Number 95 / Fall 8 MHS Miscellany FOUNDING FAMILIES PROJECT If you happen to own the more than 40 volumes of Virginia Press, three years of almost full-time of Adams Papers printed editions, published by dedication by the Publications staff allowed the Harvard University Press, then you know the MHS to launch most of the anticipated content value of this remarkable resource: the five sub- online last July. series presenting gold-standard transcriptions of The Adams Papers as presented on the web- some 15,000 Adams documents as well as the site currently include transcriptions of more than introductions and annotations that place each 15,000 documents (each diary entry is counted as document in its general and specific context. The a single document), the rough total of the pieces actual books, however, require some heavy lifting included in the five original subseries:Diary and to use: searching for a document or series of let- Autobiography of John Adams, Adams Family Cor- ters means pulling volume after weighty volume respondence, Papers of John Adams, Legal Papers from the shelf as you try to follow a thread of of John Adams, Diary of John Quincy Adams, history. As invaluable a resource as this series of and Diary of Charles Francis Adams. Most of the documentary editions is, it could be more acces- materials now available come from the 1770s sible and agile—and it has just become so. and 1780s and constitute a major research tool All of the content of these volumes is now for study of the Revolutionary and early national available online as Founding Families: Digital periods. The Winthrop Papers will include tran- Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the scriptions of more than 2,300 Winthrop family Adamses (www.masshist.org/ff/), where seven documents, with an emphasis on the writings previously published volumes of the Winthrop of John Winthrop, Sr., the first governor of the Papers will soon appear as well. The opportu- Massachusetts Bay colony, and his son John nity to convert the printed volumes—some of Winthrop, Jr. which are now out of print and hard to find—to While the content is available on the MHS an electronic format began in 2005 with a new website for free, it will also be a part of the grant from the National Endowment for the comprehensive Founding Era subscription at Humanities. The funds, matched by the MHS the Rotunda website. Researchers will be able in staff salaries, supported three years of work, to click into a richly connected network of the headquartered in the Publications Department. equivalent of thousands of manuscripts, encap- The process of taking printed books into the sulated by the solid contextual tools created by new world of online publication is beginning to documentary editors. There, John and Abigail settle into certain standards, but the path is still join their fellows in the Revolutionary genera- untrodden enough that the MHS had to find its tion, fully realizing the technology revolution in way through the tangle of XML encoding, UTF- accessibility. 8 ASCII text, and the TEI tagset. Nonetheless, with further financial support from Harvard University Press and the technical support of Rotunda, the electronic imprint of the University Periodical newsletter of the Massachusetts Historical Society MHS Miscellany 2 As Massachusetts modern-day political memorabilia such as Goes… campaign medals, pins, keepsakes, but- MHS Miscellany, no. 95 tons, and bumper stickers. Periodical Newsletter of the While Maine and Missouri are famous Massachusetts Historical Society as bellwethers of national political trends, Address: in presidential contests Massachusetts is Lincoln and Massachusetts Boylston St. Boston MA remarkable in that it has as often as not 17--1 www.masshist.org To celebrate the bicentennial of the cast its electoral votes for the losing candi- birth of Abraham Lincoln on 12 Feb- Hours: date. The Commonwealth’s record of this ruary 2009, the Society will mount The MHS reading room is open to the particular kind of political independence an exhibition, “Lincoln and Massa- public free of charge, 9 a 5to 4:4 includes support for the failed election or chusetts.” Reference Librarian Elaine Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and reelection bids of native sons John and Fridays, 9 a to 7:45 on Thursdays, Grublin will explore Lincoln’s com- John Quincy Adams, Michael Dukakis, and 9 a to 4 on Saturdays. plicated political and personal con- and John Kerry, and the equally unsuccess- nections with men and women from For more information: ful candidacies of Daniel Webster, Henry Massachusetts through a display of Please call ahead or check the website Clay (twice), John C. Fremont, Al Smith, for directions, information about col- manuscripts, artifacts, photographs, and George McGovern, among others. lections, reading room policies, holiday portraits, publications, and sculpture hours, and special events. To illustrate two centuries of Bay State drawn from the MHS collections. presidential politics, Assistant Reference “Lincoln