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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00083 6905
The Massachusetts Historical Society 1791-1959 By STEPHEN T. RILEY Director of the Society
BOSTON Massachusetts Historical Society
1959
1201-107 N.rEE T HREe
1774737
I
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The Massachusetts Historical Society
1791-1959
A Massachusetts Historical Society PICTURE BOOK
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The Massachusetts Historical Society 1791-1959
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MASSACHUSETTS RISTORICAL SOCIETY, BOSTON.
844 . 5543 The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1791-
1959. Py Stephen T. Riley, Director of the
Society. Boston, 1959. 62p. illus.,ports., faceims. 22cm.
"A Massachusetts Historical Society Picture book." :
1. Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. I. Riley, Stephen T. II. Title.
Gift '64
Shelf ICN 69-0345
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The text of this Picture Book has been composed by THE ANTHOENSEN PRESS, Portland, Maine, in Linotype Monticello, a type specially designed for The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. The matrices reproduced on the covers, once in the possession of Benjamin Franklin, are now in the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Printed by The Meriden Gravure Company, Meriden, Connecticut
The Society : Past and Present
societies, the Puritan interest in history, and the strong feeling of patriotism that gripped the country after the Revolution and the adoption of the federal and state constitutions. It remained for Dr. Belknap, however, to give form and motion to these de- sires; and to him goes the credit of being the founder of the first historical society in this country.
Before returning to Boston in 1787 to accept the Federal Street pastorate, Dr. Belknap had served for twenty years as minister of the church in Dover, New Hampshire, where he began his History of New Hampshire, the first volume of which appeared in 1784, the third and last in 1792. With this work in mind Wil- liam Cullen Bryant was later to say that to Jeremy Belknap be- longed "the high merit of being the first to make American his- tory attractive." In the course of his researches Belknap acquired many valuable manuscripts. His real concern for the future safe- ty of these manuscripts led him to seek out other like-minded people who would join with him in establishing a common de- pository. Four gentlemen expressed interest in Belknap's plan, and they and Belknap later asked five friends to co-operate with them in the enterprise. All accepted, and eight of these ten origi- nal members met on January 24, 1791, to organize what was first called "The Historical Society"-a name changed in 1794 to the "Massachusetts Historical Society."
In its constitution the new organization set forth its aims:
The preservation of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and records, containing historical facts, biographical an- ecdotes, temporary projects, and beneficial speculations, conduces to mark the genius, delineate the manners, and trace the progress of society in the United States, and must always have a useful tendency to rescue the true history of this country from the ravages of time and the effects of ignorance and neglect.
A collection of observations and descriptions in natural history and topography, together with specimens of nat- ural and artificial curiosities, and a selection of every thing which can improve and promote the historical knowledge of our country, either in a physical or political view, has long been considered as a desideratum; and, as
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1
Ford
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Jeremy Belknap, Founder of the Society By Henry Sargent
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James Sullivan, First President of the Society By Gilbert Stuart
such a plan can be best executed by a society whose sole and special care shall be confined to the above objects, we, the subscribers, do agree to form such an institution, and to associate for the above purposes.
In its efforts to promote the study of natural history the Society for many years collected specimens that would be of interest to students of that subject. About the year 1833, however, the So- ciety decided to rid itself of this function and turned over many of its objects to the Boston Society of Natural History and, sub- sequently, nearly all the remaining ones to the Peabody Museum. Other societies were to repeat this pattern as they found it nec- essary to narrow their collecting fields.
Membership in the new society was limited to thirty residents of Massachusetts and thirty non-resident or Corresponding Mem- bers. When the Society was incorporated on February 19, 1794, mainly through the efforts of President James Sullivan, who was then Attorney General of Massachusetts, the number of Resi- dent Members was increased to sixty. In the succeeding years numerous attempts to raise the membership limit met with con- siderable opposition from those Members who preferred to keep the Society small. In 1857 the General Court raised the number of Resident Members to 100 and made the first provision for Honorary Members, but it was not until 1945 that the General Court voted to grant the Society the power to elect "Resident Members, Associate Members, Corresponding Members, and Honorary Members, under such conditions, upon such terms and in such numbers as said Society may from time to time prescribe by its by-laws." On two occasions since 1945 the number of Resi- dent Members has been increased so that it now stands at 150; the number of Corresponding Members has advanced to 75, the limit on Honorary Members remaining at 10. In its long history the Society has had fewer than 1,400 Members. Among them are the names of most of our distinguished historians, both American and foreign. We have had some member of the Adams family on our rolls since 1800, and, except for a brief period of a year or less, some member of the Winthrop family since 1791.
