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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260212T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260212T140000
DTSTAMP:20260318T145413Z
CREATED:20260209T165747Z
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SUMMARY:Exploring Cotton Mather’s Curiosa Americana
DESCRIPTION:Our 2026 Cotton Mather Lecture featured a roundtable with scholars Dr. Reiner Smolinski\, Dr. Ken Minkema\, and Andy Juchno\, editors of a new critical edition of Cotton Mather’s Curiosa Americana letters. \nThis volume presents the first complete\, scholarly edition of Curiosa Americana\, offering transcriptions and annotations that illuminate Mather’s contributions to natural philosophy. His observations—ranging from smallpox inoculation and germ theory to “monstrous” births and marine volcanoes—capture the dynamic interplay between science\, religion and colonial identity. \nAccompanied by a substantial introduction\, the collection situates Mather within the broader networks of the early modern Republic of Letters\, challenging long-held assumptions about the intellectual landscape of colonial America. Essential reading for scholars of early modern science\, intellectual history\, and Atlantic studies\, this work restores Mather’s letters to their rightful place in the history of transatlantic knowledge production. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nDr. Reiner Smolinski has spent most of his academic career in researching and publishing about early American literature\, history\, and Puritanism. As the General Editor of Cotton Mather’s 10-volume Biblia Americana (2010–) www.matherproject.de\, he has guided a team of eight scholars in editing colonial America’s first commentary on all books of the Bible. Most recently\, he has co-edited with Kenneth Minkema A Cotton Mather Reader (Yale\, 2022) and with Kenneth Minkema and Andrew Juchno\, Cotton Mather’s Curiosa Americana: Scientific Letters to the Royal Society (Durham University\, IMEMS Press\, 2025). He is currently trying to finish his new biography with the working title “Cotton Mather: The First American Polymath.” \nDr. Kenneth P. Minkema is the Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University\, with an appointment as Research Faculty at Yale Divinity School. He is an advisory board member of the New England’s Hidden Histories project at Congregational Library & Archives. \nAndrew Juchno is a doctoral student in history at Boston College. His work examines the intellectual life of early America.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/exploring-curiosa-americana
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks,Congregational Story,Cotton Mather Lecture,NEHH
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260217T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260217T140000
DTSTAMP:20260325T135726Z
CREATED:20260208T121454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T135726Z
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SUMMARY:The Story of Bob: The Life and Times of Rev. Robert W. Wood
DESCRIPTION:This program celebrated the launch of The Story of Bob\, a new biography of Rev. Robert (Bob) W. Wood by Steven C. Law. Based on Law’s extensive interviews with Wood\, the biography tells the story of a pathbreaking religious leader. \nFrom “the greatest generation” comes the true story of a World War II veteran and ordained minister whose public advocacy for social justice was segmented from his private life as a gay man. The biography of Robert W. Wood is the captivating story of a man before his time\, who strove to live and love authentically and advocated for the gay community in church and society. \nBob Wood was a trailblazer in the LGBTQ rights movement\, Active in the Mattachine Society\, he published his book Christ and the Homosexual in 1960 under his own name at great risk. Wood participated in protests against the federal government’s ban on gay employees. He pushed the United Church of Christ to embrace the cause of gay rights—a struggle that ultimately led to the formation of the UCC’s Open & Affirming Coalition. \nToday\, the pursuit of living “more fully and authentically” is a quest that crosses terrains of social influences and self-image\, intersecting with political strains for liberation and well-being. As authoritarianism swells its censorship of LGBTQ stories and bodies\, The Story of Bob remembers the work of resistance against similar terrains strewn with legal landmines that restricted who could be fully themselves\, and how\, and where. \n  \nSPEAKER BIO \nSteven C. Law is a writer whose work bridges faith and cultural engagement. His commitment to compassionate storytelling enriches The Story of Bob with insight and empathy. Steven Law holds degrees from Campbell University and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School\, where his focus was Christian ethics and social policy. As an ordained pastor\, he served rural and urban churches before studying creative writing with C. Michael Curtis. Chief among his accomplishments are 45 bliss-filled years with Dr. William “Donald” Stroud\, with whom he created Découvert Fine Art\, an art gallery specializing in European Master drawings. He is the founder and president of the Law Stroud Foundation.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/story-bob
