Help Relocate the Lantern Library to Cooperation Jackson
Fundraising Goal
Update: We've extended our goal to $9,000 to cover driver travel costs. See our latest update for details.
Campaign Description
We're raising funds to relocate the Lantern Library — a collection of nearly 18,000 books, pamphlets, periodicals, and essay reprints — from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Cooperation Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi, where it will become a community resource for education and organizing.
About the Library
The Lantern Library is the personal collection of James Herod, who has been building it since the 1960s. In 2005, he moved into Lantern House, a cooperative household in Cambridge, Massachusetts — the first time the entire collection was shelved in one location and made available to the community.
The collection contains 17,940 items organized across subjects including anarchism, marxism, feminism, labor history, revolutions, ruling institutions, ecology, cooperatives, philosophy, history, and more. It exemplifies the enormous intellectual resources available to leftist thinkers and activists. It can help them understand the world they live in and how to respond to it.
You can browse the full catalog here:
Why Now
Lantern House is closing, and the library must be relocated by the end of May 2026. Rather than see the collection dispersed or lost, James has arranged to donate it to Cooperation Jackson, a network of worker cooperatives in Jackson, Mississippi who are building a solidarity economy rooted in economic democracy, community ownership, and self-determination.
The alignment between the library's contents and Cooperation Jackson's mission runs deep — from labor history and the commons to social movements and community organizing. This is the right home for this collection.
What the Funds Will Cover
Item Cost
26-ft truck rental (1 week) $2,600
Day laborers (loading) $1,200
Diesel fuel (~1,420 miles) $900
Boxes $1000
Pallets (8) $280
Miscellaneous (tape, tarps, straps, tolls) $300
Contingency $500
Total $6,780
We've set our goal at $7,000 to ensure we have a small buffer for unexpected costs.
All excess funds will be donated directly to Cooperation Jackson to help them set up the library.
If Plans Change
We are committed to transparency. If the relocation plans change significantly and the library cannot be moved to Cooperation Jackson, we will refund all donations.
Learn More
Here is a 14-minute video by James describing the history of the collection.
Here is a 15-minute video tour of the entire library, section by section.
Thank You
This library represents a lifetime of commitment to education and social change. Your support will ensure it continues to serve future generations of organizers, researchers, and thinkers.
In solidarity,
James and Danny
Lantern House, Cambridge, MA