The first years of the Society were busy ones. With little to work with in the way of money its industrious founders had to
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BOSTON LIBRARY
Central Pavilion, Tontine Crescent, by Charles Bulfinch Courtesy Boston Athenæum
Tremont Street Home of the Society, 1833-1872
(1840 Daguerreotype and Third Oldest Photograph Made in U.S.) Courtesy Eastman Historical Photographic Collection
find quarters for the organization, encourage gifts of books and manuscripts to its Library, and devise some method of publish- ing the more important documents. Its first home was the Li- brary Room of the Massachusetts Bank in Hamilton Place. In order to furnish it adequately the Treasurer was directed on June 30, 1791, to purchase twelve Windsor chairs, a plain pine table, and an inkwell. One of these chairs is still in the possession of the Society. About a year later the Society was forced to move. The next home was in the northwest corner of the attic of Faneuil Hall, a place, Dr. Thaddeus M. Harris said, "as retired and rec- ondite as explorers into the recesses of antiquity could think of visiting." After two years there the Society was kindly invited by Charles Bulfinch, William Scollay, and Charles Vaughan to oc- cupy the upper room in the central pavilion of the Tontine Cres- cent in what is now familiar to us as Franklin Street. On the ground floor of this central element in Bulfinch's fine crescent of dwelling houses, an arch, which gave its name to Arch Street, led through to Summer Street; on the second floor the Boston Li- brary Society had its quarters, and on the third floor the Massa- chusetts Historical Society had its rooms. The Society occupied those quarters for almost forty years until March 6, 1833, when it purchased the second story and one-half of the attic of the new building of the Provident Institution for Savings on Tremont Street overlooking King's Chapel Burying Ground.
Rare books and manuscripts were easily come by. Very little competition for them existed in those early years, and volumes that would now cause considerable stir in any auction of Ameri- cana were quietly given to the Library. Fortunately Dr. Belknap believed in the direct approach. He badgered Paul Revere into writing an account of his famous ride for the Society's archives, journeyed to Lebanon, Connecticut, to pick up the manuscripts collected by Governor Jonathan Trumbull, selected suitable manuscripts and books from the papers of the late Governor John Hancock, and speculated about what might be forthcoming when Samuel Adams' "head was laid." Unfortunately Dr. Belknap pre- deceased Adams; otherwise Adams' papers might be in the So- ciety today instead of in New York City. Dr. Belknap summed up his philosophy of collecting in a letter to Ebenezer Hazard in
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V
Paul Revere of Boston , in the Colony of the Mafiachevelletsay in New England, of Lawfully Age, doch testify an say, that Iwas was sent for by Dos Joseph Warren, of said Boston, on the evening of the 18th! Afvil, about 10 (tock; When he desired me"to go to Lexington an) inform 'IN" Samuel Adams, and the Hon. John Hancock log", that there. was a number of Soldiers, composed of Light, troops, & Grenadiers, marching to the bottom of the Common, where was a number of boats to receive them; it was supposed that they were going tolexington, by the way of Cambridge River, to take them or go to Concord, to stron the (plony Hores" proceeded imeaditi,, and was just across Charles, Puis and landed near Charles town thatthy, went in town, and there of a Horse, while in Charleston, I was in formed by Rich Devers Ing" that he melt that evening , after den vett, Nine Officers of the. Minifierel Army, mounted on good flores, , Armed, going inward Concor?); Ivill oh, it was then about It ( lock, the Moon whone bright, I had gocalmont over Charles town Common, towards Cambridge, when I saw tivo Officiers I Morse- bach, standing under theushall of a Tree, in a narrowfruit ofthe rande, I was near enough to see their Holsters, cochades; One of thein Plan I'd nis horse lower's ine, the other of the road, as I supposed to Readme. should bescape the first, I turned my horse short, about, and red upon a full Gallop for Mistich Road, he followed me about 300 landes, and finding He could not catch me, returned: I pared Itc. Lexington, Where Histick. and aluon cd M. Adamsy (of, Hancock, ilfter I had been the us about half an hour IM. Daws arrived, who came from Boston, over the neck; he's set off for Concord, I were over taken by a young Gent named Prescot, who belonged to Concord, I was going home: when we have got about half way from Scrington to Concord, the other we, topped at a Stouse is Quatre the man, 19 held along, when, I had got about food juive a head of? them, I saw two officers as before, I called to my company to come ifplaying. here, was two of them, ( for I had told them what in Devens told me, and my lung stope) in in an instant, I saw four of them , who me up to me with thier pistols in their hands, said Gall dan you if you goan Inch- further, you are a dead Man, imladisty M:" Project came up we allempted to get ino them , but they kept before us, and swore, if we Di not bunn in to that facture, they would blow our brains out fitter ii)
