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]

References

James Robinson Newhall. The Essex memorial, for 1836: embracing a register of the county. Salem, Mass.: Henry Whipple, 1836
Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Inc.: 1830-1930, the record of a century. S.l.: s.n., [1930?]
Mary Foley. "Fitz Hugh Lane, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Gloucester Lyceum." American Art Journal, v.27, no.1/2, 1995/1996
Paul B. Kenyon. People & books: the story of the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, 1830-1980. Gloucester, Mass.: the Library, 1980
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
Salem Gazette, Dec. 7, 1830
Salem Gazette, Oct. 26, 1830
Charles C. Smith. "Memoir of the Hon. John J. Babson." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Nov. 1886
Salem Gazette, Dec. 2, 1834
Salem Gazette, Nov. 10, 1835
Bradley P. Dean and Ronald Wesley Hoag. "Thoreau's Lectures before Walden: An Annotated Calendar." Studies in the American Renaissance, 1995
Gloucester Directory, 1860

Gloucester Lyceum

Lectures/Performances

See also

References

Further reading