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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251001T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251001T140000
DTSTAMP:20260227T112734Z
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UID:9148-1759323600-1759327200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Gathered Into a Church: Indigenous-English Congregationalism in Woodland New England
DESCRIPTION:This virtual book talk featured Dr. Lori Rogers-Stokes discussing her important new book on Indigenous-English Congregationalism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the decades around the turn of the eighteenth century\, a period bookended by King Philip’s War and the First Great Awakening. \nPuritans in the American colonies created Congregationalism\, a Protestant denomination where power rested in each congregation rather than a larger central body. As has often been told\, the official puritan mission included outreach to Indigenous people. This may appear as nothing more than forced conversion under colonization\, but church records from Massachusetts—digitized and made public for the first time—reveal the authenticity of this Indigenous religious experience\, as evidenced by commonalities between the Congregational way and some aspects of local Native American cultures. The records also show how the decentralized churches stood in contrast to a growing civil government in the colonies. \nWith church records now available\, Rogers-Stokes revealed a more realistic picture of diverse congregations and contrasts their internal workings—which show inherent flexibility and a focus on a shared creation of community—with a developing civil government focused on consolidating power around white landowners. The result is a story that can expand how scholars write about this period\, this region\, and these communities\, both settler and Indigenous. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Lori Rogers-Stokes is an independent scholar\, public historian\, and contributing editor for New England’s Hidden Histories\, a digital history project of the Congregational Library & Archives. She is the author of Gathered into a Church: Indigenous-English Congregationalism in Woodland New England\, out in September 2025 from the University of Massachusetts Press\, and Records of Trial from Thomas Shepard’s Church in Cambridge\, 1638–49: Heroic Souls (Palgrave Macmillan\, 2020). Lori studies the history of Woodland New England\, where Indigenous people and English colonizers took actions that continue to shape our lives today.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/gathered-church
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks,Congregational Story,Diverse Voices
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GatheredChurchCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250927T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250927T170000
DTSTAMP:20260228T104544Z
CREATED:20260209T164227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T104544Z
UID:9458-1758960000-1758992400@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Religions of Revolution Symposium
DESCRIPTION:This spotlight symposium on the religious thinkers and ideas that shaped the American Revolution was co-sponsored by The New England Quarterly and the Congregational Library & Archives. \nAs we approached the 250th anniversary of the American founding\, we welcomed the opportunity for new perspectives on this global event. Using the CLA’s Religion of Revolution digital exhibition as a springboard\, we put Congregationalism—once Massachusetts’ established religion—in wider conversation with the many faiths of that era. \nFor more information\, please see the conference webpage.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/religions-revolution-symposium
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:Conferences,Revolutionary Stories
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RoRSym-RegCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250918T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250918T140000
DTSTAMP:20260227T224204Z
CREATED:20260209T140520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T224204Z
UID:9146-1758200400-1758204000@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America
DESCRIPTION:In this virtual book talk\, Dr. Karin Wulf spoke about her new book on the power of genealogy in shaping Early America–and American society today. \nLineage tells the story of genealogy’s attraction and power\, for individuals\, families\, and institutions alike\, in eighteenth-century British America. In early America\, people produced a profusion of information about their family connections\, often because they were moved to write or create genealogies but also because they were required to by their church or their local government or a court. They created all manner of textual genealogies on sheets and scraps of bound and loose paper\, in account books and in the blank pages and margins of printed books\, but also in images and material form. \nThe power in family connections was governmental\, legal\, and religious\, as well as cultural and social\, echoing the structures of Britain itself—but in the American context it also structured slavery and freedom in which\, despite the patriarchy of law and society\, children’s status was determined by their mother’s. The twin forces of intimate meaning and instrumental purpose made genealogy in British America distinctly potent. \nWhile the American Revolution wrought changes in American society\, it did not disrupt the signal importance of genealogy or the powerful cultural logic of lineage—a legacy from the colonial period that would continue to mark the United States beyond its early history. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Karin Wulf is the Director and Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library\, and Professor of History at Brown University. A historian of early America focused on gender\, family\, and politics\, she writes widely for both public and academic audiences about history\, the worlds of scholarship and scholarly publishing\, and libraries and archives. Her new book is Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in 18th Century British America. She serves on a variety of non-profit boards and is an incoming Vice-President of the American Historical Association.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/lineage
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LineageCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250903T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250903T130000
DTSTAMP:20260227T223819Z
CREATED:20260209T140307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T223819Z
UID:9144-1756900800-1756904400@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Editing Cotton Mather's Biblia Americana (1693-1728): America’s First Bible Commentary and Storehouse of Early Modern Learning
