Funeral Sermons: A Useful Genealogical Resource

An often-overlooked resource for genealogists and historians, funeral sermons can provide interesting details about the lives of our ancestors. The State Library’s holdings include a number of funeral sermons and orations, the majority of which are from the 18th and early 19th centuries. During that time in history, funeral sermons were often printed and distributed to family members and other mourners as keepsakes.

Although these publications tend to be brief, they often include details that might have been omitted from an obituary, such as the personality and temperament of the deceased, family details, and information about the funeral service itself. For example, the following sermon for Mary Skinner of Colchester, CT, printed in 1746, includes eight pages of personal details about her temperament, such as, “As she had a Genius and Turn for Government beyond what is common for Persons of her Years, so she was regular and strict in ruling those under her Care.”

Another common trait of funeral sermons is the use of a mourning border, which is a heavy black border typically found on the cover or title page of a sermon and often printed on stationery used in periods of mourning. These borders are sometimes embellished with drawings, such as the skull and crossbones found in this 1765 sermon for the rector of Christ Church in Boston, the Rev. Timothy Cutler:

One of the most interesting funeral sermons in the State Library’s collection was printed in Boston in 1717. This sermon, which includes a preface by Increase Mather, was preached by his son Cotton Mather at the funeral for Wait Still Winthrop, one of the magistrates for the Salem witch trials and grandson of John Winthrop, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The sermon includes interesting details about Winthrop’s life, such as, “This Gentleman, having furnished himself with Medical Skill, became also a Master of Medicines, which he freely gave away as well as his Counsils, unto a Great Multitude of People, who from all parts flock’d unto him.”

Whether they are used to research important historical figures or distant relatives, funeral sermons are a resource that can provide a glimpse into the personal lives of our ancestors. To find these and other sermons, search our online catalog for the phrase “funeral sermons,” or visit us at the State Library’s Special Collections Department, Room 55 in the Massachusetts State House.

Laura Schaub
Cataloging Librarian

New exhibition on Photograph Collections at the State Library of Massachusetts opens today

Photographs tell very different stories than the printed texts in the State Library. Opening this week at the State Library of Massachusetts is a new exhibition entitled Massachusetts Through the Lens: Photographic Collections at the State Library of Massachusetts. This exhibition features collections that hold photographs of people, places, and events in Massachusetts history, from tintypes and cartes de visite of the Civil War to snapshots from the 1970s.

The exhibition runs from September 14 through December 31, 2015 and can be viewed outside of the Library, Room 341 of the State House. Library hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. This exhibition will also be available to view online as a set of images on the State Library's Flickr site.

ArtWeek Boston at the State Library

This fall the State Library will participate again in ArtWeek Boston, a “twice-annual 10-day collection of events throughout the city that features unexpected and creative experiences that are interactive or offer behind-the-scenes access to artists or the creative process.”

Our event, a Special Collections Tour, will take place on Thursday, October 1, from 1-2pm, in the Special Collections reading room. Visitors will see treasures from the State Library collections that are not normally on public view, including some of the earliest published laws of Massachusetts, a realistic facsimile of Mayflower passenger William Bradford’s manuscript journal Of Plimoth Plantation, broadsides recruiting soldiers for the Civil War, photographs of African-American soldiers, a handwritten journal by a Civil War soldier from Massachusetts, early maps of Boston, and 19^th-century birds-eye view maps of other Massachusetts cities and towns.

Seats are limited, and reservations are required. Participants can sign up through the ArtWeek Boston website, which provides a link for reserving a seat, and directions to the Special Collections department.

The Legal View: from Native American Nations to Territories to States at the Massachusetts State Library

The earliest origins of the State Library’s collections date back over 200 years to 1811 when a formal exchange program of law books with other U.S. States, Territories, and Native American Nations was established by the Massachusetts General Court.  These legal collections expanded to a point where the State Library was formally established to house them in 1826.  Over the past two centuries, the collections eventually grew to number almost 24,000 volumes and form a vast and vital part of the library’s 19^th and 20^th century holdings, making it one of the largest collection of state publications in existence. 

