The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation is proud to present author and journalist Colin Woodard speaking on the future of democracy. His book, “American Nations,” explains how our country’s regional, cultural and ideological differences can be largely explained by patterns set by early settlers, where they emigrated from, and what kind of societies they established.
Woodard will be referencing this work regarding the polarization we have experienced in the last ten years, the threat that holds to democracy, and the rise of groups trending towards authoritarianism. Following Woodard’s presentation, a panel of local educators and activists will join him, discussing ways that our republic, governed by the people, has been threatened and what can be done to preserve it.
● Kerry Herrmann, Rockport Middle School Civics and History Teacher.
● Steve Mott, Professor of Sociology at Massasoit Community College-Brockton Campus, MA.
● Michea McCaffrey, Co-Chair of the Gloucester Racial Justice Team, Gloucester Human Rights Committee Member, Activist
We invite the community to attend this free civic event in the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church, located on the green at the corner of Church & Middle Street (GPS 50 Middle Street). Event parking is available on the Green and also in the parking area behind Trinity Church. An accessible side entrance with an elevator is at 10 Church Street. Please join us for an incredibly relevant and important conversation, no matter what are the results of the current election.
The Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library Corporation will be hosting its Annual Meeting on Wednesday evening, November 13, 2024, at the Gloucester Stage located at 267 East Main Street in Gloucester from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. with corporators sign-in beginning at 6:00 p.m. All are invited!
The evening will allow the community to come together and celebrate the Library’s achievements, learn about its finances and engage with the Library’s board members and staff. There will also be an update on the 2025 Sawyer Free Library building project. Refreshments will be served.
The meeting is open to the public, but only corporators can vote. For more information, please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.
Join author Alice Markham-Cantor at the Sawyer Free Library on Tuesday, October 29 from 5:00 to 6:00 pm as she discusses her book, The Once & Future Witch Hunt, which investigates the Salem witch trials and their lasting impact.
Past and present collide in this page-turner investigation of Salem’s irrepressible question: How could this have happened?
In 1692, Martha Allen Carrier was hanged as the “Queen of Hell.” Three hundred years later, her nine-times-great-granddaughter, Alice Markham-Cantor, set out to discover why Martha died. As she chased her ancestor through the archives, graveyards, and haunted places of New England, grappling with what we owe the past, Alice’s connection to Martha led her to a shocking truth: witch hunts didn’t end in Salem.
Extensively researched and and compulsively readable, told through alternating fiction and non-fiction chapters, The Once & Future Witch Hunt does not treat Salem as a cautionary tale. It treats Salem as an instruction manual—not on how to perform witch hunts, but how to stop them.
The author talk is taking place at Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street. Registration is not required. All welcome. Questions? Contact: lsvensson@sawyerfreelibrary.org.
The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation presents sonic artist and maestro of the pipe-organ Peter Krasinski accompanying two silent film classics, ALICE IN WONDERLAND (filmed on Cape Ann in 1915!) and the TOLL OF THE SEA (1922) on Saturday, November 2 at 7:30pm at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church on Middle Street. Accessible side entrance at 10 Church Street.
This annual classic silent movie event is great fun for the whole family, presented in collaboration with the Cape Ann Community Cinema. Maestro Krasinski is world-famous for his brilliant, improvised accompaniment of silent films and will perform on the mighty 1893 Hutchings/Fisk pipe organ in our historic Meetinghouse.
Admission: $15 General, $5 Students, Under 12 free. Tickets at the door or online with more info at: www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org
Bring your family, friends and neighbors!
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SPONSORS OF OUR AUTUMN-WINTER-SPRING SERIES!
Join us at the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, October 10, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm for an engaging presentation on Boston Light, America’s first established light station, which has been guiding ships since 1716. Located on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor, Boston Light remains an active Coast Guard-maintained aid to navigation. However, its distinction as the “last manned Coast Guard light station” in the country is coming to an end with the upcoming retirement of its 70th keeper, Sally Snowman.
The event will feature a PowerPoint presentation showcasing photos from Boston Light’s remarkable 307-year history, along with personal anecdotes from Sally’s tenure as a 21st-century keeper. Sally Snowman, Ph.D., an educator, author, and the official USCG historian for Boston Light, has co-authored two books with her husband, Jay Thomson: Boston Light: A Historical Perspective (1999) and Boston Light: Arcadia Images of America (2016). Sally is also the author of the children’s book Sammy the Boston Lighthouse Dog (2005).