DESCRIPTION:In this hybrid lunch and learn at the Congregational Library & Archives\, Dr. Jan Stieverman and Dr. Theodore Delwiche discussed their most recent volume of Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana and the work of creating critical editions of important religious texts more generally. \nThis volume of the Biblia Americana (1693-1728) contains Cotton Mather’s annotations on the gospels of Matthew\, Mark\, and Luke. A mixture of pious explications and historical-textual criticism\, the annotations are a treasure-trove for scholars interested in the development of Reformed theology and biblical exegesis during a decisive period of intellectual change in the early modern Atlantic world. \nDrs. Stieverman and Delwiche reflected on the opportunities and challenges of creating this critical edition\, part of a ten-volume series begun in the early 2000s to make Mather’s important unpublished 4\,500-page manuscript accessible. One of the most significant untapped sources in American religious and intellectual history\, Mather’s commentary not only reflects the growing influence of Enlightenment thought and the rise of the transatlantic evangelical awakening\, it also marks the beginning of historical criticism of the Bible as text in New England. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Jan Stievermann is Professor of the History of Christianity in the US at Heidelberg University. He has written books and essays on a broad range of topics in the fields of American religious history\, culture\, and literature\, including a comprehensive study of the theology and aesthetics of Ralph Waldo Emerson (in German; Schoeningh\, 2007) and Prophecy\, Piety\, and the Problem of Historicity: Interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures in Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana (Mohr Siebeck\, 2016). In the scholarly edition of the Biblia Americana manuscript\, he is responsible for volumes 5\, 10\, and 7 (2015; 2023; forthcoming in 2026)\, and serves as the executive editor of the whole project. His articles have been published in leading journals\, including William and Mary\, Early American Literature\, Church History\, and Religion and American Culture. Among other multi-authored volumes\, he co-edited A Peculiar Mixture: German-Language Cultures and Identities in Eighteenth-Century North America (Pennsylvania State University Press\, 2013)\, Religion and the Marketplace in the United States (Oxford\, 2014)\, the Oxford Handbook of Jonathan Edwards (2021)\, The Bible in Early Transatlantic Pietism and Evangelicalism (Penn State University Press\, 2022)\, and two volumes forthcoming with Oxford on James W.C. Pennington\, one a critical anthology of Pennington’s writings\, the other a collection of essays on his life and work. \nDr. Theodore (Teddy) Delwiche is a post-doc at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies. He earned his doctorate in early American history at Yale\, his master’s in early modern European history at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands)\, and his bachelor’s in classics at Harvard. His research interests lie at the intersection of early modern European intellectual history\, colonial America\, and classical reception studies. He is the author of roughly 20 different articles\, reviews\, and chapters on\, among other topics\, early modern shorthand\, the culture of the classics in early America\, and the history of alchemy. In addition to serving as a co-editor of a forthcoming volume of Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana\, he is revising his first monograph on classical education in colonial America and plotting his next book-length project on the history of Americans studying abroad.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/editing-mathers-biblia-americana
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Talks,Lunch & Learn
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/EditingBibliaCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250807T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250807T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T131441Z
CREATED:20260228T131416Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T131441Z
UID:13312-1754571600-1754575200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Church Stewardship Initiative Summer Camp
DESCRIPTION:This was the last of five class sessions. \nThe Congregational Library & Archives was excited to host our first annual CSI Summer Camp in 2025. \nArchivists Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy led attendees through the steps needed to successfully begin archiving their church’s important records and valuable memories. This multi-session online program\, hosted on Zoom\, provided guidance and instruction on the archival process\, keeping in mind attendees’ specific collections and locations. \nOver the course of five sessions\, Zachary and Billy provided hands-on and in-depth instruction about how to begin tackling the seemingly mountainous task of properly archiving a church’s collection. Between sessions\, there were exercises to complete at attendees’ own pace that reinforced lessons and set them up for the next session. Sessions included time for instructions\, group discussions\, and Q&A. Sessions were focused on the following four topics: gathering your collection\, identifying materials\, organizing records\, and crafting finding aids. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/csi-summer-camp-5
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Archives,Class,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CSISummerCampCarousel400_0.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250729T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250729T180000
DTSTAMP:20260228T123000Z
CREATED:20260209T163930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T123000Z
UID:9455-1753804800-1753812000@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:NACCC Ministers & Members Reception 2025
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/naccc-reception-25
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250729T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250729T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T125818Z
CREATED:20260228T125155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T125818Z
UID:13279-1753794000-1753797600@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Researching the Revolution Using New England’s Hidden Histories
DESCRIPTION:This was the last of five class sessions. \nIn summer 2025\, the CLA presented a new way to explore the American Revolution at its 250th anniversary. In a five-week online class hosted on Zoom\, participants learned about the history of Congregationalists in the American Revolution and conduct research into a related project of their choosing with expert guidance from the instructors. The class used the CLA’s two new exhibitions\, Religion of Revolution and Sacred Rebellion\, along with the New England’s Hidden Histories digital archive to examine the relationship between Congregationalism and the creation of the United States. \nThe class was led by Dr. Kyle Roberts (CLA Executive Director) and Dr. Tricia Peone (NEHH Project Director). Course topics included an introduction to researching with church records on a digital platform\, overviews of the American Revolution and Congregational history\, uncovering the histories of marginalized New Englanders\, and information about how to craft a research project. \nEach week participants discussed and interpret primary source documents and learn about religious life during the Revolutionary era. The course concluded with participants sharing a small research project of their own design. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/researching-revolution-5
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Class,NEHH,Revolutionary Stories
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ResearchingRevolutionCarousel400_1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250724T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250724T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T131150Z
CREATED:20260228T131124Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T131150Z
UID:13309-1753362000-1753365600@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Church Stewardship Initiative Summer Camp
DESCRIPTION:This was the fourth of five class sessions. \nThe Congregational Library & Archives was excited to host our first annual CSI Summer Camp in 2025. \nArchivists Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy led attendees through the steps needed to successfully begin archiving their church’s important records and valuable memories. This multi-session online program\, hosted on Zoom\, provided guidance and instruction on the archival process\, keeping in mind attendees’ specific collections and locations. \nOver the course of five sessions\, Zachary and Billy provided hands-on and in-depth instruction about how to begin tackling the seemingly mountainous task of properly archiving a church’s collection. Between sessions\, there were exercises to complete at attendees’ own pace that reinforced lessons and set them up for the next session. Sessions included time for instructions\, group discussions\, and Q&A. Sessions were focused on the following four topics: gathering your collection\, identifying materials\, organizing records\, and crafting finding aids. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/csi-summer-camp-4