While some might call these “dusty old law books” in the era of Westlaw and Lexis legal research, the volumes collectively tell the story of our nation’s legal foundations as a democracy, and the growth of the individual states to create the present United States of America.  The State Library’s legal collections include such varied items as the Laws of California written in their original Spanish, the laws of Native Indian tribes and nations (i.e. Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Osage), some even in the original native language, and the laws of various territories that eventually became the familiar U.S. States we recognize today (i.e. Dakota, Illinois, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Hawaii). 

One of the most curious volumes in the collection has to be the Laws of the Jefferson Territory, the one and only law volume printed for the Jefferson Territory that existed from 1859 to 1861 and encompassed a land area that would eventually become the states of Kansas and Colorado but was never legally recognized by the United States government.  The dissolution of the Jefferson Territory coincided with the fallout from the 1860 election of President Abraham Lincoln that precipitated the subsequent secession of the original seven states to form the Confederate States of America.  In order to augment the number of free states, the U.S. Congress quickly moved to admit the state of Kansas to the Union on January 29, 1861.  This action left the remainder of the Jefferson Territory unorganized until February 21, 1861, when it was made part of newly formed Colorado Territory, leaving its legal legacy behind for posterity in one 303 page volume.

Judy Carlstrom
Technical Services

Must-Read Books at the State Library

The State Library is known for its legislative, historical, and special collections, but did you know that we have contemporary fiction and non-fiction books in our collections, as well? While the bulk of our popular books are available as eBooks, we also have an important collection of popular print books dating back to 2001: the Massachusetts Book Awards Must-Read Books.

Given to the State Library every year by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, the Must-Read Books include notable fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children’s/young adult books that are either about Massachusetts or written by Massachusetts-based authors. This year’s books include The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, The Map Thief by Michael Blanding, Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire, and many others.

We encourage you to stop by the library to browse this year’s Must-Read Books, which are located just inside the library’s third-floor entrance, or to request previous years’ award-winning books from our stacks. All of the Must-Read Books are available for checkout by State Library card holders and are also available to the general public via interlibrary loan.

Laura Schaub
Cataloging Librarian

Massachusetts State Budget Resources

 The Massachusetts State Budget goes through a number of steps before being passed into law. In the middle of July, a number of patrons called the reference desk wondering about updates on the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget and where to find information regarding what stage it was at, how it compared to past budgets and where to find the recommendations from the Ways and Means Committees.  Since the budget must go through the House, Senate, committees and Governor, and is often changed with recommendations, amendments and vetoes, it can be hard to keep track of where we fall in the budget writing cycle.  Fortunately, there are a number of resources available both online and in the State Library to help you better follow and understand the General Appropriations Act of this fiscal year and those that came before it.

First there is the State Budget website through The Official Website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This site doesn’t just lead you through the current budget process  but also includes links to corresponding documents and budget information going back to 2007. There is also a link to a summary break down of specific government areas from Fiscal year 2013 to the current fiscal year, allowing you to track spending within a specific subject you may be interested in like education or health care.  There are also pages devoted to the budget timeline, terminology, and agencies aiding in financial oversight and management of the budget.

Another resource is the State Legislature site which has a special section devoted to the State Budget. What stands out about this site is that it breaks down the Senate and House Ways and Means recommendations going back to 2012. The full text of their budgets, amendments and conference reports are available along with final budgets and bill numbers. These bill numbers can be quite helpful as the legislature’s site also lets you search Bills as well as Acts and Resolves.

Finally, The State Library assembled a quick outline to the State Budget Process to help with your research. We have also gathered all the House 1 (the Governor’s Recommendations) going back to 1939 in one area of our main reading room. For some of our more recent years, the House and Senate Committee on Ways and Means Budget Recommendations are also available in this section. These are grouped together as ready reference for our patrons hoping to quickly look up early stages of the past budgets. For recent budgets, one of the best resources is the bill tracking service MassTrac. The State Library subscribes to MassTrac because it combines bill history, text, reports, press releases, news articles, votes, debate transcript and much more in one place so that our patrons easily have access to all this information in one place. MassTrac can be incredibly helpful to someone who is looking for all the most up to date information regarding the Budget.