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about Boston Light’s rich history and hear firsthand accounts from its last keeper before this chapter in maritime history closes.
The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street, Downtown Gloucester. Registration required at sawyerfreelibrary.org.
The Gloucester 400+ and Gloucester Celebration Corp have made a $20,000 investment in the Sawyer Free 2025 capital campaign. This generous gift will fund the innovative Gloucester Timeline touchscreen wall located in the Library’s new Local History Research Center. The Local History Research Center will connect residents and visitors with our local history through compelling special and circulating collections, expert assistance, engaging programs and thought-provoking exhibitions.
“On behalf of Gloucester 400+ and Gloucester Celebration Corp, I am pleased to announce a $20,000 gift to Sawyer Free Library’s Local History Research Center for the Gloucester Timeline interactive touchscreen wall,” said the organization’s Executive Director Elsje Zwart. “We are thrilled to be able to participate in this important space within the newly renovated and expanded Sawyer Free Library, where people can come and explore not only the hundreds of stories about the people of Gloucester collected over our quadricentennial plus year and continue to add to them, but also to research Gloucester history and the people who lived and worked here for 400+ years.”
“We are grateful to the Gloucester 400+ organization and the Gloucester Celebration Corp for their generous $20,000 donation to the 2025 Sawyer Free Library,” said Mern Sibley, President of the Sawyer Free Library’s Board of Trustees. “The Library’s Local History Research Center will be a groundbreaking resource for our city, revolutionizing how we preserve, curate, and access our historical treasures. The interactive touch screen wall, funded through this generous donation, will be a signature feature of the center, providing an innovative and engaging way for residents and visitors to connect with Gloucester’s 400+ years of heritage. We are honored that our longstanding community partner, who shares our same commitment to preserving and sharing Gloucester’s rich history, is now a part of the Library’s transformative building project.”
The centerpiece of the Local History Research Center is the 85-inch interactive digital touchscreen wall, designed to enhance research through the Gloucester Timeline. This online research tool chronicles the city’s history. Launched in January 2024, the Timeline already boasts over 1,500 entries covering notable events, people, and places that have shaped Gloucester’s identity. Accessible both in the Library and online, the Timeline has attracted more than 21,000 visitors, providing a captivating and comprehensive resource for historians, scholars, and residents alike.
The new touchscreen wall in the Local History Research Center will make exploring Gloucester’s past a more engaging and collaborative experience. Visitors can interact with the Timeline, searching through categories, subcategories, and keywords to uncover stories of Gloucester’s history over the past 400+ years.
In addition to historical records, the Gloucester Timeline features the Digital Gloucester 400 Stories Project, bringing a modern, dynamic element through personal narratives and oral histories that reflect the strength and diversity of Gloucester’s people. These stories, compiled during the city’s 400th anniversary, ensure that Gloucester’s evolving history remains inclusive and vibrant for future generations.
The Gloucester Timeline is a living online resource that chronicles the key events and figures that have defined the city. Covering everything from art and literature to Gloucester’s vital maritime heritage, the Timeline weaves together stories from over four centuries. It draws from various assets, including photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and other historical documents, serving as an invaluable research tool.
The 2025 Sawyer Free Library historic renovation, expansion, and modernization project began last September and is now halfway completed. With two-thirds of the $29 million fundraising goal already reached, community engagement remains strong. However, there is still much more to raise, making this significant investment from the Gloucester 400+ and other local businesses and community organizations essential to the project’s success.
Expected to open in 2025, the newly renovatedSawyer Free Library will feature a 14,000-square-foot addition, beautifully restored buildings, and sustainable design elements, all of which will support the greater Cape Ann community.
The renovated Gloucester Public Library will offer current and emerging public technology, diverse collections, engaging programs, and new dedicated spaces for collaboration, learning, and relaxation. It will feature a 100-seat Community Room, meeting rooms, study rooms, a digital learning lab, a teen room, an expanded children’s room, an enhanced Matz Art Gallery, and ample space for its book collection.
The Library invites the community to learn how to get involved and support this vital project at 2025.sawyerfreelibrary.org.
