American Congregational Association records, 1846-2022.
Scope and Contents
This collection is the internal permanent archive of the American Congregational Association, and by relation, the Congregational Library & Archives. The collection covers the four main areas of business of the American Congregational Association: The Board of Directors, the Finances of the Association, the management of the Association's building portfolio, and the management of the Congregational Library & Archives. The collection contains minutes of meetings, important financial and tax records, committee records, records related to construction projects, architectural drawings, business proposals and reports, photographs and audio-visual materials, correspondence, management records, and records relating to the functions of the Congregational Library & Archives and its collections.
Dates
- 1846-2022
Creator
- American Congregational Association. (Organization)
Restrictions on Access
Except where otherwise stated, this collection is available for researchers only with special permission from the chair of the board or directors of the American Congregational Association and/or from the executive director of the Congregational Library & Archives. Please contact the library directly at ref@14beacon.org to obtain permission to access the collection.
Restrictions on Use
Items in this collection are subject to U.S. Copyright Law. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine the copyright status of collection items and to secure any permissions necessary for their reproduction and publication. Requests for permission to publish material must be discussed with the archivist or librarian.
Historical Note
The American Congregational Association was formed in 1851 as the Congregational Library Association. Two years later, reorganized and expanded, it rented rooms at the Tremont Street Temple in Boston, with a library of 56 books and pamphlets. The Association was formally incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1854 “for the purpose of establishing and perpetuating a library of the religious history and literature of New England, and for the erection of a suitable building for the accommodation of the same, and for the use of charitable societies.” In 1864, the organization changed its name to the American Congregational Association in recognition of its broader scope.
The Association lived in peripatetic existence until 1898. In 1857 the Association moved from its rented rooms at the Tremont Temple to a house on Chauncy Street where it remained for ten years. Between 1867 and 1872, the Association again rented space before purchasing two buildings at the corner of Beacon and Somerset Streets. The building was renovated for library space and rental offices. This new headquarters was dedicated in 1874. The Association moved once more, in 1898, to its present site in the Congregational House at 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, a building constructed specifically for the library and for rental office space. Throughout its history, the American Congregational Association prioritized renting space to non-profit organizations.
In 2017 the American Congregational Association sold the Congregational House to Faros Properties and signed a long-term lease to keep the library within its historic home.
Extent
24.91 Cubic Feet (32 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license. The Congregational Library & Archives makes all bibliographic records, and the metadata contained therein, freely available to the public, and are considered to be in the Public Domain, under a Creative Commons Public Domain Designation.
Abstract
The American Congregational Association was formed in 1851 as the Congregational Library Association. The Association was formally incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1854. In 1864, the organization changed its name to the American Congregational Association in recognition of its broader scope. In 1857 the Association moved from its rented rooms at the Tremont Temple to a house on Chauncy Street where it remained for ten years. In 1872 the Association purchased the Somerset Building and the library moved into that space in 1874. The Association built the Congregational House in 1898 and once again the library moved into the new building. In 2017 the American Congregational Association sold the Congregational House to Faros Properties and signed a long-term lease to keep the library within its historic home. The American Congregational Association collection covers the four main areas of business of the Association: The Board of Directors, the Finances of the Association, the management of the Association's building portfolio, and the management of the Congregational Library & Archives.
Arrangement
This collection has been divided into five series, four of which have been further divided into subseries. Four of the series are related to the four main areas of business of the American Congregational Association: The Board of Directors, the Finances of the Association, the management of the Association's building portfolio, and the management of the Congregational Library & Archives. The fifth series contains visual and audio-visual materials. Materials within each series, and the subseries themselves, have been arranged primarily by chronological order and secondarily by topic, when appropriate.
