The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154

Boylston Street Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, runs through Back Bay, and e ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, and is the oldest historical society in the United States. The society's building was constructed in 1899 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1966. In 2016, the Boston Landmarks Commission designated it a Boston Landmark.

History

The society was founded on January 24, 1791, by Reverend Jeremy Belknap to 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 included

William Baylies William Baylies (September 15, 1776 – September 27, 1865) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, and brother of congressman Francis Baylies. His great-grandfather was Thomas Baylies, an ironmaster from Coalbrookdale, England, who em ...

, Jeremy Belknap, Alden Bradford, Peleg Coffin, Manasseh Cutler, John Davis, Daniel Davis, Aaron Dexter, John Eliot, Nathaniel Freeman, James Freeman,

Thaddeus Mason Harris Thaddeus Mason Harris (July 7, 1768– April 3, 1842) was a Harvard librarian, Unitarian minister and author in the early 19th Century. His most noted book was ''The Natural History of the Bible'' first published in Boston in 1793. Harris was na ...

, Isaac Lothrop, George Richards Minot, John Mellen Jr., Thomas Pemberton, William Dandridge Peck, John Prince, Ezekiel Price, James Sullivan, David Sewall,

Peter Thacher Peter Oxenbridge Thacher (1752–1802) was a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts. Biography Peter Thacher was born in Milton, Massachusetts on March 21, 1752. He served as pastor in Malden of the First Church (1770–1784) and in Bos ...

, William Tudor, Samuel Turell, Dudley Atkins Tyng, James Winthrop, Thomas Wallcut, Redford Webster, and William Wetmore. Indeed, the society claims to have been the only historical collection in the United States until establishment of the New-York Historical Society (1804) and the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

(1812), after which time the society's collecting activities began to focus primarily on

and

. In 1849,

Frances Manwaring Caulkins Frances Manwaring Caulkins (April 26, 1795 – 1869) was a 19th-century American historian and genealogist, the author of histories of New London, Connecticut and Norwich, Connecticut. Through her father, she was descendant of Hugh Caulkins, who ...

became the first woman elected to the society's membership. "The society, for several years after its organization, met in the attic of

Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...

; afterwards rooms were occupied in Hamilton Place, and then in Franklin Street. In 1833 ... quarters on Tremont Street were occupied" in the building of the Provident bank through the 1890s. The society's current building in the Back Bay was built in 1899; it was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1965 in recognition of the society's distinctive contribution to historic preservation.

Collections

Today 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 President

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

(1735–1826) and First Lady

Abigail Adams Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; November 22, [ O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She was a founder of the United States, a ...

(1744–1818), as well as other family members including Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886), President John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams (1775–1852), Charles Francis Adams (1835–1915), and

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

(1838–1918). Among other papers, the collection includes correspondence, diaries, literary manuscripts, speeches, legal and business papers, and John Adams' handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence. *

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

- the library holds Jefferson's handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Coolidge Collection, a collection of "Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts" containing thousands of pages of Jefferson's correspondence, manuscripts of writings, Monticello records including account books and journals, and more than 400 of Jefferson's architectural drawings. * Other manuscripts and printed texts - approximately 12,000 biographies and more than 10,000 local histories, as well as newspapers and broadsides including

John Dunlap John Dunlap (1747 – 27 November 1812) was an early American printer who emigrated from Ireland and who printed the first copies of the United States Declaration of Independence and was one of the most successful Irish/American printers of hi ...

's July 4–5, 1776,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

printing of the Declaration of Independence. Other notable manuscripts include John Winthrop's manuscripts on the early settlement of

; Paul Revere's account of his ride; and the

Francis Parkman Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Am ...

manuscripts dealing with

French Canada French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

. * Artwork - paintings by John Singleton Copley (1738–1815),

Sarah Goodridge Sarah Goodridge (February 5, 1788 – December 28, 1853; also referred to as Sarah Goodrich) was an American painter who specialized in portrait miniatures. She was the older sister of Elizabeth Goodridge, also an American miniaturist. Life Good ...

(1788–1853), Chester Harding (1792–1866), Alonzo Hartwell (1805–1873), Samuel Stillman Osgood (1808–1885), John Smibert (1688–1751), and

Richard Morrell Staigg Richard Morrell Staigg (7 September 1817 Leeds, England - 11 October 1881 Newport, Rhode Island) or R.M. Staigg was a portrait painter in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. Biography When he was about thirteen years of age he was pla ...