The Gloucester 400+ Tri-chairs Bob Gillis, Bruce Tobey, and Executive Director Elsje Zwart were with Sawyer Free Library Director Jenny Benedict and Board Trustee John Day to present a $20,000 donation to the Sawyer Free 2025 Capital Campaign at the Library’s temporary location, ahead of the organizations’ co-sponsored event, Gloucester 400 Storytellers: New Discoveries and Mysteries about Leonard Craske, featuring James F. Clark.
Rockport Public Library, Sawyer Free Library and the Gloucester Genealogy Group present: Michael Brophy, World Renowned Genealogist on Saturday, September 28 from 10:30 to 11:30 am. This event will take place at the Rockport Library located at 17 School Street in Rockport. Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org.
This lecture explains and debunks some of the popular fiction about Genealogy and Family History. Subjects covered include: You can do your whole family history on the internet; The Courthouse burned down and destroyed all the records; I am descended from an Indian; Our name was changed at Ellis Island; Plymouth Plantation myth and reality; All records that you find are accurate and reliable; If my grammie said it was true, it must be true ! You can do your whole family history by using the records of the LDS church. Well researched proof will be presented to explain these myths.
Michael Brophy is a nationally known, professional genealogical researcher, heir search specialist, and lecturer from the Boston area. His currently the President of the Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy (CAFG) and the first Treasurer of the New England of Association of Professional Genealogists. Mike earned an MBA degree from Suffolk University and a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Mike was featured on the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? and the Irish TV series Dead Money, a genealogy show about heir searchers. Mr. Brophy was hired to conduct research for Ancestry.com and several historical authors.
He has lectured on a wide variety of genealogy subjects at the National Genealogy Society’s Annual Conference in 2023, 2022, 2019, 2014, 2012, and The Institute of Genealogy and Historic Research (IGHR). He specializes in New England and Irish genealogy subjects. His genealogy education includes eight certificates from the Institute of Genealogy and Historic Research (IGHR) and certificates in Private Investigation and Advanced Forensic Genealogy from Boston University. He is also a licensed private investigator in Massachusetts.
For additional information or questions, visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org or 978-325-5500.
Join the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, September 26 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm for an engaging presentation describing recent discoveries and old mysteries surrounding the life and art of Leonard Craske, the sculptor of Gloucester’s iconic Fishermen’s Memorial, Man at the Wheel. James Clark, of Gloucester, will share insights from his research which began in the small town of Annascaul, Ireland. Clark soon developed his research to become the first biography of Craske’s life. It was presented as a signature story of the Gloucester400+ Commemorative Book, Our People, Our Stories.
Mr. Clark and Terry Weber Mangos, Gloucester 400+ Stories Project Leader, have identified many long-forgotten works by Leonard Craske. Please join us at 21 Main Street to learn more about this remarkably creative life and remember an adopted son of Gloucester!
Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Space is limited. For questions, call 978-325-5500.
This event is the result of a partnership between the Gloucester400+ Stories Project and the Sawyer Free Library.
The Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum has a wide variety of materials available for genealogists’ use. The library’s holdings relevant to genealogical research are largely based in Essex County, Massachusetts and are strongest in the 19th-century. Reference Assistant, Sarah Tripp, will give a presentation about the Phillips Library, its genealogical resources, and how the public can access them at the Sawyer Free Library on Saturday, September 21 from 10:30 to 11:30 am.
Registration required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. For more information or questions, please contact: jtravers@sawyerfreelibrary.org.
The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library located at 21 Main Street in Gloucester.
Join the Sawyer Free Library on Monday morning, September 8 at 10:45am for a fun and interactive storytime celebrating this year’s Gloucester Reads 2024 children’s book selection, Our Skin: A First Conversation About Raceby Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, with pictures by Isabel Roxas. Following reading the book together, there will be a fun craft to work on!
From Penguin Random House:
While young children are avid observers and questioners of their world, adults often shut down or postpone conversations on complicated topics because it’s hard to know where to begin. Research shows that talking about issues like race and gender from the age of two not only helps children understand what they see, but also increases self-awareness, self-esteem, and allows them to recognize and confront things that are unfair, like discrimination and prejudice.
Developed by experts in the fields of early childhood and activism against injustice, this topic-driven picture book begins the conversation on race, with a supportive approach that considers both the child and the adult. No registration needed. For questions, visit: SawyerFreeLibrary.org or 978-325-5500.
Gloucester Reads is a collaboration between the Gloucester Racial Justice Team, the Sawyer Free Library, and Gloucester Health Department.
Cape Ann Community 