Gloucester Lyceum

The Gloucester Lyceum (1830-1872) of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was an association for "the improvement of its members in useful knowledge, and the advancement of popular education."[1] It incorporated in 1831.[2]

Glouester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library

From the 1830s through at least the 1860s, the Lyceum arranged lectures from notables such as: Ralph Waldo Emerson,[3] Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,[4] "the two Everetts, Choate, Sumner, Rantoul, Winthrop, Colfax, Greely, ... Parker, Curtis, Phillips, Bayard Taylor, Dr. Holland, Chapin, Starr King, Hillard, ... Beecher, Giles, Gough, Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, Burlingame, ... Alger, Whipple, Murdoch, Vanderhoff, Bancroft, and Dana."[2] From 1830, "meetings were held in Union Hall ... until 1844 when the Murray Institute was used for one season prior to the occupancy of the Town Hall."[2]

In 1854 "the Lyceum opened its library on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and evenings, with 1,400 volumes. It was located in the eastern parlor of the residence of F.G. Low on what was then the corner of Spring and Duncan Streets."[2] Patrons could use the library for $1 per year; the fee was waived for those unable to afford it. In 1863 the library moved to Front Street; the building burned down in 1864. Thereafter it occupied rooms on Middle Street (in the Baptist church), and later on Front Street (in the Babson block).[2] Much of the funding for the library came from "Samuel E. Sawyer, a Boston merchant, but a native of Gloucester."[2]

The Lyceum became the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library under a new charter in 1872.[5]

Lectures/Performances

1830 Hosea Hildreth[2] William Ferson[2] Mr. Spencer[6] Benjamin Crowninshield[6] Charles G. Putnam[6] Henry Prentiss[7] 1832 John James Babson[8] 1834 Mr. Ward[9]

1835 George S. Hillard[10] A.H. Everett[10] Jerome V.C. Smith[10] Ezekiel W. Leach[10] Rev. Mr. Sewall[10] Daniel P. King[10] Rev. Mr. Withington[10] Rev. Mr. Fox[10] Samuel E. Cowes[10] A.L. Peirson[10] Rev. Mr. Williams[10] Rev. Mr. Worcester[10] John S. Williams[10] Rev. Mr. Thompson[10] George H. Devereux[10] R.S. Edes[10]

1848 Henry David Thoreau[11] 1858-1859 Henry Ward Beecher[12] Daniel C. Eddy[12] A.D. Mayo[12] Wendell Phillips[12] George Vandenhoff[12] George B. Loring[12] John G. Saxe[12] George D. Prentice[12]

1860 Mendelssohn Quintette Club[12] Grace Greenwood[12] George Sumner[12] William W. Sylvester[12] William H. Millburn, "the blind preacher"[12] George William Curtiss, "author of Trumps"[12] Rufus Laighton Jr.[12] Benjamin H. Smith Jr.[12] William Hague[12]

See also

• Lyceum movement

References

1. James Robinson Newhall. The Essex memorial, for 1836: embracing a register of the county. Salem, Mass.: Henry Whipple, 1836
2. Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Inc.: 1830-1930, the record of a century. S.l.: s.n., [1930?]
3. Mary Foley. "Fitz Hugh Lane, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Gloucester Lyceum." American Art Journal, v.27, no.1/2, 1995/1996
4. Paul B. Kenyon. People & books: the story of the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, 1830-1980. Gloucester, Mass.: the Library, 1980
5. Outline of History and Dedication of the Sawyer Free Library: Of Glouster, Mass., Tuesday, July ..., Cape Ann Bulletin Steam Book and Job Print, 1884, OCLC 31452138, OL 23466634M
6. Salem Gazette, Dec. 7, 1830
7. Salem Gazette, Oct. 26, 1830
8. Charles C. Smith. "Memoir of the Hon. John J. Babson." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Nov. 1886
9. Salem Gazette, Dec. 2, 1834
10. Salem Gazette, Nov. 10, 1835
11. Bradley P. Dean and Ronald Wesley Hoag. "Thoreau's Lectures before Walden: An Annotated Calendar." Studies in the American Renaissance, 1995
12. Gloucester Directory, 1860

Further reading

• Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, 1, 1891