Other Books About Colonial Meetinghouses in New England

 

 
I have assembled here a list of all of the existing books about colonial meetinghouses in New England that are known to me.

  • Speare, Eva A.: Colonial Meeting-Houses of New Hampshire. Self-published, Reginald M. Colby, Agent, Littleton, NH, 1938, revised 1955.


    A really good reference for colonial meetinghouses in New Hampshire (she missed a few). Contains old photos, historical facts, and interesting anecdotes about these structures. An informative and entertaining read.
Speare
  • Sinnott, Edmund W.: Meetinghouse and Church in Early New England. Bonanza Books, New York, 1963.


    A very complete reference to all colonial meetinghouses in the New England states. Contains photos and historical facts about many of them, and a complete index, by state, that identifies them by current architectural style.
Sinnott
  • Benes, Peter, Ed.: New England Meeting House and Church: 1630-1850. The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, Annual Proceedings 1979, Published by Boston University.


    Contains very informative essays on such things as architectural trends, decoration, joinery, and civil and religious practice. A few photos, but mostly information about what life was like when these structures were first built.
Dublin
  • Benes, Peter, and Zimmerman, Philip D: New England Meeting House and Church: 1630 - 1850. Published by Boston University and The Currier Gallery of Art for The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, 1979.


    An exhibition catalog for a Loan Exhibition held at the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH.
Benes
  • Winslow, Ola Elizabeth: Meetinghouse Hill. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1972.


    A very complete description of all facets of colonial life. No photos. A "heavy" read.
Winslow
  • Mallary, Peter T., and Imrie, Tim: New England Church and Meetinghouse. Chartwell Books, Secaucus, NJ, 1985.


    A book of beautiful photographs that documents a few of the more interesting structures, both early meetinghouses, and churches from the early 1800s. Includes interesting historical information too. For my eye, the photography documents these structures well but does not treat them as artistic subjects.
Mallery
  • Wight, Charles Albert, B.A.: Some Old Time Meeting Houses of the Connecticut Valley. The Rich Print, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, 1911.


    Charles Wight was the minister of the Congregational Church in Chicopee Falls. He gives a first-hand account of meetinghouses from his childhood memories.
Wight
  • Buggeln, Gretchen: Temples of Grace - The Material Transformation of Connecticut Churches, 1790 - 1840,. University Press of New England, Hanover, 2003.


    Covers a time period that is somewhat later than most of the buildings I am studying, although the information is an interesting postscript to my work.
Buggeln