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Book Talks,Contemporary Congregationalism,Diverse Voices
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260220T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260220T130000
DTSTAMP:20260225T111104Z
CREATED:20260225T111026Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260225T111104Z
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SUMMARY:Black History Collections Tour at the Congregational Library & Archives
DESCRIPTION:Join CLA Librarian\, Meaghan Wright\, for a lunchtime tour of items in the Congregational Library & Archives’ collection that document the Black Congregational and Afro-Christian experience. \nHeld in the CLA’s historic reading room at 14 Beacon Street\, this first in a series of monthly programs connects residents of Beacon Hill and the greater Boston region with original\, rarely seen materials in the CLA’s collections. \nThis event ran from 12 to 1 pm\, beginning with a short talk by Meaghan Wright\, followed by plenty of time for looking and asking questions. \n  \nThanks to the generosity of the Beacon Hill Civic Association\, this program was offered completely free of charge to the public.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/feb26-collections-tour
LOCATION:Congregational Library & Archives\, 14 Beacon Street\, Boston\, MA\, 02108\, United States
CATEGORIES:Tour
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260225T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260225T140000
DTSTAMP:20260416T130151Z
CREATED:20260209T170020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T130151Z
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SUMMARY:Exploring Hidden Histories in Church Records: A Virtual Roundtable with FCC Fairfield and FCC Natick
DESCRIPTION:As more churches begin to critically examine their records\, many find that they have had members of their congregations who were either enslaved\, enslavers\, or participated in the dispossession of Indigenous lands. Researching\, understanding\, and reckoning with these histories has an impact on congregations and communities. \nIn this roundtable discussion\, New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) Project Director Dr. Tricia Peone talked with members of the First Church of Christ in Fairfield\, Connecticut and the First Congregational Church in Natick\, Massachusetts – two churches who have participated in NEHH and engaged thoughtfully with what their churches’ records have revealed about the past. \n  \nThe Congregational Library & Archives is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) project with this program series and the digital exhibition NEHH@20: Re-Examining Stories from New England Communities. Find out more on our NEHH@20 webpage. \n  \nSPEAKER BIOS \nJacque Paige is a 30+ year member of First Church Congregational\, Fairfield\, CT. She served as Moderator and Treasurer and then moved up to cleaning out closets as she worked on some long overdue renovations at the church. The closets held a treasure trove of church history.  Organizing those documents led to the First Church Racial Justice Pathway holding a town-wide event recognizing the ten enslaved people “owned” by First Church pastors in the late 1600s and early 1700s. \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. Her scholarship focuses on early New England\, particularly the history of magic and witchcraft\, and her work on these subjects has appeared in journals\, books\, blogs\, and on radio and television. 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. \nRita Skog is a Deacon and Chair of the Outreach Board and has been a member of First Church Congregational Fairfield for over 30 years. As a member of the Racial Justice Pathway\, she became aware of the early church and town’s history with slavery. This led to the Pathway’s decision to recognize and acknowledge First Church’s legacy of enslavement and find a way to honor those individuals whose unpaid labor supported and enriched the community. As an Open and Affirming Congregation in the United Church of Christ\, identifying\, revealing and acknowledging the church’s role in the enslavement of ten individuals was a spiritual journey that the congregation had to undertake. \nRev. Cindy Worthington-Berry has been the pastor of First Congregational Church of Natick\, MA since Oct. 2023. She was drawn to the congregation in part because of the way they had begun wrestling with the history of the church in relation to the Indigenous community in Natick. Cindy grew up in the United Church of Christ and has been thinking about church history since she was 17\, when she helped her mom write a book celebrating the 250th anniversary of her childhood church.
URL:https://congregationallibrary.org/events/hidden-histories-church-records
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Congregational Story,Diverse Voices,NEHH,NEHH@20
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://congregationallibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/HHChurchesCarousel400.png
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