If you are interested in using the library’s resources to research upcoming, current or past budgets visit our website or the Massachusetts State Library in room 341 of the State House, Monday through Friday 9-5.

Stephanie Turnbull
Reference Department

Video Resources That Can Help You With Your Legislative Research

Many researchers who visit the State Library for legislative research purposes also inquire about
videos of executive branch coverage or legislative proceedings.  Here are some recommendations that we at the library have found to be particularly helpful over the years.

State Library’s House and Senate Floor Session Video Collection
Allowing my bias to take the reins, I will first mention the library’s videotape collection of House and Senate floor sessions (i.e. debates).   Housed in our Special Collections Dept. (Room 55 of the State House), the collection goes as far back as November of 1987 when the library began receiving copies of these videos.  Important to note is that from 1987 to 1993 the videos are that of the House only.  In addition to floor sessions, the collection also contains a handful of committee hearings.  Knowing if it’s House or Senate you want to see, and a specific date, is most helpful for our librarians when requesting video availability.  Our videos must be viewed on site, and copies cannot be produced by the library.  If you have any questions about our video collection, you can contact our Special Collections Department at 617-727-2595, or by email at special.collections@state.ma.us.

Massachusetts House and Senate Broadcasts: http://masslegislature.tv
This website provides “access to live gavel-to-gavel proceedings” of the legislature.  There is also an archive of videos, going back as far as January of 2007.  The types of videos you will find here include committee hearings, formal House sessions, Senate sessions, Joint sessions, and other events (ex. inaugural addresses, roundtables, etc.)  You can search by exact date or date range, by keyword, or you can browse the list by clicking “List all archived events.”

The Massachusetts Legislature’s Website:  https://malegislature.gov/Events/Search 
The legislature’s website allows users to search its “Events Archives,” which includes House, Senate, and joint sessions, committee hearings, and other special events.  The archive goes back as far as April of 2007, but it’s important to remember that not every event listed in the archive has a video.  If a particular event had a video available, a green video camera icon will appear to the right of the event name.  Users can search for an event by exact date or date range, or by keyword.

State House News Service: http://www.statehousenews.com/
SHNS is an independent, subscription-based wire service that covers the activities of the state’s government year-round.  Their multimedia content includes videos of interviews and events, as well as audio recordings, organized by date, of House and Senate sessions.  Patrons of the State Library can access SHNS onsite in the library.

Boston TV News Digital Library: http://bostonlocaltv.org/
This website is an archive of news content produced by a number of Boston-area TV news programs, and covers the years 1960 through 2000.  Users can search the collections through a general keyword search that, when submitted and results are yielded, allows for additional filters (collection, places, date).  Videos (including interviews) of governors, legislators, and committee hearings, and various other institutions and events can be found within this digital library.

C-Span Video Library: http://www.c-span.org/
C-Span focuses on televising the proceedings of the federal government, but other public affairs programming is available in their online video archive.  Videos can be searched by typing in a keyword in the search bar near the top of the home page, and also by choosing “videos” from the drop down menu to the left of the bar.  For example, searching “Charlie Baker” (with quotes) yields 10 results, including press conferences and gubernatorial campaign coverage.  Once results are yielded, users can narrow down their topic with a variety of additional filters.

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/
Almost everyone is familiar with YouTube, but it’s often overlooked as a resource for legislative proceedings or executive branch coverage.  While the videos are not as organized or curated in the same way as the above mentioned websites, the benefit is that you can cast a wide net and discover videos that you may not find anywhere else.  For example, if you search for “Massachusetts legislature” hearing, various videos of committee hearings and testimony are among the list of results.

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department