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."James Robinson Newhall. The Essex memorial, for 1836: embracing a register of the county. Salem, Mass.: Henry Whipple, 1836 It incorporated in 1831.Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Inc.: 1830-1930, the record of a century. S.l.: s.n., [1930?]
From the 1830s through at least the 1860s, the Lyceum arranged lectures from notables such as: Ralph Waldo Emerson,Mary Foley. "Fitz Hugh Lane, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Gloucester Lyceum." American Art Journal, v.27, no.1/2, 1995/1996 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.,Paul B. Kenyon. People & books: the story of the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, 1830-1980. Gloucester, Mass.: the Library, 1980 "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." 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."
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." 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). Much of the funding for the library came from "Samuel E. Sawyer, a Boston merchant, but a native of Gloucester."
The Lyceum became the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library under a new charter in 1872.
Lectures/Performances
1830 Hosea Hildreth William Ferson Mr. SpencerSalem Gazette, Dec. 7, 1830 Benjamin Crowninshield Charles G. Putnam Henry PrentissSalem Gazette, Oct. 26, 1830 1832 John James BabsonCharles C. Smith. "Memoir of the Hon. John J. Babson." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Nov. 1886 1834 Mr. WardSalem Gazette, Dec. 2, 1834
1835 George S. HillardSalem Gazette, Nov. 10, 1835 A. H. Everett Jerome V. C. Smith Ezekiel W. Leach Rev. Mr. Sewall Daniel P. King Rev. Mr. Withington Rev. Mr. Fox Samuel E. Cowes A. L. Peirson Rev. Mr. Williams Rev. Mr. Worcester John S. Williams Rev. Mr. Thompson George H. Devereux R. S. Edes
1848 Henry David ThoreauBradley P. Dean and Ronald Wesley Hoag. "Thoreau's Lectures before Walden: An Annotated Calendar." Studies in the American Renaissance, 1995 1858-1859 Henry Ward BeecherGloucester Directory, 1860 Daniel C. Eddy A. D. Mayo Wendell Phillips George Vandenhoff George B. Loring John G. Saxe George D. Prentice
1860 Mendelssohn Quintette Club Grace Greenwood George Sumner William W. Sylvester William H. Millburn, "the blind preacher" George William Curtiss, "author of Trumps" Rufus Laighton Jr. Benjamin H. Smith Jr. William Hague
See also Lyceum movement
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Further reading