The Essex Institute (1848–1992) in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports t ...

, was "a literary, historical and scientific society." It maintained a museum, library, historic houses; arranged educational programs; and issued numerous scholarly publications. In 1992 the institute merged with the

Peabody Museum of Salem The Peabody Museum of Salem (1915–1992), formerly the Peabody Academy of Science (1865–1915), was a museum and antiquarian society based in Salem, Massachusetts. The academy was organized in part as a successor to the East India Marine Socie ...

to form the

Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and the ...

. On December 8, 2017, much to the dismay of Salem residents, Dan L. Monroe, PEM’s Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Director and CEO, issued a press release announcing that the 42,000 linear feet of historical documents will be permanently relocated to Rowley, MA and Plummer Hall and Daland House, the two historic buildings which had housed the Phillips Library, will be utilized as office and meeting space.

History

The Essex Institute was "formed by the union of the Essex Historical Society and the

Essex County Natural History Society __NOTOC__ The Essex County Natural History Society (1833–1848) in Salem, Massachusetts, was formed "for the purpose of promoting the science of natural history." It endeavored "to form a complete collection of natural productions, curiosities. &c, ...

." Daniel Appleton White, the former Judge of Probate for Essex County, was appointed in 1848 as the first president of the institute until his death in 1861. Around 1879 the institute housed its "scientific collections" in Salem's East India Marine Hall and its library in Plummer Hall. According to an 1880 travel guide, "its objects are general and varied. Perhaps the most important is that of local historical discoveries and the preservation of everything relating to Essex County history." In addition to operating a library and museum, the institute arranged educational programs. In the 1880s, for example: "1. Every winter season lectures are given to an almost unlimited extent. Besides a regular course on general subjects, several courses are given on special subjects — Literature, History, Languages, Travel, the Sciences — and various papers are read before the regular meetings. 2. A regular course of musical entertainments is given every season, besides which there are several miscellaneous concerts. 3. Art exhibitions are given once or twice each year, at which are exhibited paintings, statuary, decorations, fancy work and the like by Essex county people. Also, exhibitions of horticulture and agriculture. 4. During the summer season a half dozen "field meetings" are held in different parts of the county. At these meetings addresses are made on the local history of the place visited, and on its flora and geology. In addition, it is customary to have one or more distinguished scientists or historians to speak on a specially assigned topic." By the 1930s the institute owned "two fine Samuel McIntire houses in Salem - the Peirce-Nichols House, built in 1782, and the Gardner-Pingree House, built in 1804, both ... open to the public."Corning. 1933

Images

Image:Plummer Hall, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, Plummer Hall, 19th century Image:East India Marine Hall and general view, by H. P. Ives.png, East India Marine Hall, 19th century Image:EssexInstitute ca1900s SalemMA DetroitPubCo LC 4.jpg, Essex Institute, c. 1900-1910 Image:EssexInstitute ca1900s SalemMA DetroitPubCo LC 5.jpg, Essex Institute, c. 1900-1910

References

* Proceedings of the Essex Institute
1848-1868

Act of incorporation, constitution and by-laws of the Essex Institute
incorporated February, 1848: With a catalogue of the officers and members. W. Ives and G.W. Pease, Printers, 1855 * Essex Institute Historical Collections
1859-1993
* Bulletin of the Essex Institute
1869-1898
* "Essex Institute," in: Charles Stuart Osgood, Henry Morrill Batchelder
Historical sketch of Salem, 1626-1879
Salem: Essex Institute, 1879 * Annual report of the Essex Institute
1899-1960

About the institute

* essex institute, in: griffin. "bibliography of historical societies of the united states and british america.
Annual report of the American Historical Association
1892. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1893 * * * Howard Corning. The Essex Institute of Salem. Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, Vol. 7, No. 5 (Oct., 1933), pp. 1–5 * Norman R. Bennett, George E. Brooks, Alan R. Booth. Materials for African History in the Peabody Museum and Essex Institute. African Studies Bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Oct., 1962), pp. 13–22 * Robert P. Spindler, Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, Prudence Backman. Format for Cooperation: Cooperative Collection Registers at the Peabody Museum of Salem and the Essex Institute. American Archivist, Vol. 51, No. 1/2 (Winter - Spring, 1988), pp. 115–119

External links

* Digital Public Library of America
Items related to Essex Institute
various dates {{Authority control 1848 establishments in Massachusetts Libraries in Essex County, Massachusetts Museums in Salem, Massachusetts Historical societies in Massachusetts History of Salem, Massachusetts

History

Images

See also

References

Further reading

Issued by the institute

About the institute

External links