John Lothropp was one of early Congregationalism's most courageous founders. In 1624 he became pastor of a clandestine gathering in Southwark, England, meeting in defiance of Archbishop Laud and the Stuart kings.  Arrested, imprisoned, and exiled, Lothropp led a small flock to the New World in 1634, eventually settling on Cape Cod and founding the town of Barnstable.  His congregation continues to this day, as the West Parish Church in Barnstable, and his descendants have multiplied-some 80,000 by some estimations, a group including everyone from President Millard Fillmore to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Spock, and Kevin Bacon.

Executive Director, Peggy Bendroth, Gordon Lothrop, Director of Development, Cary Hewitt

The Library has recently become the beneficiary of The Lothropp Family Foundation, an effort established to carry on the historical memory of this exceptional and influential man.  Their generous gift will support our efforts to keep history alive and well, and to make sure important stories like John Lothropp's are never lost.  In fact, we are proud and pleased to be adding the records of the West Barnstable Church to our digital collection of colonial-era church records, "New England's Hidden Histories," with the gracious assistance of the Sturgis Library in Barnstable.  Many, many thanks to The Lothropp Family Foundation for their generosity to the Congregational Library and "hats off" to the memory of John Lothropp and his remarkable family.

Our next issue of the Bulletin, planned for many months, is surprisingly timely. The death of Nelson Mandela last December reminded the world of the remarkable man who led a remarkable struggle-a story deeply connected to the history of Congregationalists in South Africa. Our feature article by historian Robert Houle, tells a story of American Board missionaries and more importantly, of Zulu converts who made western Christianity their own. Many of them, like Joseph Dube and Albert Luthuli's son Joseph, would play a major role in the formation of the African National Congress and the long hard fight against racial injustice. Scott Couper, next month's History Matters brown bag lunch speaker, contributed an article and an interview on the Inanda, a prestigious girls school. It takes Houle's story to the present, showing the enormous challenges the school's African leaders faced both under apartheid and in its dismantling.