New England's Hidden Histories: Providing Public Access to the Records of America's First Founders

FAIN: PW-228188-15

American Congregational Association (Boston, MA 02108-3704)
Margaret L. Bendroth (Project Director: July 2014 to June 2019)

Creation of an online, searchable database of 18,000 pages of digitized Congregational Church documents and selected transcriptions from colonial times and the early American republic.

New England’s Hidden Histories is a program aimed at providing wide access to some of the most important early American documents, the records maintained by nearly every local church during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The project, which serves both scholars and the general public, is administered by the non-profit Congregational Library in Boston, a historic, 150-year-old institution with a distinguished record of preserving historic records and providing public access to them. This proposal concerns records in the Library's collection, roughly half of which are newly obtained from local churches and never before accessible to researchers. The digital images, with transcriptions, will be available free of charge on the Library's website.

Associated Products

"Introducing New England's Hidden Histories" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: "Introducing New England's Hidden Histories"
Author: James Cooper
Abstract: New England's Hidden Histories, a project of the Congregational Library in Boston, seeks to identify, secure digitize, transcribe, and post online New England's most valuable early manuscript church records. We believe these documents cast more light on life and culture in early New England than any other discrete set of sources. This presentation discusses the birth and growth of our project, and the many ways in which scholars and the public will find value in these records.
Date: 06/22/2016
Conference Name: Omohundro National Conference of Early Americanists, Worcester, MA

Introducing New England's Hidden Histories to the New England Historic Genealogical Society (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Introducing New England's Hidden Histories to the New England Historic Genealogical Society
Abstract: New England's Hidden Histories, a project of the Congregational Library in Boston, seeks to identify, secure digitize, transcribe, and post online New England's most valuable early manuscript church records. We believe these documents cast more light on life and culture in early New England than any other discrete set of sources. This presentation discusses the birth and growth of our project, and the many ways in which scholars and the public will find value in these records, and the partnership NEHH has developed with the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Author: James Cooper
Date: 12/1/2016
Location: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston

New England's Hidden Histories and Vermont Church Records (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: New England's Hidden Histories and Vermont Church Records
Abstract: New England's Hidden Histories, a project of the Congregational Library in Boston, seeks to identify, secure digitize, transcribe, and post online New England's most valuable early manuscript church records. We believe these documents cast more light on life and culture in early New England than any other discrete set of sources. This presentation discusses the birth and growth of our project, and the many ways in which scholars and the public will find value in these records. In particular, the presentation focuses on Vermont church records, and urges Vermont churches to participate in the project.
Author: James Cooper
Date: 6/15/2017
Location: Fairlee, Vermont

Introducing New England's Hidden Histories (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Introducing New England's Hidden Histories
Abstract: New England's Hidden Histories, a project of the Congregational Library in Boston, seeks to identify, secure digitize, transcribe, and post online New England's most valuable early manuscript church records. We believe these documents cast more light on life and culture in early New England than any other discrete set of sources. This presentation discusses the birth and growth of our project, and the many ways in which scholars and the public will find value in these records. It should be noted that similar versions of this presentation were offered in 2016 and in 2017.
Author: James Cooper
Date: 07/07/2018
Location: History Camp, Boston

Series I, II, III Church Records (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Series I, II, III Church Records
Author: Congregational Library
Abstract: We currently have posted a large archive of digitized records from 78 churches dating from seventeenth and eighteenth-century New England. We have also published thousands of pages of related ecclesiastical papers. 10,000 pages have additionally been transcribed.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: http://www.congregationallibrary.org/nehh/main
Access Model: IAll of our material is open access.

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