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Image Gallery: Mary Baker Eddy's Household at Chestnut Hill, Part Two
September 13, 2010
In January 1908 Mary Baker Eddy moved from Concord, New Hampshire, to her new home in Chestnut Hill, a suburb of Boston. She had purchased the house at 400 Beacon Street just a few months earlier. In that short time she had it enlarged to accommodate the large staff needed to assist her labors as Leader of the Christian Science movement.
Left: Mary Baker's Eddy's home at Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Mrs. Eddy's study is on the second floor of the tower, rear left. The tower was one of the features added by Mrs. Eddy before she moved to the residence in January 1908. Photo by John Salchow, ca. 1911. Photo of Mrs. Eddy, ca. 1898.
The three years Mrs. Eddy spent at Chestnut Hill were extremely productive. With the daily support of her household "family," she founded The Christian Science Monitor, provided for Christian Science nursing, made further revisions to Science and Health and the Church Manual, completed a compilation of her later writings to be published as The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, authorized a German translation of Science and Health, revised some of her shorter writings, wrote several new articles, and compiled a small anthology of her selected poems.
All was not labor at Mrs. Eddy’s home. Here
some members of the household set out for a
drive. From left to right: Frank Bowman,
John Salchow, Jonathan Irving, Mrs. Salchow,
Mrs. Bowman, Martha Wilcox, Lula Phillips,
Elizabeth Kelley, Katherine Retterer.
All workers in the household were expected to approach their tasks prayerfully. Some staff members were specifically assigned to pray in support of Mrs. Eddy and her mission. Like most secretaries in that day, her secretaries were men. She usually had three or more male secretaries who assisted with her voluminous daily mail, her writing for publication, and her communications with church officers and individual Christian Scientists. The staff at all levels mingled much like members of a family, working together for a common goal.
View the gallery: Mary Baker Eddy’s Household at Chestnut Hill, Part Two
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