David Pulsifer (22 September 1802, in

Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...

– 9 August 1894, in

Augusta, Maine Augusta is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Maine. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Maine, 12th-most populous city in Maine, and third ...

), was a historian and a preserver of old records.

Biography

He studied in the district schools, and then went to

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem (B ...

to learn

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

, where, in handling old records, his taste for antiquarian research was first developed. Subsequently, he served as clerk in county courts and transcribed several ancient books of records. In 1853 the

governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

called the attention of the executive council to the perishing condition of the early records and recommended that the two oldest volumes of the general court records should be printed at the expense of the state. Ephraim M. Wright and Nathaniel B. Shurtleff were appointed to take charge of the printing, and Pulsifer, who was acknowledged to be especially skilful in deciphering the

chirography Chirography (from Greek χείρ ''hand'') is the study of penmanship and handwriting in all of its aspects. History According to Georges Jean (1992, p. 12), standardised writing 'cannot be said to exist until there is an agreed upon reper ...

of the 17th century, was charged with the copying. Pulsifer had previously copied the first volume for 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 in ...

. Of his work, Samuel F. Haven, in his introduction to the printed records in the ''Archaeologia'', wrote that Pulsifer "unites the qualities of an expert in chirography with a genuine antiquarian taste and much familiarity with ancient records.”

Works

Pulsifer edited: *''Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England'' (vols. ix. to xii., Boston, 1859–61) *''The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America'' (1843) *''A Poetical Epistle to George Washington, Esq., Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, by Rev. Charles H. Wharton, D. D.'', first published anonymously in Annapolis in 1779 (1881) *''The Christian's A. B. C.'', an original manuscript, written in the 18th century by an unknown author (1883) *''Inscriptions from the Burying-Grounds in Salem, Mass.'' (Boston, 1837) He wrote: *''Guide to Boston and Vicinity'' (1866) *''Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, with General John Burgoyne's Account'' (1872)

Notes

References

* 1802 births 1894 deaths 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers American curators Bookbinders American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub