On a brisk but sunny winter day last February, several hundred spectators huddled in front of the Christian Science Publishing House in Boston to celebrate the official start of construction for The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity. Since most of the ground in the city of Boston was still solidly frozen, however, an official "groundbreaking" ceremony might have seemed misnamed.
The occasion found a more appropriate metaphor in the official opening up of a 15-foot wall at the Massachusetts Avenue end of the Publishing House. The wall enclosed a small garden that featured flowers and a fountain during summer months. But its imposing height and locked wrought-iron gates weren't particularly welcoming to visitors.
Now, with the breaking down of the wall, plans call for the site to serve as the open and gracious entrance to the new Library, scheduled to open its doors to the general public as well as to historians and scholars in June 2002. The Library—which will house the largest collection of documents by and about an American woman ever gathered in one place—was announced by The Christian Science Board of Directors at last year's Annual Meeting.
