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Mercantile Library Association (Boston, Massachusetts)
The Mercantile Library Association (1820-1952) of Boston was an organization dedicated to operating a subscription library, reading room and lecture series. Members included James T. Fields and Edwin Percy Whipple. Although the association had a relatively long history, its heyday occurred in the mid-19th century, particularly the 1840s and 1850s. History The association was organized in 1820, "to establish a library and reading room for the use of young men engaged in mercantile pursuits ...the first association of the kind in the United States." Founders included Theodore Lyman, J.G. Gibson, Samuel A. Otis, N.A. Barrett, Thomas Gorham, James T. Blanchard, Lynde M. Walter, Charles J. Johnson, Edward Codman, Henry A. David and Samuel W. Pomeroy. Initially the library operated from rooms in Merchants' Hall, Congress Street, and later moved to Harding's buildings on School Street (1836-1841), then to Amory Hall on Washington Street. The association underwent highs and l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a population of 675,647 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Northeastern United States after New York City and Philadelphia. The larger Greater Boston metropolitan statistical area has a population of 4.9 million as of 2023, making it the largest metropolitan area in New England and the Metropolitan statistical area, eleventh-largest in the United States. Boston was founded on Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by English Puritans, Puritan settlers, who named the city after the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire in England. During the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, Boston was home to several seminal events, incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with '' The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table'' (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. In addition to his work as an author and poet, Holmes also served as a physician, professor, lecturer, and inventor. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Holmes was educated at Phillips Academy and Harvard College. After graduating from Harvard in 1829, he briefly studied law before turning to the medical profession. He began writing poetry at an early age; one of his most famous works, " Old Ironsides", was published in 1830 and was influential in the eventual preservation of the USS ''Constitution''. Following training at the prestigious medical schools of Paris, Holmes was grante ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ezra Stiles Gannett
Ezra Stiles Gannett (May 4, 1801–August 26, 1871) was a Unitarian minister in Boston, Massachusetts. The grandson of Yale University president Ezra Stiles, he was graduated from Harvard College, and in 1824 he began working for the Federal Street Church; he remained with the congregation for the duration of his career. In 1861 he moved with his congregation to a new building, the Arlington Street Church in Back Bay. He was also associated with the American Unitarian Association. "He was a Unitarian of the more conservative type, an excellent preacher, and an ardent reformer." Reverend Gannett was killed in a train wreck a few miles north of Boston, Massachusetts on August 26, 1871. Gannett is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery. He was the great-grandfather of author Ruth Stiles Gannett and the father of writer and social reformer Kate Gannett Wells. References Further reading ;Works by Gannett: Relation of the North to slavery A discourse preached in the Federal Street Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elihu Burritt
Elihu Burritt (December 8, 1810March 6, 1879) was an American diplomat, philanthropist, social activist, and blacksmith.Arthur Weinberg and Lila Shaffer Weinberg. ''Instead of Violence: Writings by the Great Advocates of Peace and Nonviolence Throughout History''. New York, Grossman Publishers, 1963.(p. 340-45). He was also a prolific lecturer, journalist and writer who traveled widely in the United States and Europe. Early life Elihu Burritt was born December 8, 1810, in New Britain, Connecticut. He first worked as a blacksmith. As an adult he was active as a lecturer in many causes, opposing slavery, working for temperance, and trying to achieve world peace. In the early 1840s Burritt began to tour New England, speaking against war and promoting brotherhood. His sobriquet "Learned Blacksmith" arose from a period when he earned a living as a blacksmith in Worcester, Massachusetts. He founded a weekly paper, the ''Christian Citizen'', in Worcester in 1844. By this time, Burritt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Washington Bethune
George Washington Bethune (March 18, 1805 – April 28, 1862) was a preacher-pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church. Life and career Of Huguenot descent, his father was Divie Bethune, a highly successful merchant in New York. Originally a student at Columbia College of Columbia University, Bethune graduated in 1822 from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania and went on to study theology at Princeton University. He married Mary Williams in November, 1825. In 1827, he was appointed Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, Rhinebeck, New York. In 1830, he moved to Utica, New York; in 1834 to Philadelphia; and in 1850 to Brooklyn Heights, NY. He was offered the chaplaincy of the U.S. Military Academy, the Chancellorship of New York University and the Provostship of University of Pennsylvania, all of which he declined. In 1839, Bethune was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. He was an outspoken Democrat in politics, opposed to slavery but unsympathetic to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odeon, Boston