placed themselves opposite to a pair of tigres, aI have taken the Paris Jordan, they force' us in, when we had got in, ONLY Doescol said put on, the torn. to the left, I to the rights towards a wood, at the bottom of the Pasteine. intending, when I gained that , to jumpmy Horse tren afdot; just as I reached it out started six oficers, sused my bride, but cher pistols to my Breast, ordered me to dismount, which I did: One of man, who upfree! ) to have the command there, and much of a Gentleman, istred one where Icarry? from;I told him, he asked what time I left it; I told him, he served surprised, said So away Jerave your name, Janswered my name is Rovere, what saidhe Pau" Nuove; Jumswerd yes; the others abused auch; but he told me not to. be afraid, no one should hurt , I told him they would mife their him.
Paul Revere's Deposition, circa 1783, concerning his Ride (Paul Revere Papers )
1
CIRCULAR LETTER,
OF THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SIR,
A SOCIETY has lately been inftituted in this town, call- ed the HISTORICAL SOCIETY ; the profeffed defign of which is, to collect, preferve and communicate, materials for a complete hiftory of this country, and accounts of all valuable efforts of human ingenuity and industry, from the beginning of its fettlement. In purfrance of this plan, they have already amaffed a large quantity of books, pamphlets and manufcripts; and are ftill in fearch of more : A cata- . logue of which will be printed for the information of the public.
THEY have alfo given encouragement to the publication of a weekly paper, to be called THE AMERICAN APOLLO; in which will be given the refult of their inquiries, in- to the natural, political and ecclefiaflical hiftory of this coun- try. A propofal for the printing of this paper is here in- clofed to you ; and it is requefled that you would promote fubfcriptions for it ; and contribute to its value and import- ance, by attention to the articles annexed. The Society beg
Circular Letter on the Aims of the Society November 1, 1791
›
---
To all the Friends of Science, Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce.
P ROPOS A L - OF
Jofeph Belknap & Alexander Young,
FOR PRINTING A WEEKLY PAPER;
TO BE ENTITLED THE
American Apollo,
Containing the Publications of the HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Political and Commercial Intelligence; and other entertaining Matter.
PRINTED AT BOSTON, (Maffachufetts ) BY J. BELKNAP AND A. YOUNG, MDCCXCI,
Prospectus of The American Apollo
ollogh mansmå
1795: "There is nothing like having a good depository, and keep- ing a good look-out, not waiting at home for things to fall into the lap, but prowling about like a wolf for the prey."
One of the great achievements of these early years was the rapidity and steadfastness with which the Society started the first of the long list of publications that have added so much honor to its name. As important manuscripts accumulated, the Members be- came increasingly eager to present them to the public in a per- manent form. Arrangements were made with Joseph Belknap, the printer son of Dr. Jeremy, to issue a weekly newspaper called The American Apollo in which one section, paged separate- ly, would be devoted to the Society's publications. Thirty-nine numbers, starting with the January 6, 1792, issue, appeared in this form; and a total of 208 pages of the first volume of Collec- tions was thus printed. The venture was not financially success- ful, and other methods of printing the Collections had to be found. That they were found and that the Society's publications have continued steadily to this day speak well for the determination of that small group of devoted men. When the Members issued a proposal to the public for enlarging the subscriptions to the Col- lections, the following telling statement was made:
But if they should find themselves obliged to discon- tinue the publication of their Collections, it will be not for want of materials or exertion on their part, but for want of sufficient encouragement on the part of the public; and it will give them extreme pain to record this as one of the characteristics of the American people, that they are back- ward to encourage the publication of materials for the his- tory of their own country.
