Quoting a seminal sentence from the Preface of Science and Health, Virginia S. Harris, chairman of The Mary Baker Eddy Library's Board of Trustees, said in her dedication remarks, "If 'the time for thinkers has come,' then a place for thinkers has come." She added, "This Library is for students and scholars, artists and archivists, young folk and just plain folks—anyone who is willing to pause for a space to consider humanity's worth. It will encourage and coax out the questions that really matter, namely the search, the quest, for life's deeper meaning." Over the three-day period celebrating the Library opening, 6,000 visitors participated in activity on the Christian Science Plaza and in the Library.
Harris described the new institution as "not merely a repository of the past but a harbinger of the future." She recalled that in the 19th century Mary Baker Eddy had struggled against limits on "what she could learn, earn, own, and attempt." And in her closing words, Harris reached beyond the moment to those Library visitors who will be encountering Mrs. Eddy's ideas, and finding their own sense of truth. "If each visitor leaves with an idea that elevates, motivates, or encourages thought, then this institution will fulfill its mission for the betterment of humanity."
