The Colonial Society of Massachusetts September Volume XVIII, Number Letter from the President Ebenezer Gay, long Curator of Scientific Instruments at Harvard, and William Bradford Osgood, a trustee of Dear Members: many Boston historical institutions, were both elected in . Marcus McCorison, President Emeritus of the he Society’s house at Mount Vernon Street has American Antiquarian Society, was elected in . Most been a very busy place this year. In addition to our deeply felt was the death in August of Pauline Maier, Tconvivial Annual Meeting and three stimulating William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of American History at Stated Meetings, we welcomed Suffolk University’s MIT, who had served on the Society’s Council since Honors History Graduates for their awards ceremony and was Chair of our Committee on Publications. and Boston University’s American and New England Pauline was central to the Society’s work and success. We Studies Program for their spring reception for M.A. and will miss her greatly. Ph.D. students. Our Graduate Student Forum adopted a Sincerely, new format suggested by the day’s senior scholar, D R. F Professor Karen Kupperman of New York University, President which promoted lively discussion. Vice-President Robert Allison and Corresponding Secretary Martha McNa- mara convened a Boston Historic Sites Forum to discuss integrating interpretation of various historical museums to give school classes and the visiting public a stronger understanding of the city’s history. The Society co- A Revolutionary Find sponsored People and Places, a summer teacher institute for public school teachers. Offsite, we cosponsored the T eight copies of a printed subscription Winterthur Furniture Conference, New Perspectives on sheet from Boston’s first organized response to the Boston Furniture, - , that will result in a Colonial Townshend Acts, dated October , , were discovered Society publication. As for publications, has seen in the stacks of Houghton Library at Harvard University. volume III of The Papers of Francis Bernard: Governor of What makes them so important is that they bear over Colonial Massachusetts, - . We eagerly anticipate manuscript signatures of local merchants and busi - two more publications before the end of the year, the first ness people who agreed to participate in boycotting volume of the papers of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, British imported goods – a gold mine for scholars keen edited by our Editor of Publications John Tyler, and to identify the individuals who played such a central role volume VI of the Josiah Quincy, Jr. papers, a compilation in the American Revolution’s early development. of his newspaper essays and other political writings, in Leading up to the Revolution, the British repeatedly preparation by Neil York. attempted to impose duties on Americans to defray the This has also been a year of transition and sadness, as costs of colonial administration. A year after the repeal of we have bid farewell to several Colonial Society the Stamp Act, Parliament enacted the first of the Town - stalwarts. Edmund Sears Morgan of Yale University, shend Acts in the spring of . These sought to impose elected to the Society when a graduate student at duties on a wide array of durable goods being imported Harvard in , was our longest serving member. into the colonies. Leading colonists up and down the The Colonial Society of Massachusetts Whereas this province labours under a heavy debt, incurred in the course of the late War and the inhabitants by this means must be for some time subject to very burdensome taxes ([Boston: Edes and Gill?, ]) Houghton pAB .B . w. Digital reproduction of all eight sheets is available through Harvard’s online catalog. The Colonial Society of Massachusetts seaboard protested loudly throughout the summer of . Bostonians then gathered at a Town Meeting on October , to mount a boycott (“nonimportation A Brief Report on Publications agreement”) of a long and very specific list of goods in - cluding: by John W. Tyler “Loaf Sugar, Cordage, Anchors, Coaches, Chaises and Carriages of all Sorts, Horse Furniture, Men and T and sudden death of Pauline Maier has cast Womens Hatts, Mens and Womens Apparel ready a long shadow over what would otherwise have been a made, Houshold Furniture, Gloves, Mens and Wom - bright record in publications this year. To say that ens Shoes, Sole-Leather, Sheathing and Deck Nails, Pauline’s literary success and academic distinction gave Gold and Silver and Thread Lace of all Sorts, Gold reflected luster to the Colonial Society’s publications is and Silver Buttons, Wrought Plate of all Sorts, Dia merely to mention the least of her contributions. She was mond, Stone and Paste Ware, Snuff, Mustard, Clocks the guardian for the Society’s high standards for accurate and Watches, Silversmiths, and Jewellers Ware, Broad transcriptions. She was also a leading voice within the Cloths that cost above 10s. per Yard, Muffs Furrs and Publications Committee advocating that our volumes Tippets, and all Sorts of Millenary Ware, Starch, should