impregnating his fourteen-year-old indentured servant, Aurelia Chalker. Although initially cleared by a church investigation, this pamphlet provided irrefutable evidence of his guilt, and Phinney was soon dismissed as minister.
Reverend Dr. Thomas Nelson Baker: Philosopher Born Enslaved (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Linda Batty
A biography exploring the professional life of Rev. Dr. Thomas Nelson Baker, the first known African American to receive a PhD in Philosophy in the United States when he graduated from Yale in 1903. He engaged with contemporaries on topics of Black Pride, women’s suffrage, and ecumenicalism; and was an accomplished minister, leading the Second Congregational Church of Pittsfield, Massachusetts for 38 years.
Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A.M. (New York, 1837)
Timothy Mather Cooley
ADOPTED FOR $500
A first edition of Rev. Lemuel Haynes’ 1837 biography by his friend and fellow Congregational minister Timothy Mather Cooley. Haynes, a Revolutionary War veteran, is celebrated for being the first African American man to be ordained to Protestant ministry in the United States. This biography is a key source for this pathbreaking minister’s life.
The Works of John Cotton (Reformation Heritage Books, 2025)
John Cotton
ADOPTED FOR $400
A five-volume set containing the works of eminent seventeenth-century puritan theologian John Cotton. Born in England and educated at Cambridge, Rev. Cotton was a minister in Boston, England for twenty years before pressure against nonconformist clergy led him to flee to Boston, New England in 1633. As a minister in New England, he shaped Congregational polity and enjoyed a prominent and respected reputation despite involvement with many early religious controversies of the period.
70,000 American Refugees: Made in U.S.A. (St. Louis, MO, 1944)
Truman Bartlett Douglas
ADOPTED FOR $300
A pamphlet published by the Citizen’s Committee for Resettlement of the Congregational Christian Committee for Work with Japanese Evacuees, written by the chairman of the committee, Rev. Truman Bartlett Douglass. In it, he denounces the system of Japanese internment camps, particularly the detention of American citizens charged with no crime in “concentration camps” and calls on every “responsible citizen” to help right these wrongs. First published in 1943, this third edition was published in October 1944.
A Sermon . . . Occasioned by the Capture of the British Army, Under the Command of Earl Cornwallis (Hartford, CT, 1781)
Timothy Dwight
A sermon to commemorate the American and French victory at Yorktown, Virginia against the British. Dwight (a Congregational minister who served as a chaplain during the Revolutionary War and later became president of Yale) wrote that while he praised God for the victory, he hoped that his audience would treat the day as a solemn occasion and abstain from “levity and sin.” He gave this copy to another Yale President, Ezra Stiles, whose name is on the front cover.
Letter from Ella to Gertrude E. Cooke (1867)
Ella
A letter written by Ella (no last name given) to Gertrude E. Cooke. In it, Ella reflects on a ceremony held at the Third Congregational Church of Torrington, Connecticut, for the addition of a time capsule to the cornerstone of the newly-formed church. Now the Center Congregational Church, the time capsule likely still remains buried in the same spot Ella described in 1867.
Two Transcripts of Radio Broadcasts from Gallagher’s Run for Congress (Berkeley, CA, 1948)
Buell G. Gallagher
Two four-page transcripts from radio addresses given by Rev. Buell G. Gallagher during his 1948 Congressional campaign. Gallagher, a white Congregational minister, founded the first explicitly integrated church in the California Bay Area and was president of Talladega College (an HBCU). In these two speeches, Gallagher explains why, despite his disapproval of Communism, he believes the persecution of Communists weakens democracy and harms the civil liberties and due process that should be available to all people.
Working People and Their Employers (Boston, 1876)
Washington Gladden
ADOPTED FOR $65
A book by Rev. Washington Gladden, articulating his view on the plight of working-class people. Gladden was a Congregational minister and early pioneer in the Social Gospel Movement who opposed racial segregation and was one of the first US clergymen to support unionization of workers. He acknowledges that some might think these issues too secular for a clergyman to discuss, but states that “they are not only questions of economy, they are in a large sense moral questions.”
A fundraising appeal sent by Rev. Smith Allen Howell, minister at Wesley Grove Christian Church in Newport News, Virginia, and a leader in the Afro-Christian Convention. The handbill seeks donations to build a senior home, a training school for African-American children, and an aging ministers retreat. Howell was the first Black student to earn a degree from Franklinton Christian College in Franklinton, North Carolina, and would go on to serve as its president from 1920 to 1922.
Our Daily Bread (Wailuku, Maui, HI, 1994)
Iao Congregational Church
ADOPTED FOR $40
A cookbook created in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Iao Congregational Church in Wailuku, Maui, Hawai’i. Established in 1895 by a Japanese Congregational minister from Doshisha University, the church began as the Wailuku Japanese Christian Church. Our Daily Bread highlights the church’s history and the significance of Japanese immigration through recipes that blend Japanese cuisine with local Hawaiian ingredients and stereotypical mainland church potluck dishes.
