Samuel Shapleigh (July 9, 1765 – April 17, 1800) was an American librarian. Shapleigh was born in

Kittery, Maine Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States, and the oldest incorporated town in Maine. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of ...

, on July 9, 1765. His parents died when he was young, and he was twenty before he entered

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

with the class of 1789. He taught a while in the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

grammar school, and then studied law, but his poor health prevented him from practicing. In November, 1790, he was chosen Butler and three years later (27 August 1793) Librarian. His salary was fixed at $360, on condition that he or a substitute should "continue in the College during the Summer, Fall and Spring vacations that Company may have access to the Library." He acted as Librarian until his death, on April 17, 1800. He was buried in Cambridge, where his gravestone identified him as "a virtuous son, faithful librarian, and liberal benefactor of Harvard College". By his will he bequeathed nearly the whole of his property to Harvard, the income to "be sacredly appropriated to the purchase of such modern publications as the

Corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

, Professors, and Tutors shall judge most proper to improve the students in polite literature ; the books to be deposited in the library of the University, and to consist of poetry and prose, but neither in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

nor

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapleigh, Samuel 1765 births 1800 deaths American librarians Harvard University alumni Harvard University librarians