Longyear Museum

09/01/2026

Tune in at 11:00 A.M. E.D.T., Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, for an interactive online event for kids about the Busy Bees: the real-life Sunday school students who raised enough money to help furnish Mary Baker Eddy's room at The Mother Church. The program is recommended for ages 5–10, but all are welcome.

Sign up: https://www.longyear.org/visit/events/longyear-for-kids-busy-bees-event-2026/

08/27/2026

Each year, Longyear Museum staff visit a museum, historic house, or historic site for a day of education and fun! This year's destination: Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. We’re so grateful to the staff of the estate, and the excellent private tour of the 59-room Stuart-style mansion. After our tour we headed to Russell Orchards for ice cream and cider slushies!

Here we are gathered on the roof of the historic estate, and at its front entrance.

08/25/2026

“I went rather reluctantly,” wrote Ellen Latham Clarke in her Diamond-brand composition notebook. She was writing of her visit to an 1880 gathering at Hawthorne Hall where Mary Baker Eddy was preaching. It turned out that Mrs. Clarke was so moved by Mrs. Eddy’s sermon that she continued to attend services at Hawthorne Hall until she became one of Mrs. Eddy’s earliest students.

Visit the link to read directly from Mrs. Clark’s journal, which offers intriguing insights on the Christian Science movement as it grew from humble beginnings to a world-wide religion: https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/paging-through-history-a-look-inside-ellen-clarks-journal/

08/20/2026

Refresh your stationery with unique notecards and notebooks exclusive to Longyear Museum’s store! Some of our offerings include:
✨ The Mother Church Impressionist Notecard;
✨ Amesbury Wallpaper Notecards;
✨ Chestnut Hill Mini Notebooks;
✨ Chestnut Hill Magnetic Floral Notepads.

Find all this and more on our online shop: https://store.longyear.org/products/other

08/18/2026

We're so excited to announce Longyear Museum’s Family Day at 400 Beacon Street in Chestnut Hill, Mass., this fall! Bring your family on October 25, 2026, to ride in a horse-drawn carriage, create kid-friendly crafts, and enjoy family-oriented tours of Mary Baker Eddy’s home. While this event is free, advanced registration helps us plan for enough supplies and lunches.

Register for the event: https://www.longyear.org/visit/events/family-day-2026-at-400-beacon-street/

08/13/2026

Do you have a long commute? In 1878, so did Mary Baker Eddy. While living in Lynn, Mass., Mrs. Eddy began a series of Sunday afternoon lectures in Boston. To get from Point A to Point B, Mr. and Mrs. Eddy might well have boarded a horse drawn trolly to get to their train. From there, they would board a ferry to cross the harbor, then walk to their next horse drawn trolley. Then, they would have been dropped off at the end of the line, where they’d walk to their destination in the South End. This round-trip journey could take three or four hours!

Learn about the Eddys' commute, and the inspiring lectures that would ensue: https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/mary-baker-eddys-weekly-commute/

08/11/2026

Free for the month of August! This 43-minute video by former Longyear Director/Curator Stephen Howard contrasts Mary Baker Eddy’s pathway to the discovery of Christian Science with the paths required by physical scientists to overturn widely believed, but mistaken ideas.

Watch the video:

This is "Dis-illusion" by Longyear Museum on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

08/06/2026

Have you ever looked up at the night sky in hopes of seeing the stars? If so, you have that in common with the workers at 400 Beacon Street, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Several workers recalled climbing to the roof and peering at the heavens through a telescope!

Learn about the telescope Mary Baker Eddy gifted her workers—one of the best telescopes of the day: https://www.longyear.org/telescope/

08/04/2026

Without the evidence or artifacts of history, how can we know for sure what happened? Longyear’s collection of 65,000 artifacts preserves the history of Mary Baker Eddy and the Christian Science movement.

What goes into caring for these items? Find out: https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/safeguarding-the-evidence/

07/28/2026

Mary Baker Eddy spent most of her teenage and early adult years in Tilton, New Hampshire, a town she later referred to as “that beautiful village.”

Learn about Mrs. Eddy’s experiences in this thriving 19th-century mill town: https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/coming-of-age-in-tilton-1836-1853/