Seventeen may not seem like a big deal for most organizations, but for the Congregational Library it most certainly is. In fact, it's a record high in new members, added in large part in just the three months since we launched our 2012 Membership drive. We welcome all of them to the Library. With more people attending our History Matters Brown Bag Lunch Series, more visitors to the Library and record numbers of visitors to our online resources, we are seeing a growing interest in becoming a Library member. Membership brings with it added benefits and the satisfaction of being part of a living library where history maintains a spirit of vitality and purpose.

 

Here's hoping for even more in the New Year!

 

 If you're on this list, you no doubt received our holiday e-card. The winter scene and holly depicted comes from the 1895 Volume X of The Mayflower, a publication that was once printed here in the Congregational House. 

 

Since the image (and publication) is well over one hundred years old, it has now passed into the public domain and is free for anyone to use. But, as far as we know, we're the only people to possess a digital copy. To that end, we'd like to share it with everyone on our list. You can download it as a .JPG file from the image below (just right-click and select "Save As"). A high-quality .TIFF file (about 25mb in size) is available upon request to our members. Just e-mail aghoward@14beacon.org (due to the holiday, we won't be able to respond until after January 1st, but send an e-mail anyway).

 

 

 

Slate has a wonderful article this month about the quest to decipher the short-hand of Rhode Island founding father Roger Williams. Mentioned in the article is our friend Lin Fisher, who visited the Library last month for our Brown Bag Lunch on the effect of the First Great Awakening on the Indian cultures that existed before the colonialists. You can watch our video interview with him here.

  Please be aware that the Library will be closed from December 24th to January 1st. Normal Library hours will resume January 2nd, 2013.