The Odeon (1835 – c. 1846) of Boston, Massachusetts, was a lecture and concert hall on Federal Street in the building also known as the Boston Theatre. The 1,300-seat auditorium measured "50 feet square" with "red moreen"-upholstered "seats arranged in a circular order, and above them ... spacious galleries." The Boston Academy of Music occupied the Odeon in the 1830s and 1840s Notable events at the Odeon included "the first performance in Boston of a Beethoven symphony." Events 1830s * Samuel A. Elliot opening address * Joseph Story "on the life and professional character of the late Chief Justice Marshall" * William Apess lecture * James Madison memorial * William Ellery Channing lecture * Charles Zeuner concert * Edward Everett lecture * A.E. Grimké lectureLarry A. Carlson. "Bronson Alcott's 'Journal for 1838' (Part One)." Studies in the American Renaissance, (1993), pp. 161-244 * Samuel J. May lecture * Ralph Waldo Emerson lecture * Society for the Prevention of Pau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tremont Street
Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common (park), Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly southwesterly direction, it passes through Boston's Theater District, crosses the Massachusetts Turnpike, and becomes a broad boulevard in the South End, Boston, South End neighborhood. It then turns to the west as a narrower four-lane street, running through Mission Hill, Boston, Mission Hill and terminating at Brigham Circle (MBTA station), Brigham Circle, where it intersects Huntington Avenue. The street name zigzags across several physical roads, often requiring a sharp turn to remain on the street, as a result of changes made to the street grid during urban renewal. Etymology The name (, pronounced ''TREH-mont'') is a variation of one of the original appellations of the ci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse''), meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. The Central Library's McKim building in Copley Square was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2000. Overview Boston Public Library has a collection of more than 23.7 million items, which makes it one of the largest municipal public library systems in the United States. The vast majority of the collection—over 22.7 million volumes—is held in the Central Branch rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Charles Winthrop
Robert Charles Winthrop (May 12, 1809 – November 16, 1894) was an American lawyer, philanthropist, and Whig Party politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House and Senate from 1840 to 1851. He served as the 18th speaker of the United States House of Representatives and was a political ally and colleague of Daniel Webster. After a rapid rise in Massachusetts and national politics and one term as speaker, Winthrop succeeded Webster in the Senate. His re-election campaign resulted in a long, sharply contested defeat by Charles Sumner. He ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 1851 but lost due to the state's majority requirement, marking the end of his political career and signaling the decline of the Massachusetts Whig Party. Winthrop was born into a prominent Boston political family, descended from colonial governors Thomas Dudley and John Winthrop and commonwealth governor James Bowdoin, his great-grandfather. After an education at Boston Latin Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William F
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will (given name), Will or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill (given name), Bill, Billie (given name), Billie, and Billy (name), Billy. A common Irish people, Irish form is Liam. Scottish people, Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie). Female forms include Willa, Willemina, Wilma (given name), Wilma and Wilhelmina (given name), Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German language, German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Stillman Hillard
George Stillman Hillard (September 22, 1808 – January 21, 1879) was an American lawyer and author. Besides developing his Boston legal practice (with Charles Sumner as a partner), he served in the Massachusetts legislature, edited several Boston journals, and wrote on literature, politics and travel. Biography Hillard was born at Machias, Maine, on September 22, 1808, and he was educated at the Boston Latin School. After graduating at Harvard College from 1828, he taught in the Round Hill School at Northampton, Massachusetts and attended Northampton Law School. He graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1832, and in 1833 he was admitted to the bar in Boston, where he entered into partnership with Charles Sumner, and developed an extensive legal practice. Hillard was a Democrat who opposed slavery and supported the Union during the American Civil War. He was a member of the Massachusetts legislature: the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1836, and the Massachuse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caleb Cushing
Caleb Cushing (January 17, 1800 – January 2, 1879) was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts and the 23rd United States Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce. From 1874 until 1877, he was the United States Minister to Spain. Cushing was an eager proponent of territorial and commercial expansion, especially regarding the acquisition of Texas, Oregon and Cuba. He believed that enlarging the American sphere would fulfill "the great destiny reserved for this exemplar American Republic." Cushing secured the first American treaty with China, the Treaty of Wangxia of 1844; it gave American merchants trading rights in five Chinese ports. After the Civil War, Cushing negotiated a treaty with Colombia to give the United States a right-of-way for a trans-oceanic Canal. He helped obtain a favorable settlement of the ''Alabama'' Claims, and as the ambassador to Spain in 1870s defused the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
