This year, a century after Mary Beecher Longyear boldly stepped into the world of historic preservation with the establishment of the Longyear Foundation in 1923, we find ourselves echoing the words of William Johnson, who was serving as Clerk of The Mother Church when he gave a report at the 1906 Annual Meeting that included this statement:
“To-day we look back over the years that have passed since the inception of this great Cause, and we cannot help being touched by each landmark of progress that showed a forward effort into the well-earned joy that is with us now.” 1
We invite you to join us as we stroll through the latter decades of Longyear’s first century of service and celebrate the Museum’s own landmarks of progress. (You’ll find the history of Longyear’s early years in the spring/summer 2023 Longyear Review and at this web link.)
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“In relating all the good I was able to reflect from the money so freely given me, I do not record it as a personal merit,” wrote Mary Beecher Longyear in her autobiography, “but to show how God will provide for all needed things through His children if they are willing to be open channels for Love.”2
Mrs. Longyear’s own willingness to be an “open channel for Love” inspired her pioneering efforts to help preserve an accurate history of the life of Mary Baker Eddy. “The ages must be furnished authentic data,” she recorded in her diary in 1918.3 Later, she added, “If the human life of Mary Baker Eddy is not recorded and guarded for posterity, in the years—yes, centuries—to come, legends will grow up regarding her, with no statements of truth to refute them.”4
As early as 1910, Mrs. Longyear began collecting artifacts, documents, photographs, reminiscences, and houses related to Mrs. Eddy’s life and work. After Mrs. Longyear’s passing in 1931, the collection found its home, by default, in her 88-room residence on Fisher Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts. Within a decade, the foundation she established to safeguard the collection and make it available to the public would be incorporated as a nonprofit educational institution and the mansion would open its doors as a museum.
Vigorous growth followed. The organization put down roots and flourished. The collection grew, as did the staff. But as the decades marched on, it became increasingly clear that the building that had served admirably in sheltering the collection was becoming burdensome. As Mrs. Longyear herself had foreseen—and tried to forestall, with her unfulfilled dream of a purpose-built museum—the cost of upkeep on the Fisher Hill property was diverting funds from Longyear’s core focus.
As former trustee June Austin once explained, “Our mission was not to maintain a building, but to keep Mrs. Eddy’s history before the public.”5
It would take enormous vision, trust, commitment, prayer, and persistence—along with a continued willingness by the trustees and staff to be “open channels for Love”—to walk the path that would lead to transitioning the Museum from a 19th-century private home to a 21st-century building. The rewards in doing so ushered in a new era of wider service for Longyear and would ultimately allow it to fling open its doors and embrace a worldwide audience.
This is the story of that journey.
1970s
1973
Admission fees are increased to $1 at the Museum (25 cents for students and those under 20) and to 50 cents at the Mary Baker Eddy Historic Houses.
1975
The Longyear trustees accept a generous gift from the Christian Science Board of Directors—four artifacts from Pleasant View, Mary Baker Eddy’s former home in Concord, New Hampshire: an arched granite gate, a fountain, and two summerhouses. The trustees vote to authorize the cost of $5,000 to move them.
1976
In the spring and summer, the trustees discuss upgrading the heating system and installing air-conditioning at the Museum at an estimated cost of $362,000, but the decision is deferred. Successive years of board minutes catalog needed improvements and repairs to the mansion. The collection has outgrown its storage space (the Museum vault was the Longyear family’s former basement meat locker). The ceiling in the mansion’s bowling alley—by this time repurposed as a reading and snack area for visitors—is leaking. Masonry and stone walls are crumbling, ironwork is rusting, and the elevator is aging. There is a need for extensive tree work—and so much more. Meanwhile, the Mary Baker Eddy Historic Houses have maintenance needs of their own, with roofs to repair and replace, interiors and exteriors to paint, plumbing and electrical work to be done, and insects and rodents to be dealt with, along with all the other upkeep associated with historic houses.
1977
Longyear is given publication rights to Christian Science in Germany, in part because of Mrs. Longyear’s financial support for author Frances Thurber Seal in the early days. “A happy solution, which I am sure would have pleased Mrs. Seal,” notes the donor, who was Mrs. Seal’s secretary.6 Subsequently, a new edition is issued in December. With this book and the release of Kenneth Hufford’s Mary Baker Eddy and the Stoughton Years some years earlier, Longyear ventures into publishing books and monographs, most of them based on original research. Over a dozen more publications will follow in the years ahead.
