Sneak Preview of the New Brewster Book Manuscript in Plymouth, Massachusetts

Donna D. Curtin, Executive Director of Pilgrim Hall Museum

carried the manuscript into the Mayflower House, in a locked box.

Today I was very fortunate to be at an "invitation only" reception held by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants at the Mayflower Society House in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  At this reception Caleb Johnson revealed his new book The Brewster Book Manuscript for the first time to a captive audience.  I can't reveal all the secrets inside this book until next weekend when this book is unveiled to the public at the Pilgrim Hall Museum on Sunday, September 22nd at 1pm.  This book launch and the reception will be seated on a first come, first serve basis, no reservations.  See the link below for more information.

This little book (about 7.75" x 6") was a 17th century wastebook or notebook of blank pages used as a copybook, genealogy, and other notes by 7 different authors from the early 1600s until about 1899, including 20 pages in Latin.  During this event Caleb Johnson revealed the original author (Shhh! It's a secret until the book reveal on September 22nd - but I'll write a second blog post!), and several members of the Brewster family who probably wrote the rest of the manuscript.

The manuscript was deeded to the Massachusetts Mayflower Society in 1907, and left unstudied for 100 years.  In 1897 Mayflower genealogist George Bowman transcribed all the genealogy information in this manuscript in 4 volumes of the Mayflower Descendant journal.  Most of the rest of the book was untranscribed and ignored. It was kept in a file cabinet until about 2011 when interest in the book resurfaced.  MSMD board member Barbara Lee Kelly found the book and showed it to Jim Baker, who verified that the book was valuable and it should be studied and stored in a vault.  The book was conserved and rebound.  Later it was transcribed by British researcher Simon Neale, and edited by Caleb Johnson for the book launch this week.

More to come in a second blog post after the official book reveal next week...!

Deputy Governor, Barbara Lee Kelly, of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants

was so excited to see this little notebook preserved and presented in a newly published book! 

Barbara Lee Kelly and Yours Truly

The original Brewster Book Manuscript

Can you imagine transcribing that handwriting?  Some in Latin, too!

Left to right:  Simon Neale, GSMD Governor General George Garmany,

MSMD Deputy Governor Barbara Lee Kelly, Caleb Johnson, and

in front author Sue Allan 

MSMD Governor Bill Tinney and Deputy Governor Barbara Lee Kelly

explained the provenance of the manuscript, and their delight at having it re-discovered, 

preserved, and transcribed in the new book. 

Caleb Johnson presented his findings, and the methods used

to transcribe and edit the new book.  His conclusions as to the authorship

will remain a secret until next week's official book reveal! 

Yours Truly examining the original manuscript on display for this afternoon only

at the Mayflower Society House.  It will be on permanent loan to Pilgrim Hall Museum

For the truly curious:

The Brewster Manuscript Book Launch with authors Caleb Johnson and Simon Neal (scroll down through the calendar to the September 22nd event for more information):  https://www.pilgrimhall.org/museum_events.htm  

The book will be sold at the website for the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants (wait until the book launch on September 22nd to order):  https://www.massmayflower.org/    (UPDATE Sept. 25- here is the link to the page for the book sale https://www.massmayflower.org/index.php/store/publications/product/view/3/363?fbclid=IwAR1sIVH8oiGRtOHn4nUPMAkbzPaNppfdgTtqQZwBO8S-GWGGnQPriKKMmIM )

The Brewster Book Manuscript, edited by Caleb Johnson and Simon Neal, Lulu.com, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2019.

The Mayflower Society House, 4 Winslow Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts (the General Society of Mayflower Descendants famous library is located right behind this house!)  Open for tours May to October, Thursdays through Sundays 11am to 4pm.   https://www.themayflowersociety.org/visit/mayflower-society-house  

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Sneak Preview of the New Brewster Book Manuscript in Plymouth, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 15, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/sneak-preview-of-new-brewster-book.html: accessed [access date]).