New England's Hidden Histories, a scholarly partner of the Jonathan Edwards Center, is proud to announce its online publication of the earliest church record book from Northampton, Massachusetts, which includes the records kept by Solomon Stoddard and Jonathan Edwards. The volume contains a fourteen-page covenant and statement of principles, the most elaborate we have ever seen to accompany the gathering of a local New England church. Also included are extensive membership and baptismal lists, which help document the origins of the Great Awakening, and Jonathan Edwards' records of church discipline. The records kept by Edwards' successor, John Hooker, cast much needed light on "life after Edwards" in Northampton. The images can be accessed at:
http://www.congregationallibrary.org/nehh/series1/NorthamptonMAFirst5314 The Hidden Histories project is looking for volunteers to help transcribe this important document. Please contact our Director of Transcriptions, Helen Gelinas, at
hgelinas@14beacon.org. New England's Hidden Histories, a project of the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston, seeks to preserve, digitize and transcribe New England's earliest manuscript church records. Its Director, James Cooper, can be reached at
jcooper@14beacon.org.