1980s
1982
The Longyear Quarterly News launches an eight-part series on the Glover family, featuring original research by Jewel Spangler Smaus, author of the 1966 biography Mary Baker Eddy: The Golden Days, published by the Christian Science Publishing Society.
1982-83
The trustees vote to move forward with microfilming the collection.
Polaroid Corporation and local Boston department store Jordan Marsh book photo sessions at the Longyear mansion, providing a modest new income stream. During this decade, Longyear will become a sought-after location as a backdrop for fashion shoots, print and television ads, and, most notably, scenes from several episodes of Warner Bros./ABC’s Spenser: For Hire. The Boston Globe and The Christian Science Monitor also use the Museum and its grounds for advertising sections.
Longyear acquires its first computer—a Wang. Initially slated for use solely by the membership department, within five months it has proven so useful to so many other departments that Museum Director Constance Johnson asks for the system to be upgraded and expanded. By the end of the decade, personal computers will replace the Wang system at Longyear.
In October 1983, a bus tour to a number of the Mary Baker Eddy Historic Houses and other historic sites is offered. More tours will follow in the late 1990s and continue to this day.
1985
62 North State Street, a home formerly rented by Mrs. Eddy in Concord, New Hampshire, joins the Longyear collection, thanks to longtime owners Edward and Beth Long. This brings the number of Mary Baker Eddy Historic Houses to six.
1987
Longyear Museum celebrates 50 years since opening its doors to the public.
1989
Longyear Museum Press publishes The Longyear Cookbook, whose recipe contributors include First Ladies Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, and Nancy Reagan, as well as former CIA director Stansfield Turner, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and many others.
1990s
1990
The trustees receive an estimate of $4 million for repairs to the mansion—“a figure that was astonishing to us,” according to then-trustee Bob Dale. Architect Richard Stopfel of Stopfel, Inc., notes that this expenditure would “put the building into shape that would be good for another 25 years without much maintenance.” However, as Mr. Dale points out, “Having spent it, we would still have a building that was not equipped to be a museum.”7 Ultimately, the decision is made to sell the mansion. “It was a huge decision to make, and one that did not come easily for the trustees,” former trustee V. Ellen Williams would later state.8
1991
Scholar Stephen Gottschalk conducts research at Longyear. Other authors who will utilize the collection this decade include Richard Nenneman and Gillian Gill.
1994
Trustees vote to hire Sotheby’s to begin marketing the Brookline property for sale.
A new Longyear Museum logo is unveiled, featuring the Pleasant View arched gate in silhouette.
Advance preparation for the move begins by assessing non-collection items with an eye to sale. “These items were Longyear [family] possessions and do not relate to our collection theme,” the board minutes explain. “They are valuable pieces and should be placed where they will have importance and be cared for properly. We cannot afford to neglect our main collection to care for these.”9 Among the items eventually auctioned by Sotheby’s are a 16th-century painting by Antonio da Solario and a Flemish tapestry. Their sale nets the Museum $205,000.
1995
The Longyear mansion is sold to a developer for $6.5 million. On Oct. 1, its doors close to the public, and preparations begin in earnest for the move. The trustees consider locations for a new purpose-built museum ranging from Cambridge and Brookline to Canton, Massachusetts, eventually settling on a 1.8-acre site in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Located on the corner of Dunster Road and Boylston Street (busy Route 9), and just down the street from the Chestnut Hill Benevolent Association and across from the Longwood Cricket Club, the site is highly visible, with public transportation just a block away. Richard Stopfel is hired to begin designing the new museum. He will later report to the board that the qualities he’s focusing on for the new building include timelessness, serenity, dignity, public presence, respect for the neighborhood, and the rightness of the subject.10
1996
In January, some 100 Longyear members and friends join the trustees and Museum staff members for a cruise through the Panama Canal. During the trip, plans are announced regarding the new museum building. “It was absolutely thrilling to witness such strong membership commitment to this preservation of the history of Christian Science,” development director Janet Crisler writes to the participants once back ashore.11 This cruise not only gives a boost to the launch of the new project, but also begins an ongoing program of international travel that will span more than a dozen years, with trips and cruises to Europe, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
1997
The purchase of the Dunster Road property for $1.5 million is finalized at the beginning of the year. The architect’s model for the new building reveals the care taken to blend it into its wooded neighborhood of established homes, and to showcase the park-like surroundings that include mature maples, beech trees, holly, and rhododendron.