The early nineteenth century saw a quiet but steady progress in the affairs of the Society. The holdings of the Library increased constantly, and volumes of Collections continued to appear regu- larly. When one considers that the Society had no official Editor until 1889 nor a paid Librarian until 1918, one must pay homage to those Members who served the Society so well. When John Gorham Palfrey delivered the semicentennial address before the Society on October 31, 1844, he spoke of the growing interest
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Icommenced Harping infeccent .. ofina, espendetinges exclusive on i'm family experimentaisfairly my, havefun !: -
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Present year Thomas Igive the. mas- shore, agua donnelly this O Father Infidelity in the use of Thy must Imos laurence Beston October 4. 1044:
Amos Lawrence on his Philanthropies (Amos Lawrence Papers )
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in American history and of the increasing number of writers who were devoting themselves to it. "There are signs that the literary ambition of the country is choosing this as its favorite direction, and that the labors to which the attention of our society has been turned have been seasonably providing facilities for many, who, in these prosperous days of our republic, can afford to aspire after a name in letters." It must be remembered that for much of the nineteenth century the study of history was not a profession but the province of gentlemen-scholars who placed increasingly greater reliance on the rich holdings of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society and the many other historical societies that came along after it.
Despite the affluent state of the republic that Palfrey described the Society found its own treasury in anything but satisfactory condition. The meager amount received from dues and cash gifts was hardly enough to keep the Society in its home. In 1854 came the first legacy of $10,000, a gift from the executors of Samuel Appleton (1766-1853), who was not a Member. The George Peabody gift followed some years later. Since both of these funds were primarily for publications the most pressing problem seemed solved. But by 1871 publishing costs had in- creased threefold, and President Robert C. Winthrop sadly re- ported, "we have been at our wits' ends for the means of paying the printers' bills." And even more sadly, "The University and the Museum of Science and of Art seem to be absorbing all the liberality of our community at present." By 1872 matters were looking up. The old building on Tremont Street, which the So- ciety had taken over completely in 1856, was pulled down and a new one erected in its place. Since the two lower stories were leased to the Probate Office and the Registry of Deeds for Suffolk County, a steady income was now available. Here the Society re- mained until it met for the first time in its present building on March 9, 1899.
For many years after the Civil War the Society continued to have an intimate homogeneity in its membership. In March, 1927, at the age of seventy-seven, John Torrey Morse, Jr., spoke to the Society of his early years as a Member: "As my memory runs back to those remote old meetings of fifty years ago they
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seem to me a little-not very much-but distinctly a little, differ- ent from those which we have to-day. In those days there was more social solidarity, if I may so express it, in the Society than is visible today. The members all knew each other, more or less intimately. When we came together there was a general shaking of hands and familiar saluting of friends. The effect was really quite that of a Club. Of course with the great expansion in so- ciety which has taken place since then, that condition is no longer to be expected. A splitting of groups has been inevitable. But it was rather pleasant then to feel intimate with each other's idio- syncrasies and to anticipate the way in which one member would accept or repudiate what another member was saying."
But during these years the Society did not keep completely to itself. On occasion it would speak out sharply and clearly against those who tried to palm off spurious portraits and documents on the community, erect unworthy monuments, or despoil historic sites. When in 1887 the General Court passed the resolution favoring the erection of the Crispus Attucks Monument to com- memorate those who died in the Boston "Massacre" of 1770, the Society was greatly disturbed. At the May meeting John D. Washburn declared it to be the consensus of scholars that "these men were not acting in the character of patriots, but of rioters, and 'died as the fool dieth.'" A resolution was adopted and pre- sented to the Governor which stated exactly the Society's posi- tion: "While greatly applauding the sentiment which erects me- morials to the heroes and martyrs of our annals, the members of the Society believe that nothing but a misapprehension of the event styled the 'Boston Massacre' can have led to classifying these persons with those entitled to grateful recognition at the public expense." Valiant though it was, this protest was unsuc- cessful. On another occasion the Society helped block the plan of Harvey D. Parker to move King's Chapel back some twenty feet into the church graveyard. Mr. Parker, who had recently built his fine hotel on School Street, found the street too narrow for his purposes. According to Mr. Morse, "he wanted a cab stand and also plenty of room for fine equipages to bring impor- tant visitors to his door, and for carriages to carry Harvard stu- dents home." He was visibly annoyed when his project came to nought.