Traité de la Chymie Tome Premier (Paris, c.1669)
Nicaise Le Fèvre
A seventeenth-century book written by French alchemist Nicaise Le Fèvre who worked for the court of King Charles II in London. This is important book in the history of science includes beautiful foldout plates showing the setup for a laboratory. It is unclear why it was acquired by the CLA, but many puritans, including some ministers, were interested in alchemy in this period and did not see a conflict with their religious beliefs.
Marvel Team-Up, Issues #41-45 (Marvel, 1976)
Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema
ADOPTED FOR $800
A series of five comics by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema featuring Cotton Mather, also called Witchslayer, who summons the Scarlet Witch and travels back in time to 1692, where he forces her to participate in Salem’s witch trials. Written in 1976, this humorous interpretation of Mather marks his only appearance in the Marvel canon. The run of comics also includes noticeable characters like Spider-Man and the Vision as they attempt to rescue the Scarlet Witch from Mather.
Reporting Committee Questionnaire (Boston, 1857)
Convention of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts
A survey sent by the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational Ministers, the oldest professional ministerial body in the United States. It focuses on the Convention’s charity work with and for women during the nineteenth century. The respondent was asked to answer several questions about women receiving, needing, or applying for aid; including their age, property value, and the specific circumstances leading to their application.
Two Discourses Shewing, I. That the Lords Ears are Open to the Prayers of the Righteous… (Boston, 1716)
Increase Mather
ADOPTED for $6,500
Two sermons published by Rev. Increase Mather in 1716 as a reflection on his nearly sixty years of ministry. This rare volume, which includes a lengthy preface by Mather, is made even more significant by the fact that he gifted it to Samuel Hancock in 1722. Hancock was an ancestor of Massachusetts governor and Declaration of Independence signer John Hancock.
A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers (Boston, 1750)
Jonathan Mayhew
ADOPTED FOR $1,000
A collection of sermons bound together, likely by a later collector. First in the volume, and perhaps most famous among Mayhew’s sermons, is his Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission, which was delivered on the 100th anniversary of the execution of Charles I. Selected for reprint in John Wingate Thornton’s 1860 The Pulpit of the American Revolution, the sermon clearly influenced how New England Congregationalists thought about the American Revolution.
A Documentary History of Unitarian Universalism (Skinner House Books, 2017)
Dan McKanan, Editor
ADOPTED FOR $60
A two-volume set of books exploring the history of Unitarian Universalism through primary sources from the denomination’s history. Edited and written by a team of scholars, these volumes trace the evolution of Unitarian Universalism through sermons, denomination statements, hymns, autobiographies, and more. The wide-ranging and diverse voices highlighted in these books show how critical diverse perspectives have been in shaping the denomination’s past, present, and future.
Letter to Brethren and Sisters as Have for a Long Time Past Resided at a Distance (West Meriden, CT, 1849)
First Congregational Church of Meriden
A letter to Charlotte Johnson from the First Congregational Church of Meriden, Connecticut. “Mutual watchfulness” is the reason offered for the church committee’s missive. That the committee resorted to a pre-printed form letter suggests Sister Johnson was not the only one who had been residing at a distance from the church for a long time past, leaving them to ask, “O sister, where art thou?”
Harold Ockenga Sermons (Boston, 1941-1943)
Harold Ockenga
A set of 19 sermons by renowned twentieth-century minister Harold John Ockenga, who was part of the “Neo-Evangelical” movement and served over 30 years at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. The sermons were preached as early as 1937 and throughout the 1940s, with some being repeated on Park Street Church’s regular radio broadcasts. Taken together, these sermons are a fascinating representation of Rev. Ockenga’s ministry with Park Street Church and its members.
Manuscript Sermon on Luke 17:32, “Remember Lot’s Wife” (Massachusetts, 1777-1782)
Unknown
A sermon, titled “Remember Lot’s Wife” from Luke 17:32, that was preached by an unknown minister during the American Revolution. The sermon asks the congregation “to consider & reflect upon ye Sinfulness & Danger of disobeying ye commands of God.” The manuscript notes that it was preached in several towns in Massachusetts, including Beverly, Danvers, Medford, and Billerica between 1777 and 1782.
A Book of Favorite Recipes (Waycross, GA, 1987)
Women’s Fellowship of Williams Chapel Church
ADOPTED FOR $40
A 1987 cookbook compiled by the Women’s Fellowship of Williams Chapel Church in Waycross, Georgia. It features a variety of casseroles, dips, and special potluck desserts, and is notable for its “Kitchen Ideas” pages filled with tips for everything from methods for readily removing pith from oranges for “fancy desserts or salads,” to determining the age of an egg by placing it in a bowl of cold water.