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Archives,Class,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CSISummerCampCarousel400_0.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250722T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250722T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T125746Z
CREATED:20260228T124956Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T125746Z
UID:13274-1753189200-1753192800@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Researching the Revolution Using New England’s Hidden Histories
DESCRIPTION:This was the fourth of five class sessions. \nIn summer 2025\, the CLA presented a new way to explore the American Revolution at its 250th anniversary. In a five-week online class hosted on Zoom\, participants learned about the history of Congregationalists in the American Revolution and conduct research into a related project of their choosing with expert guidance from the instructors. The class used the CLA’s two new exhibitions\, Religion of Revolution and Sacred Rebellion\, along with the New England’s Hidden Histories digital archive to examine the relationship between Congregationalism and the creation of the United States. \nThe class was led by Dr. Kyle Roberts (CLA Executive Director) and Dr. Tricia Peone (NEHH Project Director). Course topics included an introduction to researching with church records on a digital platform\, overviews of the American Revolution and Congregational history\, uncovering the histories of marginalized New Englanders\, and information about how to craft a research project. \nEach week participants discussed and interpret primary source documents and learn about religious life during the Revolutionary era. The course concluded with participants sharing a small research project of their own design. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/researching-revolution-4
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Class,NEHH,Revolutionary Stories
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ResearchingRevolutionCarousel400_1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250718T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250718T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T123330Z
CREATED:20260209T140054Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T123330Z
UID:9142-1752831000-1752847200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:The Archives Edit: A Workshop in Arranging Your Church’s Archive
DESCRIPTION:One of the core principles of archival theory is arrangement\, the process by which archivists create physical and intellectual order out of a collection. Led by the CLA’s archivists\, Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy\, this workshop introduced participants to the concepts of physically and intellectually arranging a church’s archive through a combination of instruction\, demonstration\, and hands-on activities. \nWhile intellectual and physical arrangement are separate tasks with different outcomes\, they are inextricably linked together and form the backbone of archival processing and accessibility. Physical arrangement is the process of safely housing\, labeling\, and ordering physical materials\, while intellectual arrangement is the process of creating an inventory that maintains connections among objects and logically orders them into a hierarchical list. \nThe workshop was designed for those tasked with keeping\, preserving\, and making accessible a church’s valuable records. Zachary and Billy discussed core archival principles in detail and give examples of how those concepts may be applied to church records collections of all shapes and sizes. Topics covered included how to arrange a collection of seemingly disparate materials into useful broad categories\, how to identify relationships among various items in your collection\, and how to identify or recreate a collection’s original order. \nParticipants left the workshop with an understanding of the principles of arrangement and concrete next steps for how they may apply those principles to their own collections. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past virtual workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/archives-edit-25
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:Archives,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ArchivesEdit25Carousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250715T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250715T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T125622Z
CREATED:20260228T124749Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T125622Z
UID:13266-1752584400-1752588000@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Researching the Revolution Using New England’s Hidden Histories
DESCRIPTION:This was the third of five class sessions. \nIn summer 2025\, the CLA presented a new way to explore the American Revolution at its 250th anniversary. In a five-week online class hosted on Zoom\, participants learned about the history of Congregationalists in the American Revolution and conduct research into a related project of their choosing with expert guidance from the instructors. The class used the CLA’s two new exhibitions\, Religion of Revolution and Sacred Rebellion\, along with the New England’s Hidden Histories digital archive to examine the relationship between Congregationalism and the creation of the United States. \nThe class was led by Dr. Kyle Roberts (CLA Executive Director) and Dr. Tricia Peone (NEHH Project Director). Course topics included an introduction to researching with church records on a digital platform\, overviews of the American Revolution and Congregational history\, uncovering the histories of marginalized New Englanders\, and information about how to craft a research project. \nEach week participants discussed and interpret primary source documents and learn about religious life during the Revolutionary era. The course concluded with participants sharing a small research project of their own design. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/researching-revolution-3
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Class,NEHH,Revolutionary Stories
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ResearchingRevolutionCarousel400_1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250711T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250711T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T123545Z
CREATED:20260209T135658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T123545Z
UID:9140-1752228000-1752242400@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Voices from the Past: Working with Records from the New England’s Hidden Histories Project
DESCRIPTION:A small group of church historians\, family history researchers\, and individuals interested in early New England Congregational history (1620-1820) and what it can reveal about the past came together for this in-person workshop on finding and interpreting church records at the Congregational Library & Archives. \nParticipants learned how to use the New England’s Hidden Histories digital archive and other resources at the CLA; what different types of records are created by churches; how to use church records to research family history; how to find marginalized voices in church records; and how to connect information from church records to other historical resources. \nThe workshop was led by Dr. Tricia Peone\, New England’s Hidden Histories Project Director. New England’s Hidden Histories is a digital project of the Congregational Library & Archives that digitizes\, transcribes\, and provides access to early New England Congregational church records. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/voices-past-25