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In the closing decades of the nineteenth century there was a marked change in the character of those writing American his- tory. The gentleman-scholar was gradually displaced by the pro- fessional scholar trained in the seminars at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, and other universities. From such scholars came natural and insistent demands to be allowed to use the great manuscript resources of the Society, which up until then had been restricted to the use of Members or carefully sponsored scholars. These rumblings of discontent against the Society's closed policy were brought to the attention of the Members in the Council's Report of 1893: "While it is our duty to see to the careful preser- vation of our possessions, while we must surround their use with such precautions as may insure their safety, our policy as to the manuscripts in our hands should be thoroughly generous. This only will secure the continued reception by us of valuable manu- scripts. The rooms of this Society are not now the only possible place of deposit for family papers and historical material. Testa- tors and donors can find other repositories and will do so, if we do not let our light shine before men."
Despite this warning note there was no immediate change in policy. Samuel Eliot Morison has told us that so late as 1910, when he was a graduate student at Harvard, he was not per- mitted to use the Society's card catalogues. The arrival of Wor- thington C. Ford at the Society as Editor in 1909, after service as Chief of the Division of Manuscripts of the Library of Con- gress, helped bring about the much-needed change. In the Re- port of 1910, after stating that the chief function of the Society was to offer a safe storage for historical papers, the Council went on to say: "It is generally admitted that the relations of the Society, not only to the outside public but to scholars, are far from what they should be, and demand a radical improvement. To accumulate and bury was never the intention of the founders of this Society. To collect and to hold rigidly for the use of the So- ciety would be a suicidal act. The book or the manuscript which enters the doors of this Society has been lost to investigators, on the double plea that it was a private society, and that its collec- tions should be held for the use of its members or its own publica- tions. The Society has lost by cultivating such an impression, and,
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by what is probably an unconscious narrowness of policy, per- mitting that impression to become general. .. . Your Council be- lieves in perfect freedom in the use of the Society's accumulations and in giving every facility to those who come to consult them. In this way only can ... the proper functions of the Society be fulfilled."
This manifesto had the desired effect. Within a few years' time the old barriers disappeared, and qualified students found a warm welcome awaiting them where before had existed only a frigid politeness. Indeed the change came so quickly that by 1916 the Council noted that the Society served outsiders better than it did its own Members. This process has now gone on for close to fifty years and has produced a research library that invites all scholars and interested readers to come and use its great resources of manuscripts and printed books. In return the Society asks only that researchers serve the cause of American history.
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The Collections
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Miniature of John Winthrop
THE COLLECTIONS
The Manuscript Collection
The manuscript collection of the Society is its chief attraction. Of the 1,500 or so scholars who visit the Society each year per- haps 8 out of every 10 do so to investigate its rich manuscript holdings. This constant mining of our collection for historical information shows little evidence of exhausting the main supply, which is constantly being replenished. To list the names of those workers who have found treasure here over the years would be an endless task. Samuel Flagg Bemis, Henry Steele Commager, Samuel Eliot Morison, Allan Nevins, and a host of other dis- tinguished American historians have returned time and again to consult our files. In addition to the Adams Papers, which are now being edited by this Society, the great editions of the writ- ings of such outstanding figures in our history as Calhoun, Clay, Franklin, Jefferson, Marshall, Theodore Roosevelt, and Wash- ington, which have been or are now being edited, would be sadly incomplete if they did not include our holdings. Several years ago a search for papers relating to the ratification of the Federal Constitution and the First Congress revealed that the Massachu- setts Historical Society held the largest number outside of the Library of Congress. Recently Katharine Anthony, Anya Seton, Louise Hall Tharp, and other popular writers have produced books based in some measure on manuscript material found here. As has been stated elsewhere, the importance of the collection may best be suggested by pointing out that of 112 eminent Americans, from earliest to recent times and in every field of en- deavor, whose papers the National Historical Publications Com- mission has recommended for publication, almost one-third are represented in the Massachusetts Historical Society by either the principal collection of their surviving papers or by significant bodies of correspondence (A National Program for the Publica- tion of Historical Documents: A Report, Washington, 1954).
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