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Benjamin Peirce (30 September 1778 – 26 July 1831) was librarian of the
Harvard Library Harvard Library is the umbrella organization for Harvard University's libraries and services. It is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic library and largest private library in the world. Its collection ...
from 1826 to 1831.


Early life and education

Peirce, born in Salem, 30 September 1778, was the son of Jerahmeel and Sarah (Ropes) Peirce. After graduating from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...
at the head of the class of 1801, he returned to Salem and entered the India trade with his father. He was a representative to the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...
from Salem for several years and a Massachusetts State Senator from Essex County in 1811.


Career

Neither a mercantile nor a political life satisfied Pierce and in 1826 he accepted the position of Librarian at Harvard. He oversaw preparation of a catalogue of the Library which was published in 1830-31 in four volumes: the first two containing an alphabetical catalogue by authors, the third a systematic index, and the fourth a catalogue of maps. Shortly after the last volume of the catalog was published, Peirce died on 26 July 1831, aged 53. He left in manuscript part of a ''History of Harvard University, from its foundation, in the year 1636, to the period of the American Revolution.'' This was edited by his friend John Pickering, and published in 1833 (Cambridge; Brown, Shattuck and Company. 8°. pp. XX., 316, 160). Quincy, in his ''History of Harvard'', describes the book as "of great merit and usefulness, possessing the traits of that soundness of judgment and accuracy of investigation so eminently his characteristics." He also published an ''Oration delivered at Salem, 4th of July, 1812''.


Personal life

He married, 11 December 1803, Lydia R. Nichols. His son
Benjamin Peirce Benjamin Peirce (; April 4, 1809 – October 6, 1880) was an American mathematician who taught at Harvard University for approximately 50 years. He made contributions to celestial mechanics, statistics, number theory, algebra, and the philo ...
was a distinguished mathematician, and for many years Perkins professor of astronomy and mathematics. One of his three other children Charles Henry Peirce was a physician in Salem and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peirce, Ben American librarians Harvard University faculty Harvard University librarians 1778 births 1831 deaths Harvard College alumni Massachusetts state senators Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives