This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Christmas and New Year Festivities Across America in 1877
The piece surveys Christmas and New Year customs in New York and other cities, noting lavish church music and high salaries for performers, Parisian fashion of New Year visits, and social pressure. It covers debates within Congregational circles led by Henry Ward Beecher, church administration struggles, and the American Tract Society’s vast but uneven reach. It ends by describing Lenox Library’s gradual opening in New York, Lenox’s private collection, and controversy over access and public use.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
Allen
Raleigh
Spurgeon
Christ
Boston
America
Henry Ward Beecher
Congregational Churches of
Beecher
The
Christian Union
Hell
Apostle
Good Brethren
Old Country
American Congregational Union
American Home Missionary Society
Union
Home Missionary Society
New England
West
American Tract Society
Lenox
James Lenox
John Soane
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Francis Fry
Bristol
Gibson
Powers
Pilgrim’s Progress