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:NEHH
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/VoicesPastCarousel25-400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250710T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250710T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T130803Z
CREATED:20260228T130719Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T130803Z
UID:13303-1752152400-1752156000@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Church Stewardship Initiative Summer Camp
DESCRIPTION:This was the third of five class sessions. \nThe Congregational Library & Archives was excited to host our first annual CSI Summer Camp in 2025. \nArchivists Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy led attendees through the steps needed to successfully begin archiving their church’s important records and valuable memories. This multi-session online program\, hosted on Zoom\, provided guidance and instruction on the archival process\, keeping in mind attendees’ specific collections and locations. \nOver the course of five sessions\, Zachary and Billy provided hands-on and in-depth instruction about how to begin tackling the seemingly mountainous task of properly archiving a church’s collection. Between sessions\, there were exercises to complete at attendees’ own pace that reinforced lessons and set them up for the next session. Sessions included time for instructions\, group discussions\, and Q&A. Sessions were focused on the following four topics: gathering your collection\, identifying materials\, organizing records\, and crafting finding aids. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/csi-summer-camp-3
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Archives,Class,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CSISummerCampCarousel400_0.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250708T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250708T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T125721Z
CREATED:20260228T124554Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T125721Z
UID:13257-1751979600-1751983200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Researching the Revolution Using New England’s Hidden Histories
DESCRIPTION:This was the second of five class sessions. \nIn summer 2025\, the CLA presented a new way to explore the American Revolution at its 250th anniversary. In a five-week online class hosted on Zoom\, participants learned about the history of Congregationalists in the American Revolution and conduct research into a related project of their choosing with expert guidance from the instructors. The class used the CLA’s two new exhibitions\, Religion of Revolution and Sacred Rebellion\, along with the New England’s Hidden Histories digital archive to examine the relationship between Congregationalism and the creation of the United States. \nThe class was led by Dr. Kyle Roberts (CLA Executive Director) and Dr. Tricia Peone (NEHH Project Director). Course topics included an introduction to researching with church records on a digital platform\, overviews of the American Revolution and Congregational history\, uncovering the histories of marginalized New Englanders\, and information about how to craft a research project. \nEach week participants discussed and interpret primary source documents and learn about religious life during the Revolutionary era. The course concluded with participants sharing a small research project of their own design. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/researching-revolution-2
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Class,NEHH,Revolutionary Stories
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ResearchingRevolutionCarousel400_1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T125658Z
CREATED:20260209T135515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T125658Z
UID:9129-1751374800-1751378400@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Researching the Revolution Using New England’s Hidden Histories
DESCRIPTION:This was the first of five class sessions. \nIn summer 2025\, the CLA presented a new way to explore the American Revolution at its 250th anniversary. In a five-week online class hosted on Zoom\, participants learned about the history of Congregationalists in the American Revolution and conduct research into a related project of their choosing with expert guidance from the instructors. The class used the CLA’s two new exhibitions\, Religion of Revolution and Sacred Rebellion\, along with the New England’s Hidden Histories digital archive to examine the relationship between Congregationalism and the creation of the United States. \nThe class was led by Dr. Kyle Roberts (CLA Executive Director) and Dr. Tricia Peone (NEHH Project Director). Course topics included an introduction to researching with church records on a digital platform\, overviews of the American Revolution and Congregational history\, uncovering the histories of marginalized New Englanders\, and information about how to craft a research project. \nEach week participants discussed and interpret primary source documents and learn about religious life during the Revolutionary era. The course concluded with participants sharing a small research project of their own design. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/researching-revolution
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Class,NEHH,Revolutionary Stories
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ResearchingRevolutionCarousel400_0.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250626T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250626T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T130853Z
CREATED:20260228T130529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T130853Z
UID:13297-1750942800-1750946400@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Church Stewardship Initiative Summer Camp
DESCRIPTION:This was the second of five class sessions. \nThe Congregational Library & Archives was excited to host our first annual CSI Summer Camp in 2025. \nArchivists Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy led attendees through the steps needed to successfully begin archiving their church’s important records and valuable memories. This multi-session online program\, hosted on Zoom\, provided guidance and instruction on the archival process\, keeping in mind attendees’ specific collections and locations. \nOver the course of five sessions\, Zachary and Billy provided hands-on and in-depth instruction about how to begin tackling the seemingly mountainous task of properly archiving a church’s collection. Between sessions\, there were exercises to complete at attendees’ own pace that reinforced lessons and set them up for the next session. Sessions included time for instructions\, group discussions\, and Q&A. Sessions were focused on the following four topics: gathering your collection\, identifying materials\, organizing records\, and crafting finding aids. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/csi-summer-camp-2
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Archives,Class,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CSISummerCampCarousel400_0.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250619T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250619T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T132841Z
CREATED:20260209T134945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T132841Z
UID:9118-1750338000-1750341600@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Insensible of Boundaries: Studies in Mary Ann Shadd Cary
DESCRIPTION:Our 2025 Juneteenth Lecture focused on Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823–1893) the trailblazing Black feminist\, activist\, journalist\, and educator whose achievements can be traced across Canada and the United States. \nBorn in a border state in the antebellum era\, Shadd Cary taught in schools in New York\, New Jersey\, and Pennsylvania before becoming a strong advocate for immigration to Canada in her early adulthood. Once she moved to Ontario in the mid-1850s\, she dove headfirst into early Black Canadian debates. She fought to integrate schools in the States and Canada and became\, as the editor of the Provincial Freeman\, the first Black woman to edit a newspaper in North America. \nDespite her achievements and impact on Black life in North America\, Shadd Cary is a relatively little-known figure outside of the continent. Insensible of Boundaries is the first collection of essays published on this thinker. Kristin Moriah discussed what went into creating this pathbreaking volume on this important figure. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Kristin Moriah is an Associate Professor of African American Literary Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston\, Ontario. She is the editor of Insensible of Boundaries: Studies in Mary Ann Shadd Cary\, the first collection of scholarly essays about radical Black feminist editor and activist Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada\, the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia\, and the Harry Ransom Center. Her work has appeared in American Quarterly\, TDR\, PAJ\, Early American Literature\, Theatre Research in Canada\, Performance Matters\, and Sounding Out.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/insensible-boundaries
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks,Diverse Voices,Women's Voices
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/InsensibleBoundariesCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250612T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250612T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T130305Z
CREATED:20260209T135310Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T130305Z
UID:9124-1749733200-1749736800@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Church Stewardship Initiative Summer Camp
DESCRIPTION:This was the first of five class sessions. \nThe Congregational Library & Archives was excited to host our first annual CSI Summer Camp in 2025. \nArchivists Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy led attendees through the steps needed to successfully begin archiving their church’s important records and valuable memories. This multi-session online program\, hosted on Zoom\, provided guidance and instruction on the archival process\, keeping in mind attendees’ specific collections and locations. \nOver the course of five sessions\, Zachary and Billy provided hands-on and in-depth instruction about how to begin tackling the seemingly mountainous task of properly archiving a church’s collection. Between sessions\, there were exercises to complete at attendees’ own pace that reinforced lessons and set them up for the next session. Sessions included time for instructions\, group discussions\, and Q&A. Sessions were focused on the following four topics: gathering your collection\, identifying materials\, organizing records\, and crafting finding aids. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/csi-summer-camp
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Archives,Class,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CSISummerCampCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250609T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250609T130000
DTSTAMP:20260228T132600Z
CREATED:20260209T134701Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T132600Z
UID:9116-1749470400-1749474000@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Library Behind the Scenes: The Print Inventory Project
DESCRIPTION:Do you have a list of every book on your shelves? What if your shelves were full of books collected over 170 years that had not always been well documented? Would you know how to find the books you wanted\, or would you even know what you were looking for? \nIn this hybrid lunch and learn program\, Collection Accessibility Project Specialist Téa Belog discussed her work on the inventory of the CLA’s print collection\, which is part of a two-year initiative launched in January 2025 under the guidance of Librarian Meaghan Wright to complete an inventory for the entire print collection. \nAs the CLA looks to reconcile its catalog records with what is actually on the shelf\, Téa discussed her work reviewing every print item to identify gaps\, determine the number of uncatalogued books\, and assess longstanding issues and organizational inconsistencies. She also shared how her work on this project will offer a more complete and thorough understanding of the CLA’s collections and facilitate easier access for future researchers. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nTéa Belog is an MLIS student at Simmons University. Her love of history\, books\, and organization coalesces into her current project at the Congregational Library & Archives as she tackles years of uncatalogued books.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/library-behind-scenes
LOCATION:Hybrid
CATEGORIES:CLA History,Lunch & Learn
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/June25LLCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250607T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250607T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T135636Z
CREATED:20260228T135636Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T135636Z
UID:13342-1749301200-1749304800@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Sacred Rebellion Curator's Tour
DESCRIPTION:This special tour of the CLA’s new in-person exhibition was hosted by New England’s Hidden Histories Project Director and Sacred Rebellion curator\, Dr. Tricia Peone. \nThe exhibition featured many treasures from the CLA’s collections: sermons\, books\, poems\, songs\, and letters created by Massachusetts Congregationalists during and after the American Revolution. These objects reveal how Congregationalists understood their moral obligations to each other and debated questions of liberty and loyalty. \nAttendees viewed the exhibition with the curator\, learned more about the objects on display\, and gained a deeper understanding of the stories behind the exhibition. The discussion also explored the unfinished business of the Revolution and the meaning of its legacy today. \nEmail any questions to programs@14beacon.org. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science. \n  \n\n \nFunded by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/sacred-rebellion-curators-tours-2
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:Revolutionary Stories,Sacred Rebellion,Tour
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SRCuratorCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250604T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250604T140000
DTSTAMP:20260302T171120Z
CREATED:20260209T134526Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260302T171120Z
UID:9114-1749042000-1749045600@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Archives and Church Legacy: Safeguarding Your Church's Mission and Memories
