The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is a major historical archive specializing in early American,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and

New England New England is a region consisting of 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 (state), New York to the west and by the ...

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, and its western suburbs. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown, Boston, Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Public Garden (Boston) ...

Boston 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 Northeas ...

, Massachusetts, and is the oldest

historical society A historical society is non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and promoting the history of a particular place, group of people, or topic. They play a crucial role in promoting historical awareness and understan ...

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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 an American lawyer and politician who served four non-consecutive terms as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts in the early to mid-19th ...

, Jeremy Belknap, Alden Bradford, Peleg Coffin, Manasseh Cutler, John Davis, Daniel Davis, Aaron Dexter, John Eliot, Nathaniel Freeman, James Freeman, Thaddeus Mason Harris, Isaac Lothrop, George Richards Minot, John Mellen Jr., Thomas Pemberton, William Dandridge Peck, John Prince, Ezekiel Price, James Sullivan, David Sewall, Peter Thacher, 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 (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 genealogy, genealogist, the author of histories of New London, Connecticut and Norwich, Connecticut. Through her father, she was descendant of Hugh Caul ...

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; 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 Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...

was built in 1899; it was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

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 a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

(1735–1826) and First Lady Abigail Adams (1744–1818), as well as other family members including Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886), President

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

(1767–1848), First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams (1775–1852), Charles Francis Adams (1835–1915), and Henry Adams (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 A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

. *

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

- the library holds Jefferson's handwritten copy of the

and the Coolidge Collection, a collection of "Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts" containing thousands of pages of Jefferson's correspondence, manuscripts of writings,

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

records including account books and journals, and more than 400 of Jefferson's

architectural drawing An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building (or building project) that falls within the definition of architecture. Architectural drawings are used by architects and others for a number of purposes: to deve ...

s. * 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's July 4–5, 1776,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

printing of the

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

;

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

's account of his ride; and the Francis Parkman manuscripts dealing with French Canada. * Artwork - paintings by

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley ...

(1738–1815), Sarah Goodridge (1788–1853), Chester Harding (1792–1866), Alonzo Hartwell (1805–1873), Samuel Stillman Osgood (1808–1885), John Smibert (1688–1751), and Richard Morrell Staigg (1817–1881), as well as sculptures by Thomas Ball, Richard Saltonstall Greenough, Henry Dexter, and Hiram Powers. 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 title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

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 American journalist, news media critic and commentator, and university professor. An Armenian genocide survivor, he moved to the United States as an infant and began a journalis ...

* Bernard Bailyn * Lawrence Buell *

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...

* Robert Caro * James Carroll * Jill Ker Conway *

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

* Joseph Ellis *

Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian who served as the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or graduat ...

* David Hackett Fischer * Henry Louis Gates Jr. * Doris Kearns Goodwin * David D. Hall * Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham * Maya Jasanoff * Justin Kaplan * Jill Lepore *

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United S ...

* James M. McPherson *

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers; June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council ...

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was the first African Americans, African-American Governor of Massachusetts and the first Democratic Pa ...

Jaroslav Pelikan Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. (; December 17, 1923 – May 13, 2006) was an American scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology, and medieval intellectual history at Yale University. Early years Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. was born on D ...

* Nathaniel Philbrick * Cokie Roberts * Larry Ruttman * Jonathan SarnaJonathan Sarna Elected Massachusetts Historical Society Fellow
Brandeis NOW, retrieved November 16, 2013 * Merritt Roe Smith * Richard Norton Smith *

David Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H ...

* Laurel Thatcher Ulrich * Garry Wills * 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 television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

'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 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