and Massachusetts” will be Librarian Tracy Potter and intern Lydia on view from February through March Paine have created “As Massachusetts 2009. Goes…” From now until 15 November, this exhibition looks at some of the more colorful figures that the Commonwealth * * * has placed on the national stage, as well as some of the Bay State’s other contributions to American political life. On display are the personal cor- respondence of presiden- tial candidates and their supporters, political car- toons, campaign biog- raphies, broadsides, and posters, as well as early and The exhibition is open to the public each day from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, Monday to Saturday, through Saturday, 15 November. All images are from the MHS collections unless otherwise credited. This page, the campaign buttons are exonumia, political pinback col- lection, subset of numismatics collection; the broadside Harrison and Reform! Freemen Attend (Boston: Marden & Co., 1840) advertised a meeting for supporters of candidate William Henry Harrison during the 1840 presidential election in which Harrison opposed the incumbent, Martin Van Buren. Front page, the Miscellany masthead illustration is “Plan & Elevation of the Tontine Crescent, now erecting in Boston,” from the Massachu- setts Magazine, 1 4. The MHS occupied the Tontine Crescent from 14 8until 1 . 3 Fall 2008 / 95 Fro the President up. Thanks to the generosity of members of our Board the challenge has been met The Officers & Board of the As you read through and a more aggressive pursuit of collec- Massachusetts Historical Society this issue of the Mis- tion materials launched. I urge you to join cellany, the strength of with our Trustees and make a gift in sup- Chair, Amalie M. Kass our ongoing efforts in port of enriching our collections. In the Vice Chair, William Cotter two key areas becomes last few weeks we have purchased addi- Secretary, John F. Moffitt apparent: bringing the Treasurer, William C. Clendaniel tional items—which you will read about public our resources on in future issues of the Miscellany—as part Trustees many different levels and increasing our Nancy S. Anthony of an ongoing collection. already unparalleled collections. Extended Bernard Bailyn Of course, we still welcome gifts of man- library hours, volume 10 of the Massachu- Levin H. Campbell uscripts or related items. They will remain setts Historical Review (there will be two Arthur C. Hodges the major source of collection material. Pauline Maier issues annually beginning in 2009), the I hope you will consider the MHS when Catherine S. Menand continued improvements to our online you are seeking an appropriate repository Sheila D. Perry catalog, ABIGAIL, the creation of a docent Frederick G. Pfannenstiehl for family papers and other treasures relat- program, the Founding Families project, Lia G. Poorvu ed to our collection. The MHS’s record of another season of expanded programming, William L. Saltonstall care and access can be matched by few. I and a continuation of our popular exhibi- L. Dennis Shapiro look forward to your phone call. Joseph Peter Spang tions all mark our commitment to provide Michael R. Yogg greater access to our collections and the —Dennis A. Fiori, President Hiller B. Zobel information they contain. * * * Life Trustees Equally as important is continuing to Leo L. Beranek collect materials that are at the heart of Unitariana Henry Lee those programs and activity. For much of Trustees Emeriti its existence the MHS has been an aggres- “It is said to be the penalty, but ought it Nancy R. Coolidge sive gatherer, resulting in holdings of over not to be esteemed the privilege of the James M. Storey 12.5 million manuscripts, not to mention eminent, to be summoned to good & John L. Thorndike great works almost beyond their strength?” impressive collections of books, maps, President prints, artifacts, and numerous other cate- —William Ellery Channing to Dennis A. Fiori Daniel Webster, 5 June 1829 gories of material. For several reasons, col- lecting has been less at the forefront of our William Ellery Channing, one of 19th- activities in recent years. It has deferred century America’s most prominent reli- to the emphasis on facilitating access to gious leaders, made this eloquent request what we already hold, and it has also been to Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster affected by the growing realization among for a submission to the Christian Register, a potential donors that the kinds of things Unitarian journal. Channing’s letter is only we collect often have value far beyond the one of over 200 fascinating documents in tax benefits of a gift. No longer depending the George E. Nitzsche Unitariana Col- almost solely on the generosity of donors lection, recently purchased by the MHS. means that a return to active collecting, in Between 1923 and 1953, George Nitzsche, a competitive marketplace, will require a recorder for the University of Pennsylvania greatly augmented purse for making pur- and member of the First Unitarian Church chases.