Pastor’s Library

In 1864, Connecticut Governor William Buckingham, a Lebanon native, donated funds to the First Congregational Church so the minister could purchase books.  In 1869, the minister had acquired so many books, through purchase and donation, that the Church raised the money to build a free-standing one-room Library.  Moved from the Parsonage grounds to the Museum campus in 2011, the building was restored to match descriptions from Church records in 1869 and 1910 and letters and articles written by various ministers.  Books from the Pastor’s Library collection are displayed on the walnut bookshelves that (by-then) United States Senator Buckingham purchased for the building.