Women’s History Collections Tour at the Congregational Library & Archives

Dr. Tricia Peone, New England’s Hidden Histories Project Director, led this tour at 14 Beacon that explored the lives of women in early New England.

The Congregational Library & Archives holds important collections of women’s religious writings such as diaries, letters, books, and church records from Massachusetts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This tour explored some highlights from these collections, including letters written by a woman during the 1775 siege of Boston, a 250-year-old manuscript music book, religious testimony from an enslaved woman, and a diary from the 1740s.

Held in the CLA’s historic reading room at 14 Beacon Street, these monthly collection tours connected residents of Beacon Hill and the greater Boston region with original, rarely seen materials in the CLA’s collections.

This event ran from 12 to 1 pm, beginning with a short talk by Tricia Peone, followed by plenty of time for browsing items from our collections and asking questions.

Thanks to the generosity of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, this program was offered completely free of charge to the public.