This book has been compiled to introduce the collections that reside in The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity. A sampling of these rich and voluminous collections has also been regularly featured in the Library's magazine and on the Library's Website www.marybakereddylibrary.org
What this book is. "I take much pleasure in pondering the history of my life and seeing how God has led me..." wrote Mary Baker Eddy in 1890. (Letter to Frank E. Mason, February 10, 1890) And the history of that remarkable life is recorded in the collections' paper documents, personal journals and scrapbooks, photographs, fine arts, inscribed books, and other objects of every size, shape, and medium - each of which, like a puzzle of a hundred thousand pieces, tells a part of that story.
Because the completed puzzle is a chronicle of Mrs. Eddy's human life and spiritual journey, some of the pieces of that puzzle appear mundane and ordinary; others are profound. Some are colored by the emotions of the moment; others reflect the more subtle hues of insight and inspiration. Some are typeset, accurate, and grammatical; others are back-of-the-envelope, illegible, and reflective of the still-variant spelling of mid-19th-century America (Webster's American Dictionary was not published until 1828).
As the pieces of the puzzle fit together, Mary Baker Eddy's "true light and life" become something of an amalgam, resembling a journey rather than a singular epiphany. She herself refers to Christian Science as "practical evolution" (Footprints Fadeless," 1902) and Science and Health as "the outgrowth of my whole life. (Letter to Katie Swarts, September 30, 1884) The hundreds of thousands of pages of previously unpublished material that will be available to the public in her Library are reflective of that journey.
What the book is not. While it is hoped that this book will become a memorable "preview" of the Library collections, it should not be read like a biography, in which someone else has examined the record and provided his or her own sequence and interpretation of the story. What is contained in this volume is original source material, unvarnished, honest, and spontaneously original. It doesn't try to tell the reader what to think; instead, it invites one into a world where preconceptions may be contradicted in the clearer light of historical evidence.
How to read this compilation. Although this book has been divided into eleven sections, Mary Baker Eddy's life and ideas cannot be so neatly arranged. The sections are not intended to be sequential, so the reader should not feel compelled to read from beginning to end. Look at the Table of Contents and choose a section that interests you, turn a few pages to find a subjects of interest, and dig in. The introduction to each section provides a modest description of its contents and relevant contextual or historical information, without telling the reader what to conclude from the experience with the material. That's a very private encounter between the reader and the collection, which is the very essence of what a library is about.
One might conclude that the very length of this book belies the term "preview." But considering the magnitude, scope, and diversity of the Mary Baker Eddy collections - and the life they represent - the several hundred pages in this volume are fittingly described as just a preview.