On April 30, Longyear’s website—www.longyear.org—goes live for the first time.
1998
On March 8, a groundbreaking ceremony takes place at the new museum site. At the laying of the cornerstone in November, the entire staff is joined by the trustees and a few guests. After brief readings from the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, trustee June Austin offers this prayer: “Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health (page vii), ‘Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished.’ The Spirit of the Lord is upon this place. It is upon each one of us—the trustees, the staff, the architects, the builders, and every donor—everyone who has been and will be a part of this mission called Longyear Museum. … Today, we pray that this museum will help the world recognize and realize something of the light and life of Mary Baker Eddy. …”12
In the spring, the Longyear collection is moved to museum-quality interim storage, and the staff moves into temporary office quarters at 271 Huntington Avenue in downtown Boston.
Longyear’s first major fund-raising campaign kicks off as the trustees travel the country sharing news of the plans for the new museum, the only one in the world devoted to the history of Mary Baker Eddy’s life and work. This will include “Gala at the Getty,” an event at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in November.
All told, the new museum building will cost $14 million, and the exhibits an additional $3 million. To augment the income from the sale of the mansion, the trustees need to raise $11 million. “Over the years there has been a perception that Longyear was very wealthy … because Mrs. Longyear was wealthy, and that there were really no financial needs,” trustee V. Ellen Williams later comments. “But … some of the things that she invested in and left in the trust are no longer giving the yield that they once did. So really, we’ve outgrown our inheritance. But that’s all right because I think that it’s time for us to take over. It’s our turn to support Longyear and what it’s doing.”13
1999
In the spring, the Pleasant View gate—bearing the name Eddy—is installed on the new property. Other artifacts from Mrs. Eddy’s New Hampshire home will follow in the coming years.
In August, with the paint barely dry on the walls, the Longyear staff and collection move into the new museum building. “When we started building the museum, we had enough money to put in the foundation and we knew we could pay for that part,” Mrs. Williams recalls. “It took a great deal of faith to move into the next phase and get the steel up, but we knew that we could. And as we moved along in these phases and we paid for each phase along the way, we had a lot of trust. We had trust in God that it was a complete idea, and we had trust that we would have all we needed to complete that phase.”14
Once in the new building, the staff turn their attention to the exhibits that will fill the Museum’s first floor. Mrs. Williams states, “It’s not right to have just a beautiful building. And without the exhibits it is just a building. … The same faith that built the foundation is there for the exhibits.” She continues, “It’s a big challenge to provide a museum that is going to inspire the lifelong Christian Scientist and the person who’s never even heard of Mary Baker Eddy.”15
2000s
2000
Work continues on the exhibits. Stephen Howard, the Museum’s director/curator, who is collaborating with Amaze Design on the project, notes, “If a museum and an exhibit are merely the embalming of past events that no longer have any relevance, then we will have failed. But Mrs. Eddy’s life is relevant—today and, I believe, far into the future.”16
Longyear Museum Press publishes The Human Life Articles on Mary Baker Eddy, a facsimile reproduction of Sibyl Wilbur’s groundbreaking 1906–07 magazine series, with a foreword by Stephen R. Howard. Also published that year is A Precious Legacy: Christian Science Comes to Japan by Emi Abiko.
2001
In the fall, the Pleasant View fountain is restored and installed at the new museum. One of the summerhouses goes in at about the same time.
On Nov. 17, a members-only gala celebrates the opening of the Museum’s two new main-floor exhibits—Mary Baker Eddy: A Spiritual Journey and The Baker Family.
The building officially opens its doors to the public on Dec. 1.
2002
Longyear Museum Press publishes Genesis of a Poem: Rosa Maud Turner’s “O Dreamer, Leave Thy Dreams for Joyful Waking,” by Peter J. Hodgson.