Arrangement of the Collection
- Series 1:
- Board of directors records, 1851-1822
- Subseries 1:
- Meeting records, 1851-2022
- Subseries 2:
- Correspondence, 1851-2008
- Subseries 3:
- Governance records, 1854-2014
- Subseries 4:
- Historical records, 1855-2003
- Subseries 5:
- Board members, 1886-2014
- Subseries 6:
- Finance and budget committee records, 1872-2006
- Subseries 7:
- Ad-hoc committee records, 1872-2007
- Subseries 8:
- Library committee records, 1901-2011
- Subseries 9:
- Executive committee records, 1929-1999
- Subseries 10:
- Investment committee records, 1969-2009
- Subseries 11:
- Treasurer's reports, 1970-1996
- Subseries 12:
- Personnel committee records, 1999-2009
- Subseries 13:
- Board development committee records, 1999-2010
- Subseries 14:
- Development committee records, 1999-2022
- Subseries 15:
- Program committee records, 2000-2008
- Subseries 16:
- Building committee records, 2000-2009
- Series 2:
- Financial records, 1851-2021
- Subseries 1:
- Ledgers and receipts, 1851-2019
- Subseries 2:
- Membership and subscriptions, 1853-2001
- Subseries 3:
- Correspondence, 1871-1977
- Subseries 4:
- Tax and audit records, 1924-2021
- Series 3:
- Building records, 1846-2019
- Subseries 1:
- Financial records, 1846-2012
- Subseries 2:
- Assessments and reports, 1871-2019
- Subseries 3:
- Building history, 1872-1998
- Subseries 4:
- Correspondence, 1872-2005
- Subseries 5:
- Tenancy and rents, 1873-2010
- Subseries 6:
- Architectural drawings, 1897-2019
- Subseries 7:
- Building management records, 1897-2011
- Subseries 8:
- Renovations and construction projects, 1897-2016
- Subseries 9:
- Sale of the building records, 1927-2018
- Series 4:
- Congregational Library & Archives, 1853-2022
- Subseries 1:
- General correspondence, 1853-2004
- Subseries 2:
- Library and archives records, 1854-2016
- Subseries 3:
- Development records, 1856-2008
- Subseries 4:
- Communications, 1859-2022
- Subseries 5:
- Collections, 1853-2004
- Subseries 6:
- Researcher and reference correspondence, 1897-2004
- Subseries 7:
- Congregational Christian Historical Society records, 1951-2008
- Subseries 8:
- Facilities, 1963-2020
- Series 5:
- Photographic and audio-visual materials, 1953-2013, undated
Technical Requirements
Audio-visual materials require specific equipment for playback.
Acquisition Information
This collection is the internal permanent collection of the American Congregational Association, and by relation, the Congregational Library & Archives. Records for this collection have been gathered over the history of Library as part of the Library's records management duties. Additional records have been provided to for inclusion into the collection by board members after they have stepped down from board duties. The collection regularly receives accruals of additional materials.
Accruals
Periodic accruals of records from the board or directors are expected annually. Periodic accruals of certain financial records are expected annually. Additional unplanned accruals of unspecified records are also expected.
Processing Information
This collection has been processed and organized by multiple archivists and librarians throughout the history of the American Congregational Association. The most recent version of the finding aid was produced in 2015 by Jessica Steytler according to DACS Second Edition. The collection was partially reprocessed, and fully rearranged, in 2023, by Zachary Bodnar, according to DACS 2019.0.3. The board of directors’ records from 1970 to 2022 were the focus of this 2023 reprocessing, as was the integration of extant records received from former board members and from certain Library departments into the collection. Following this processing and integration, the entire arrangement of the collection was redone and the finding aid was redone. Significant reprocessing of the collection is still necessary, as is significant weeding of the collection.
- Account books.
- American Congregational Association.
- Architecture -- Designs and plans
- Articles of incorporation.
- Boards of directors
- Building management
- By-laws
- Congregational Christian Historical Society
- Congregational Library Association.
- Congregationalism.
- Contracts for deeds
- Corporate governance.
- Corporate minutes.
- Fund raising
- Langworthy, Isaac P. (Isaac Pendleton), 1806-1888
- Libraries and institutions
- Library finance
- Nonprofit organizations
- Office buildings
- Photographs.
- Real estate management
- Religious libraries
- Research libraries
- Worthley, Harold Field
Creator
- American Congregational Association. (Organization)
- Congregational Christian Historical Society (Organization)
- Congregational Library Association. (Organization)
- Langworthy, Isaac P. (Isaac Pendleton), 1806-1888 (Person)
- Worthley, Harold Field (Person)
- Title
- American Congregational Association records, 1846-2022.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Zachary Bodnar
- Date
- 2023-04-13
- Description rules
- 3
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Congregational Library & Archives Repository