DESCRIPTION:ACCESS VIDEO TRANSCRIPT + RESOURCES\nChristian churches have been going through cycles of planting\, growth\, realignment or merger\, and completing ministries for the past two thousand years. When a church makes the difficult decision to close\, the records of that church are a vital resource for completing its ministry and an important way in which its mission and memory can live on after the church has closed. The legacy process involves many moving parts\, and too often archiving the church’s records is de-prioritized or seen as an overwhelming task that gets put off to the end. \nThis virtual workshop with the CLA’s archivists\, Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy explained the importance of a church’s records to the legacy process\, how to use the church’s records to create a legacy workbook\, and finally\, how to go about finding and working with an archive to maintain a church’s records going forward. \nThe workshop was specifically designed as a resource for pastors guiding their congregations in implementing a legacy process\, administrative staff who have been tasked with facilitating the work of bringing an institution to completion\, members of the congregation’s legacy committee\, and church historians and other interested members of the community concerned about safeguarding the memory and mission of the church. \nThis program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage. \n  \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nZachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University\, with a concentration in archives management\, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA\, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive\, the Vassar College Special Collections\, the Harvard Law School Library\, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017\, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018\, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management\, digital archiving\, audio/visual preservation\, and archives management. \nBilly McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services\, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives\, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access\, collection management\, processing of complex materials\, and facilitating research.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/archives-legacy-process
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Archives,CSI
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ArchivesLegacy400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250603T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250603T190000
DTSTAMP:20260228T131928Z
CREATED:20260209T164624Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T131928Z
UID:9469-1748973600-1748977200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Sacred Rebellion Virtual Exhibition Tour
DESCRIPTION:Back by popular demand\, this encore virtual tour of the Congregational Library & Archives’ new in-person exhibition\, Sacred Rebellion\, was hosted by Executive Director Dr. Kyle Roberts and New England’s Hidden Histories Project Director and Sacred Rebellion curator Dr. Tricia Peone. \nBy the time the American Revolution began\, many Congregationalists had embraced a theological justification for war and revolution. They believed that God favored them and that their cause was a morally justified\, sacred rebellion. Through sermons\, books\, poems\, songs\, and letters\, Congregationalists shared their stories\, reflected on their moral obligations to each other\, and debated questions of liberty and loyalty. But consensus was elusive\, and implementation proved difficult and unsatisfactory to many\, especially those on the margins. \nThe interactive tour was hosted on Zoom\, with registration limited to a small group of attendees. Participants viewed Revolutionary-era treasures from the collections; heard stories about how Congregationalists experienced the period leading up to\, during\, and immediately following the war; had opportunities to ask questions; and reflected on what this pivotal event means 250 years later. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/sacred-rebellion-virtual-exhibition-tour2
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Revolutionary Stories,Sacred Rebellion,Tour
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SRVirtualTour2Carousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250529T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250529T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T141336Z
CREATED:20260209T134219Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T141336Z
UID:9110-1748523600-1748527200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Sacred Rebellion: Behind the Scenes with the Curator
DESCRIPTION:This program took a look behind the scenes of the CLA’s new in-person exhibition\, Sacred Rebellion: Congregationalists in Revolutionary Massachusetts\, with curator Dr. Tricia Peone. \nBy the time the American Revolution began\, many Congregationalists had embraced a theological justification for war and revolution. They believed that God favored them and that their cause was a morally justified\, sacred rebellion. Through sermons\, books\, poems\, songs\, and letters\, Congregationalists shared their stories\, reflected on their moral obligations to each other\, and debated questions of liberty and loyalty. But consensus was elusive\, and implementation proved difficult and unsatisfactory to many\, especially those on the margins. \nAttendees learned more about what went into the creation of this exhibition (including the design of a new gallery for public exhibitions at the CLA)\, the themes which animated its arrangement\, how it contributes to our understanding of the American Revolution 250 years later\, and some of Dr. Peone’s favorite stories behind the objects on display. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/sacred-rebellion-behind-scenes
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Revolutionary Stories,Sacred Rebellion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/SR-BTSCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250514T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250514T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T141113Z
CREATED:20260209T134007Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T141113Z
UID:9107-1747227600-1747231200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Religion in the Lands That Became America: A Virtual Book Talk with Thomas Tweed
DESCRIPTION:This virtual book talk with University of Notre Dame historian Dr. Thomas Tweed\, celebrated the release of his book\, Religion in the Lands That Became America\, which provides a sweeping retelling of American religious history\, showing how religion has enhanced and hindered human flourishing from the Ice Age to the Information Age. \nUntil now\, the standard narrative of American religious history has begun with English settlers in Jamestown or Plymouth and remained predominantly Protestant and Atlantic. Driven by his strong sense of the historical and moral shortcomings of the usual story\, Tweed offers a very different narrative in this ambitious new history. He begins the story much earlier—11\,000 years ago—at a rock shelter in present-day Texas and follows Indigenous Peoples\, African Americans\, transnational migrants\, and people of many faiths as they transform the landscape and confront the big lifeway transitions\, from foraging to farming and from factories to fiber optics. \nSetting aside the familiar narrative themes\, Tweed highlights sustainability\, showing how religion both promoted and inhibited individual\, communal\, and environmental flourishing during three sustainability crises: the medieval Cornfield Crisis\, which destabilized Indigenous ceremonial centers; the Colonial Crisis\, which began with the displacement of Indigenous Peoples and the enslavement of Africans; and the Industrial Crisis\, which brought social inequity and environmental degradation. The unresolved Colonial and Industrial Crises continue to haunt the nation\, Tweed suggests\, but he recovers historical sources of hope as he retells the rich story of America’s religious past. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Thomas Tweed\, a historian of religion\, is the Harold and Martha Welch Professor of American Studies and professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. A past president of the American Academy of Religion\, he is author or editor of nine books\, including Retelling US Religious History (California)\, Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History (Oxford)\, Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion (Harvard)\, Religion: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford)\, and\, most recently\, Religion in the Lands That Became America: A New History (Yale).