be useful in advancing academic research, and she Womens and Childrens Stays, Fire Engines, China stoutly resisted proposals that came our way that seemed Ware, Silk and Cotton Velvets, Gauze, Pewterers hol - too narrowly focused. Wherever her research travels took low Ware, Linseed Oyl, Glue, Lawns, Cambricks, her, Pauline was ever on the lookout for a cache of over - Silks of all Kinds for Garments, Malt Liquors and looked manuscripts worthy of CSM publication. As Ed - Cheese.” itor of Publications, I felt her constant support and will miss her hearty laugh at Colonial Society gatherings, A committee was thereby formed to prepare a which was a sure sign that wit and good humor were in printed form to announce these intentions and to procure the air. “subscriptions to the same.” This meeting, the subscrip - The first volume of Colin Nicolson’s The Bernard Pa - tion form, and the distribution of those forms are well pers set such a high standard that I would have been documented in contemporary newspapers and handbills. pleased if subsequent volumes merely equaled its excel - Who signed the forms was not – until recently, when the lence, but each new volume shows greater refinement in above sheets were uncovered by Colonial Society mem - editorial technique and book-making skill. (Not many ber Karen Nipps during a project to catalog older library people would take such care in preparing an index!) The acquisitions. Bernard Papers really are sufficient in themselves as a The sheer number of signatures is attention-getting, record (admittedly a biased one) of Boston politics in the as are the names of many signatories. Paul Revere, s, and readers of The Bernard Papers , thanks to Colin’s William Dawes, James Otis, Joseph Sherburne, Royall generous annotations, really don’t need any secondary Tyler—these are names quite familiar to historians of the sources to follow the entire story. The strong narrative period, but there are many less familiar, not to mention thread makes them engrossing reading even for the non- unknown. A number of men who would eventually specialist, who might enjoy opening a volume at random choose to be Loyalists signed. Some signed only for a for a glimpse of Boston two and a half centuries ago. year’s duration. Other signatures are scratched out. I myself have been at work on the first volume of The Thrilling to note is that it is signed by sixty-five women. Correspondence of Thomas Hutchinson for much longer The diversity itself is striking, offering a rare glimpse into than I care to admit. I had hoped to bring it out while the pre-Revolutionary demographics of the Boston mer - Malcolm Freiberg, to whom the volume is dedicated, was cantile class. Scholarly interest is already mounting and still alive. My only excuse for failing in that endeavor is the sheets will undoubtedly prove essential documents that my twin responsibilities as boarding school teacher for future study of consumerism and the origins of the and the CSM’s Editor of Publications never seemed Revolution. allow the time I wanted for my own scholarly work. But, thank goodness, many other busy academics somehow find a way to get on with things despite myriad demands on their time. The first volume of The Correspondence of Thomas Hutchinson is highly selective. Although many Hutchin - The Colonial Society of Massachusetts son letters (mostly routine business correspondence) exist jointly authorized this spring a groundbreaking approach prior to the volume’s starting point in , I chose to to the editing of the Rowley Church Records. CSM focus on Hutchinson’s political career, especially as it Members may remember these records caused quite a stir shed light on the coming imperial conflict. Such letters several years ago when they were rediscovered in a safe are few until his appointment as chief justice in : deposit box of a bank that was closing its doors. they focus on a voyage he made to England in - as Ken Minkema and Jeff Cooper, the editors of the Massachusetts agent, dispatched to argue for the return Rowley Project, write, “While this volume contains ma - of a number of towns that had been separated from the terials typical of church records—minutes of church Bay Colony when New Hampshire was created; the furor meetings, church covenants, baptismal, marriage and over the Land Bank and establishment of a specie- death lists—the Rowley book is entirely unique in the backed currency in Massachusetts; Hutchinson’s role at breadth, depth, and level of detail devoted to church and the Albany Conference in ; and his support of mili - community life. Exceeding pages of tightly written tary efforts during the French and Indian War. text, the volume includes, in addition to the vital statis - Once Francis Bernard makes his controversial ap - tics, hundreds of pages of correspondence between pointment of Hutchinson as chief justice, the feud with churches, results of ecclesiastical councils, extraordinarily James Otis begins, and as the plot thickens so does the detailed proceedings of disciplinary cases, sermons, and frequency of Hutchinson’s correspondence.