TheMassachusetts Historical Society(MHS) is a major historical archive specializing in earlyAmerican,Massachusetts,andNew Englandhistory. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154Boylston StreetinBoston,Massachusetts, and is the oldesthistorical societyin the United States.
Massachusetts Historical Society Building | |
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| Location | 1154 Boylston Street Boston,Massachusetts,U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 42°20′47″N71°5′26″W/ 42.34639°N 71.09056°W |
| Built | 1899 |
| Architect | Edmund M. Wheelwright |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| Website | masshist.org |
| NRHP referenceNo. | 66000770 [1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | December 21, 1965 |
The society's building was constructed in 1899 and added to theNational Register of Historic Placesin 1966.[1]In 2016, theBoston Landmarks Commissiondesignated it aBoston Landmark.
History
editThe society was founded on January 24, 1791, by ReverendJeremy Belknapto collect, preserve, and document items of American history. He and the nine other founding members donated family papers, books, and artifacts to the society to form its initial collection. Its first manuscript was published in 1792, becoming the first historical society publication in the United States. The society incorporated in 1794; signatories includedWilliam Baylies,Jeremy Belknap,Alden Bradford,Peleg Coffin,Manasseh Cutler,John Davis, Daniel Davis, Aaron Dexter, John Eliot,Nathaniel Freeman,James Freeman,Thaddeus Mason Harris,Isaac Lothrop, George Richards Minot, John Mellen Jr., Thomas Pemberton,William Dandridge Peck,John Prince, Ezekiel Price,James Sullivan,David Sewall,Peter Thacher,William Tudor,Samuel Turell, Dudley Atkins Tyng,James Winthrop,Thomas Wallcut,Redford Webster,and William Wetmore.[2]Indeed, the society claims to have been the only historical collection in the United States until establishment of theNew-York Historical Society(1804) and theAmerican Antiquarian Society(1812), after which time the society's collecting activities began to focus primarily onBostonandNew England.In 1849,Frances Manwaring Caulkinsbecame the first woman elected to the society's membership.[3]
"The society, for several years after its organization, met in the attic ofFaneuil Hall;afterwards rooms were occupied in Hamilton Place, and then inFranklin Street.In 1833... quarters on Tremont Street were occupied "in the building of theProvidentbank through the 1890s.[4][5][6]The society's current building in theBack Baywas built in 1899; it was designated aNational Historic Landmarkin 1965 in recognition of the society's distinctive contribution to historic preservation.[7]
Collections
editToday the society continues to collect, preserve, and communicate historical information about Massachusetts and the United States. It is now organized in five departments: Library, Publications, Education and Public Programs, Research Programs, the Adams Family Papers, and Administration. Major collections include:
- Adams Family Papers (1639–1889) - material relating to PresidentJohn Adams(1735–1826) and First LadyAbigail Adams(1744–1818), as well as other family members includingCharles Francis Adams(1807–1886), PresidentJohn Quincy Adams(1767–1848), First LadyLouisa Catherine Adams(1775–1852),Charles Francis Adams(1835–1915), andHenry Adams(1838–1918). Among other papers, the collection includes correspondence, diaries, literary manuscripts, speeches, legal and business papers, and John Adams' handwritten copy of theDeclaration of Independence.
- Thomas Jefferson- the library holds Jefferson's handwritten copy of theDeclaration of Independenceand the Coolidge Collection, a collection of "Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts" containing thousands of pages of Jefferson's correspondence, manuscripts of writings,Monticellorecords including account books and journals, and more than 400 of Jefferson'sarchitectural drawings.
- Other manuscripts and printed texts - approximately 12,000 biographies and more than 10,000 local histories, as well as newspapers and broadsides includingJohn Dunlap's July 4–5, 1776,Philadelphiaprinting of theDeclaration of Independence.Other notable manuscripts includeJohn Winthrop's manuscripts on the early settlement ofNew England;Paul Revere's account of his ride; and theFrancis Parkmanmanuscripts dealing withFrench Canada.
- Artwork - paintings byJohn Singleton Copley(1738–1815),Sarah Goodridge(1788–1853),Chester Harding(1792–1866),Alonzo Hartwell(1805–1873),Samuel Stillman Osgood(1808–1885),John Smibert(1688–1751), andRichard Morrell Staigg(1817–1881), as well as sculptures byThomas Ball,Richard Saltonstall Greenough,Henry Dexter,andHiram Powers.
The society continues to produce scholarly books, but now augments these publications with digital editions available through its website and other online resources. TheMassachusetts Historical Reviewhas been published annually since 1999.[8]
Notable fellows
editThefellowsof the Massachusetts Historical Society are elected and serve as the society's legal governing body.[9]Notable fellows include:[10]
See also
editReferences
editNotes
- ^ab"National Register Information System".National Register of Historic Places.National Park Service.April 15, 2008.
- ^The act of incorporation[1794]: with the additional acts and by-laws of the Massachusetts Historical Society: with a list of officers and resident members. Boston: printed for the society, 1882.
- ^Scanlon, Jennifer; Cosner, Shaaron (1996).American Women Historians, 1700s-1990s: A Biographical Dictionary.Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 37–.ISBN978-0-313-29664-2.
- ^King's handbook of Boston. 1881
- ^City directory of Boston. 1848
- ^Boston Almanac. 1894
- ^"NHL nomination for Massachusetts Historical Society".National Park Service.Retrieved2014-06-18.
- ^"Massachusetts Historical Review".Massachusetts Historical Society.RetrievedSeptember 19,2016.
- ^Membership, Massachusetts Historical Society website,retrieved November 16, 2013.
- ^Massachusetts Historical Society Annual Report, July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015
- ^"This Month at the MHS".Massachusetts Historical Society website.Archived fromthe originalon 26 December 2013.Retrieved4 January2014.
Larry Ruttman, Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society
- ^Jonathan Sarna Elected Massachusetts Historical Society Fellow,Brandeis NOW, retrieved November 16, 2013
Bibliography
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920)..Encyclopedia Americana.
Further reading
- A short account of the Massachusetts Historical Society:originally prepared by Charles Card Smith, together with the act of incorporation, additional acts and by-laws and a list of officers and members. January 1791-June 1918.
- The act of incorporation:with the additional acts and by-laws of the Massachusetts Historical Society: with a list of officers and resident members. Boston: printed for the society, 1882.
- Thomas Boylston Adams. "Here We Have Lived: The Houses of the Massachusetts Historical Society".Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,Third Series, Vol. 78 (1966)
External links
edit
- Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society 1792-1939, Vol. 1-78- 7 series, Vol. 10 of each series is an index for the series
- Series 1 index
- Series 2 index
- Series 3 index
- Series 4 Index (Vol. 1-10)
- Series 5 index, p.331
- Massachusetts Historical Society
- Reviewof "Adams Family Papers" website.Teachinghistory.org.
- "Life Portrait of John Quincy Adams",fromC-SPAN'sAmerican Presidents: Life Portraits,broadcast from the Massachusetts Historical Society, April 18, 1999
- .New International Encyclopedia.1905.