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/religion-lands-became-america
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LandsBecameAmericaCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250512T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250512T130000
DTSTAMP:20260228T140834Z
CREATED:20260209T133823Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T140834Z
UID:9100-1747051200-1747054800@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Processing in Practice: A Hybrid Lunch & Learn with CLA Interns
DESCRIPTION:In this hybrid lunch and learn program\, our spring archives interns from Simmons University discussed their experiences processing CLA collections during the spring 2025 semester. \nRebecca Arabian discussed processing her first collections as a Library and Information Science student\, which include the St. Mark’s Social Center in Roxbury and the Leyden Congregational Church in Brookline. She shared how holding\, examining\, and reorganizing these materials has given her a new way of engaging with the past. \nOlivia Murphy shared how experiential learning at the CLA has enabled her to learn ArchivesSpace and employ DACS to process two separate collections: the Salem and Mariner’s Church records\, a small Boston church\, and the Diversity Club records\, a club for the women who worked at 14 Beacon Street. \nRebecca and Olivia’s presentations also provided glimpses into some of the unique materials they discovered while processing these collections during the spring semester. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nRebecca Arabian is an MLIS student at Simmons University. She has enjoyed working with local church records this semester\, which have provided her with wonderful views into the rich history of the Boston area. \nOlivia Murphy is an MLIS student at Simmons University. She is an avid lover of history\, books\, and Boston\, and has been grateful for the opportunity to work at the Congregational Library & Archives this semester.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/processing-in-practice
LOCATION:Hybrid
CATEGORIES:Archives,Lunch & Learn
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/May25LLCarousel400_0.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250506T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250506T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T140535Z
CREATED:20260209T133643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T140535Z
UID:9098-1746536400-1746540000@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:The Wars of the Lord: A Virtual Book Talk with Matthew J. Tuininga
DESCRIPTION:Over several decades beginning in 1620\, tens of thousands of devout English colonists known as puritans came to America. They believed that bringing Christianity to the Natives would liberate them from darkness. Daniel Gookin\, Massachusetts’ missionary superintendent\, called such efforts a “war of the Lord\,” a war in which Christ would deliver captive souls from Satan’s bondage. \nWhen puritan soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Indigenous men\, women\, and children at Fort Mystic in 1637\, during the Pequot War\, they believed they were doing God’s will. The same was true during King Philip’s War\, perhaps the bloodiest war in American history. The puritan clergyman Increase Mather described this conflict\, too\, as a “war of the Lord\,” a war in which God was judging the enemies of his people. \nIn his new book\, The Wars of the Lord\, Matthew J. Tuininga argues that these two “wars” are inextricably linked. Puritan Christianity\, he shows\, shaped both the spiritual and military conquests of New England from beginning to end. It is not only that the people who did these things happened to be Christians; it is that Christianity was the framework they used to guide\, interpret\, and defend every major act of peace or war. They made sincere efforts to treat Natives according to Christian principles of love and justice as they understood them\, and their sustained missionary efforts demonstrate how serious they were about saving Native souls. Yet they appealed to Christianity just as confidently when they subjugated\, enslaved\, or killed Native peoples in the name of justice. A mission they saw as spiritual\, peaceful\, benevolent\, and just devolved into a military conquest that was virtually genocidal. \nAttendees heard the story of how this happened from the perspective of those who lived it\, both colonists and Native Americans. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Matthew J. Tuininga is Professor of Christian Ethics and the History of Christianity at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids\, MI\, where he has taught since 2015. He is the author of Calvin’s Political Theology and the Public Engagement of the Church: Christ’s Two Kingdoms (2017).
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/wars-of-the-lord
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks,Congregational Story
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WarsLordCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250502T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250502T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T133305Z
CREATED:20260209T133315Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T133305Z
UID:9093-1746190800-1746194400@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Sacred Rebellion Curator's Tour
DESCRIPTION:This special tour of the CLA’s new in-person exhibition was hosted by New England’s Hidden Histories Project Director and Sacred Rebellion curator\, Dr. Tricia Peone. \nThe exhibition featured many treasures from the CLA’s collections: sermons\, books\, poems\, songs\, and letters created by Massachusetts Congregationalists during and after the American Revolution. These objects reveal how Congregationalists understood their moral obligations to each other and debated questions of liberty and loyalty. \nAttendees viewed the exhibition with the curator\, learned more about the objects on display\, and gained a deeper understanding of the stories behind the exhibition. The discussion also explored the unfinished business of the Revolution and the meaning of its legacy today. \nEmail any questions to programs@14beacon.org. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science. \n  \n\n \nFunded by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/sacred-rebellion-curators-tours
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:Revolutionary Stories,Sacred Rebellion,Tour
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SRCuratorCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250430T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250430T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T144051Z
CREATED:20260209T132902Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T144051Z
UID:9089-1746018000-1746021600@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Calling Holy War in Boston: A Virtual Talk with Thomas Lecaque
DESCRIPTION:It is easy to act like crusading is a medieval phenomenon that we evolve past—after all\, when we picture the Crusades\, we see knights in shining armor dying in the dry heat on their way to Jerusalem\, an activity that surely we gave up before we began the process of colonizing America. And yet\, the Crusades officially last until 1798\, when Napoleon takes Malta\, and Benjamin Franklin—whose baptismal records are at the Congregational Library & Archives—was ten when the last individual crusade was called. \nEven more shocking\, crusading does not remain a Catholic endeavor. For all that puritan preachers decry the Crusades as a “Rhomish bastard\,” they use the rhetoric of apocalyptic holy war against their Catholic foes to the North (the French) across almost a century of imperial conflicts. \nIn this talk\, CLA Research Fellow Dr. Thomas Lecaque looked at the ways that rhetoric of holy war spills across sermons\, diaries\, letters\, and marginal notations in books\, and forms an important and little studied aspect of the way European wars are translated onto the American frontier. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nDr. Thomas Lecaque is Associate Professor of History at Grand View University in Des Moines\, Iowa\, where he teaches medieval world history\, vast early American history\, and game studies. A recipient of the American Congregational Association – Boston Athenaeum Fellowship and the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium\, he is currently working on a book project entitled “Holy War Rhetoric in Colonial America\, 1680-1765.”