2003-04
In April 2003, Longyear Museum Press publishes A Most Agreeable Man: Lyman Foster Brackett, by Peter J. Hodgson.
On Sept. 18, 2004, members and guests gather at the Museum for a premiere screening of The Onward and Upward Chain: Pioneers of Christian Science in the 1880s, Longyear’s first historical documentary film. It vividly tells the inspiring stories of some of the early workers who took the healing message of Christian Science to America’s Midwest in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 20th century. Writer and director Webster Lithgow notes in his introduction to the event: “Longyear’s collections are a gold mine full of nuggets—letters, reminiscences, scrapbooks, and artifacts—all of which exist because Longyear exists. … It is so important for Christian Scientists today to be able to learn the stories of all these early workers—ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things and setting an example for us all.”17 More documentary films will soon follow.
In December 2004, Longyear Museum Press publishes A Chronological Reference to Mary Baker Eddy’s Books Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896 and The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany.
2005
The Onward and Upward Chain hits the road, crisscrossing the United States at screenings.
In December, Longyear Museum Press publishes Violet Hay by Peter J. Hodgson.
Longyear receives a Preservation and Restoration Award from the Swampscott Historical Commission for its restoration of the Mary Baker Eddy Historic House in Swampscott, Massachusetts. Several years earlier, in 1999, the Museum had begun restoring the exterior of its six historic houses, starting with Amesbury. Stoughton would follow in 2000, Swampscott in 2004, and the three New Hampshire houses—North Groton, Rumney, and Concord—in 2002, 2005, and 2007–08 respectively.
2006
In April 2006, The Christian Science Monitor reports that Mary Baker Eddy’s former homes in Lynn and Chestnut Hill will soon be listed on the open market.18 Thanks to an outpouring of support from members and friends, Longyear is able to purchase both properties—12 Broad Street in Lynn in September for $710,000 (Longyear will later successfully petition the City of Lynn to restore the original 8 Broad Street number) and 400 Beacon Street at the end of the year for $13.3 million.
Longyear releases “Remember the Days of Old”: Preserving the History of Christian Science, written and directed by Webster Lithgow, which highlights the Museum’s mission.
2007
In the spring, Longyear Museum Press publishes Homeward Part I: Lynn, by Stephen R. Howard.
In the fall, Longyear Museum Press publishes Homeward Part II: Chestnut Hill, by Stephen R. Howard.
2008
In November, a new historical documentary film is released. Written and directed by Webster Lithgow, “Who Shall Be Called?”—The Pleasant View Household: Working and Watching goes on the road for screenings nationwide.
In November, initial preservation work begins at the Mary Baker Eddy Historic Houses in Lynn and Chestnut Hill. Meanwhile, a forensic paint analysis of the exterior of the house at 62 North State Street in Concord, New Hampshire, reveals that its original color during Mrs. Eddy’s tenure wasn’t white, but a color described by the house’s resident overseer as “baked pumpkin pie”!
2009
Longyear receives a $395,000 grant award from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund toward the exterior restoration of 8 Broad Street, the Mary Baker Eddy Historic House in Lynn.
2010s
Authors who will utilize the collection for research in this decade include Isabel Ferguson, Heather Vogel Frederick, Keith McNeil, and Christopher Tyner.
2010
On May 18, 2010, a groundbreaking ceremony takes place at 8 Broad Street. Its exterior restoration is the most significant building project undertaken by Longyear since the construction of the new museum.
In December, Longyear Museum Press publishes Paths of Pioneer Christian Scientists by Christopher L. Tyner, which profiles four pioneering women who encountered this new religion in the 1880s and subsequently dedicated their lives to helping and healing others.
2011
The exterior restoration of Lynn is completed, including a vibrant new color scheme based on a forensic paint analysis and a new accessible visitor entrance. The entrance’s modern look is in keeping with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties, which require new design elements to be clearly differentiated from original historic features. Attention now turns to restoring the interior of the house.
2012
In October, Longyear releases a third historical documentary film written and directed by Webster Lithgow. The House on Broad Street—Finding a Faithful Few: The Years in Lynn will tour the United States during the fall and winter.
2013
A new visitor orientation film—“Upon Life’s Shore”—also written and directed by Webster Lithgow, debuts in the Museum’s Cobb Theater. (Additionally, it’s available for viewing on the Longyear website.)
2014
The completion of the restored interior at 8 Broad Street is celebrated with a gala opening reception.
2015
Longyear receives a Preservation Award from the New England chapter of the Victorian Society in America for its restoration of 8 Broad Street.
Longyear receives a $500,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund for Phase 1 of the restoration of 400 Beacon Street. This phase will offer Longyear an opportunity to assess what a full restoration will require and will include restoring windows, repointing masonry on part of the building, replacing the flat roof, installing new water and sewer lines, and restoring two period rooms—the kitchen and housekeeper Katharine Retterer’s room. The following summer a new gas line is installed.
Longyear Museum Press publishes A Curator’s Perspective: Writings on Mary Baker Eddy and the Early Christian Science Movement, a compilation of articles written by Stephen R. Howard during his 16-year tenure as director/curator of Longyear.
Filmed on location at 400 Beacon Street and at local sound sets, Longyear’s fourth historical documentary, “Follow and Rejoice”—Mary Baker Eddy: The Chestnut Hill Years, is released in December. Longyear staff embark on a nationwide tour to premier the movie.
2016
The Mother Church gives Longyear furniture that once graced 400 Beacon Street, two of Mrs. Eddy’s carriages, and a boat that was used on the pond at Pleasant View. Gifts of artwork and small artifacts from 400 Beacon Street will follow in 2017 and 2019.
2018
Restoration work begins at the Mary Baker Eddy Historic House in Amesbury, Massachusetts.
2019
Longyear Museum Press publishes Life at 400 Beacon Street: Working in Mary Baker Eddy’s Household, by Heather Vogel Frederick. A coast-to-coast book tour follows.
The final phase of restoration work at 400 Beacon Street begins. This is the largest and most complex project the Museum has ever undertaken, and in the next several years will include major infrastructure updates, such as new electrical service (replacing the system installed in 1908), air conditioning, a high-pressure mist fire suppression system, new plumbing, improved security, and a backup generator. Elevator service will be provided to all floors of the house. Mrs. Eddy’s original furniture will be reupholstered, wallpaper and carpets reproduced from originals, and 28 period rooms furnished and interpreted. The basement will be converted to a visitor welcome space with an orientation film and new exhibits, and the carriage house restored, among many other projects.
2020s
2020
Longyear Museum Press publishes “A Woman of Sound Education”: Mary Baker Eddy’s School Years by Heather Vogel Frederick.
With the world in lockdown, Longyear explores new avenues for reaching its members and friends. Online offerings—from videos for children and a special Longyear@Home series to virtual tours, parlor chats, book talks, and other programs—allow the Museum to open its doors and embrace a global audience. Viewers tune in from the United States, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, South Africa, the Bahamas, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, Switzerland, and several other countries.
2021
On Jan. 13, the Mary Baker Eddy Historic House at 8 Broad Street in Lynn, Massachusetts, is granted National Historic Landmark status by the United States Department of the Interior, the highest level of recognition in the nation for a historic site. “National landmarks … are designated by the Secretary of the Interior as having exceptional value because they illustrate United States heritage, not just state or local history,” explains Longyear Museum executive director Sandra J. Houston. “Our application for this status emphasized the significant work Mrs. Eddy accomplished while living in this house, as well as her stature as an American religious leader.” A two-day virtual open house to celebrate follows in June.
2022
A newly redesigned magazine—Longyear Review—is launched, along with an updated and simplified logo.
The interior and exterior restoration of the Mary Baker Eddy Historic House in Amesbury is completed. A virtual open house—still available for viewing on Longyear’s website—draws viewers from 23 countries, including New Zealand, Portugal, Qatar, Mexico, Argentina, Kenya, Chile, Peru, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In-person open houses draw hundreds of visitors from surrounding communities.
2023
Longyear Museum Press publishes A Home for Spike, by Heather Vogel Frederick with illustrations by Amber Hawks Schaberg, the Museum’s first picture book for children.
2024
400 Beacon Street, Mary Baker Eddy’s final home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, will reopen to the public.