(1817–1881), as well as sculptures by Thomas Ball,

Richard Saltonstall Greenough Richard Saltonstall Greenough (April 19, 1819 – 1904) was an American sculptor and younger brother to Neoclassical sculptor Horatio Greenough. Greenough was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Elizabeth (Bender) and David Gr ...

, Henry Dexter, and

Hiram Powers Hiram Powers (July 29, 1805 – June 27, 1873) was an American neoclassical sculptor. He was one of the first 19th-century American artists to gain an international reputation, largely based on his famous marble sculpture ''The Greek Slave''. ...

. The society continues to produce scholarly books, but now augments these publications with digital editions available through its website and other online resources. The ''Massachusetts Historical Review'' has been published annually since 1999.

Notable fellows

The

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

s of the Massachusetts Historical Society are elected and serve as the society's legal governing body. Notable fellows include: *

Ben Bagdikian Ben-hur Haig Bagdikian (January 30, 1920 – March 11, 2016) was an Armenian-American journalist, news media critic and commentator, and university professor. An Armenian genocide survivor, Bagdikian moved to the United States as an infant and ...

* Bernard Bailyn *

Lawrence Buell Lawrence Ingalls Buell (born 1939) is Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Harvard University, specialist on antebellum American literature and a pioneer of Ecocriticism. He is the 2007 recipient of the Jay Hubbell Medal f ...

* Ken Burns *

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power ...

* James Carroll * Jill Ker Conway *

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history ...

* Joseph Ellis * Drew Gilpin Faust *

David Hackett Fischer David Hackett Fischer (born December 2, 1935) is University Professor of History Emeritus at Brandeis University. Fischer's major works have covered topics ranging from large macroeconomic and cultural trends ('' Albion's Seed,'' '' The Great Wave ...

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...

* David D. Hall * Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham *

Maya Jasanoff Maya R. Jasanoff is an American academic. She serves as Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University, where she focuses on the history of Britain and the British Empire. Early life Jasanoff grew up in Ithaca, New York and comes from a ...

Justin Kaplan Justin Daniel Kaplan (September 5, 1925 in Manhattan, New York City – March 2, 2014 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American writer and editor. The general editor of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' (16th and 17th eds.), he was best kno ...

Jill Lepore Jill Lepore is an American historian and journalist. She is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at '' The New Yorker'', where she has contributed since 2005. She writes about America ...

* David McCullough *

James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry ...

* Bill Moyers * Deval Patrick * Jaroslav Pelikan *

Nathaniel Philbrick Nathaniel Philbrick (born June 11, 1956) is an American author of history, winner of the National Book Award, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His maritime history, ''In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,'' which tells ...

Cokie Roberts Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne "Cokie" Roberts (née Boggs; December 27, 1943 – September 17, 2019) was an American journalist and author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio, PBS, ...

* Larry Ruttman * Jonathan SarnaJonathan Sarna Elected Massachusetts Historical Society Fellow
Brandeis NOW, retrieved November 16, 2013 * Merritt Roe Smith * Richard Norton Smith * David Souter *

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian specializing in early America and the history of women, and a professor at Harvard University. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute ...

Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...

* Gordon S. Wood

References

Notes Bibliography * 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

- 7 series, Vol. 10 of each series is an index for the series
Series 1 indexSeries 2 indexSeries 3 index

Series 4 Index (Vol. 1-10)Series 5 index, p.331

Massachusetts Historical Society

Review
of "Adams Family Papers" website
Teachinghistory.org

"Life Portrait of John Quincy Adams"
from

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

's '' American Presidents: Life Portraits'', broadcast from the Massachusetts Historical Society, April 18, 1999 * {{Authority control State historical societies of the United States 1791 establishments in Massachusetts History of Boston History of Massachusetts History of New England History organizations based in the United States Historical societies in Massachusetts Organizations based in Boston Back Bay, Boston Libraries in Back Bay, Boston Buildings and structures completed in 1899 National Historic Landmarks in Boston Buildings and structures in Boston Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Research libraries in the United States

History

Collections

Notable fellows

See also

References

External links