One of the most important places from my sabbatical journey, the John Rylands Library, has received very little attention from me in this blog. Part of the University of Manchester Library system, it was created over 100 years ago by the generosity of Enriqueta Rylands to honor the memory of her husband John Rylands, Manchester's first multi-millionaire. Rather than spending all that textile-industry money on herself, Enriqueta Rylands determined to give a lasting gift to the people of Manchester, a public library like no other. During her lifetime, she spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to purchase books and manuscripts, and upon her death, bequests from her will enabled the library to continue expanding and adding to its collections. Note that the last line of the above plaque states that "Enriqueta invites you to your library." (Emphasis mine)
Work on the building began in 1890, and the library opened on 1 January 1900, becoming part of The University of Manchester in 1972. It holds the Special Collections of the University of Manchester, and most importantly, for my purposes, it houses the world's largest collection of Methodist archives. The Methodist Church of Great Britain established the Methodist Archives and Research Centre (MARC) in 1961 at John Wesley's Chapel in London, but in 1977 it was transferred to the John Rylands. MARC holds the world’s largest collection of manuscripts relating to the Wesley family, including approximately 5,000 letters, notebooks and associated papers of the period 1700–1865. According to their website, the John Rylands is part of the third largest academic library in the United Kingdom, with over 250,000 printed volumes, and well over a million manuscripts and archival items. You can see that this was an exciting place for me to visit and explore!
In 1843, Enriqueta was born in Havana, Cuba to Stephen Cattley Tennant, an English sugar merchant, and his Spanish wife, Juana Camila Dalcou. Enriqueta grew up in New York, London, and Paris, and she moved to Manchester to be a companion to Martha Rylands, marrying John Rylands some eight months after Martha's death. Enriqueta and John shared a passion for education and were members of the Congregational Church rather than the established Church of England, so she decided a public library that leaned towards collection of Nonconformist religious literature would be a fitting memorial to him.
She was the very opposite of the Rich Fool in Luke 12: 13-21 who decided that the crops and money and other riches that came his way belonged to him and him alone. That young man pulled down his small barns in order to construct bigger, better ones, only to find that his wealth counted for nothing in the eyes of God and that he could not take it with him upon his death. Enriqueta no doubt enjoyed the perks of marriage and widowhood to a wealthy industrialist, but she saw clearly that the way of love, the way of the Christ she worshipped, demanded that she give freely, liberally, graciously to others rather than hoarding her money and spending it lavishly on things that do not last. She believed in the kind of gift that keeps on giving, the kind of legacy that blesses others even more than the giver herself.
The top floor of the John Rylands is the research area/Rare Book Room, and I spent many hours hunched over precious letters written to and from John Wesley, Susanna Wesley, and others. There I discovered Charles Wesley treasures, manuscript hymns written in his spidery but precise hand. And there I felt my heart strangely warmed by the ongoing gift of a woman long dead, a woman whose love for her husband and for her God still extends an invitation to the people of Manchester and from far beyond to come and study and read. Enriqueta holds a special place in my heart for her generosity and her good stewardship of the resources that came into her life. As you think about the stewardship of your own resources, how do you think God might be calling you to bless others? Are you listening for the Spirit's voice?
And just for fun, enjoy this picture from the main floor of the library. Many different figures from the world of religion and education are found there, including these two.
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