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/calling-holy-war-boston
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:CLA Research Fellows,Congregational Story
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/HolyWarCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250428T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250428T130000
DTSTAMP:20260228T143346Z
CREATED:20260209T132721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T143346Z
UID:9081-1745841600-1745845200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Making Local Church History Collections Accessible: A Hybrid Lunch & Learn with CLA Interns
DESCRIPTION:In this hybrid lunch and learn program\, three library interns discussed their work in the spring 2025 semester to make the CLA’s church history collections more visible and accessible. \nIsabella Rodrigues and Sarah Ortel discussed their experiences cataloguing church history files: collections of printed and ephemeral works created by or about churches. These collections represent over 800 individual churches from across the country. They come from donations over the past several years and add nearly 400 churches to the online catalogue which were not previously represented. \nHattie Tauson reflected on her work researching and developing a workplan for making the CLA’s church collections easier to navigate and use. She shared her experience soliciting user feedback at the start of the project\, diving into data\, and designing an interactive visualization of CLA holdings. \nThese joint projects made available hidden collections and increased visibility of known collections to improve the ability of researchers to find and use the CLA’s collections of church history. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nSarah Ortel is a senior at Boston University pursing a bachelor’s degree in history with a concentration in American history. During the spring semester\, she worked as a cataloguing intern at the Congregational Library & Archives\, and opportunity that has allowed her to apply her passion for accessible history and provided her with valuable practical experience that she will carry into future ventures. \nIsabella Rodrigues is an MLIS student with an archival concentration at Simmons University. During the spring 2025 semester\, she worked as a Cataloguing Intern at the Congregational Library & Archives. She got her start in archives and libraries by volunteering to organize the basement collections of the local heritage museum in her hometown of New Bedford\, MA and has been sifting through boxes ever since. \nHattie Tauson is a master’s student at Northeastern University pursuing a degree in public history and a certificate in digital humanities. She is the Mapping Local History Collections Intern at the Congregational Library & Archives for the spring 2025 semester\, which has allowed her to combine her love of American history and making history accessible to all.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/local-church-history-accessible
LOCATION:Hybrid
CATEGORIES:Archives,Lunch & Learn
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Apr25LLCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250424T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250424T140000
DTSTAMP:20260228T143829Z
CREATED:20260209T132434Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260228T143829Z
UID:9076-1745499600-1745503200@congregationallibrary.org
SUMMARY:Sacred Rebellion Virtual Exhibition Tour
DESCRIPTION:This special virtual tour of the Congregational Library & Archives’ new in-person exhibition\, Sacred Rebellion\, was hosted by Executive Director Dr. Kyle Roberts and New England’s Hidden Histories Project Director and Sacred Rebellion curator Dr. Tricia Peone. \nBy the time the American Revolution began\, many Congregationalists had embraced a theological justification for war and revolution. They believed that God favored them and that their cause was a morally justified\, sacred rebellion. Through sermons\, books\, poems\, songs\, and letters\, Congregationalists shared their stories\, reflected on their moral obligations to each other\, and debated questions of liberty and loyalty. But consensus was elusive\, and implementation proved difficult and unsatisfactory to many\, especially those on the margins. \nThe interactive tour was hosted on Zoom\, with registration limited to a small group of attendees. Participants viewed Revolutionary-era treasures from the collections; heard stories about how Congregationalists experienced the period leading up to\, during\, and immediately following the war; and had opportunities to ask questions; and reflect on what this pivotal event means 250 years later. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Kyle Roberts was appointed the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the CLA\, he was Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming at the American Philosophical Society and Associate Professor of Public History and New Media and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. \nA scholar of Atlantic World religion\, print\, and library history\, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City\, 1783-1860 (Chicago\, 2016)\, the co-editor\, with Stephen Schloesser\, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits\, Women Religious\, American Experience 1814-2014 (Brill\, 2017) and\, with Mark Towsey\, of Before the Public Library: Reading\, Community\, and Identity in the Atlantic World\, 1650-1850 (Brill\, 2017). \nKyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project\, the Maryland Loyalism Project\, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System. In addition to being the consultant for numerous digital and public history projects\, he sits on the executive committees of the American Catholic Historical Association\, the New England Historical Association\, the Urban History Association He is on the editorial and advisory boards for American Catholic Studies\, Early American Studies\, and portal. \nDr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA\, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities\, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials\, early New England\, and public history\, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science. \n  \n\n \nFunded by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/sacred-rebellion-virtual-tour
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Revolutionary Stories,Sacred Rebellion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SRVirtualTourCarousel400.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR