DOCSLIB.ORG

Apprentice Librarian

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Apprentice Librarian CHAPTER II APPRENTICE LIBRARIAN If Charles Cutter's library work as a student served in part as his recruitment to librarianship, his subsequent experience at Harvard was his apprenticeship. The decade of the 1860 1 s was a fortunate time for him to be at the Harvard College Library because the library was undergoing' far-reaching and very basic changes. The experience that Cutter gained from that library situati~n would come to be reflected in his later library work time and again. It was also a for- tunate time in that he came under the tutelage of Ezra Abbot, a man that Cutter later described as having patiently intro- duced him to cataloging, classification and bibliography, and without whom he would have amounted to "nothing' in the library world."l Finally, Cutter did not just soak up in- struction passively. He was aggressive in expanding his own 1Editorial, LJ, IX (April, 1884), 60; ALA Conference Discussion, LJ, XXVII(July, 1902), C190. Cutter also at ot,her times ;QuId mention when an idea of his or of some other person could in actuality be traced to Abbot. Cf. Editorial Notes, LJ, XVI (August, 1891), 23; XIV (January-February, 1889), 54. The latter is a note appended to a notice of M. Dewey's Rules for Author and Classed Catalogs. At least two other librarians of note als6 had contact with Abbot. Stephen B. Noyes worked under Abbot's direction as a cataloger from August 1854 to July 1855 at the Boston Athenaeum. Charles Alexander Nelson reiterated Cutter's above comment at the 1902 Conference, and at the 1895 Conference mentioned that Abbot's Cambridge High School catalog' "was probably the book that made me a librarian." LJ, XX (December, 1895), C76. 43 44 professional capabilities. He involved himself in the work of the College library to an extent far beyond what was re- quired of him. He read widely. He participated in a vari- ety of bibliographical ventures beyond the immediate envi- ronment of Gore Hall. And by the end of the decade he was making his first literary contributions to the professional library world. Harvard College Library Although the library of Harvard College 1 began with the bequest of John Harvard in 1638, it remained relatively small until the nineteenth century. It was not until the administrations of presidents John Kirkland (1810-1828) and Josiah Quincy (1829-1845) that the idea of the library as an indispensable arm of a university began to receive its first hearing. That came as a result of the influence of a younger generation of scholars, most notably Joseph G. Cogswell, George Bancroft, George Ticknor and Edward Everett, who had IThe general history of the Harvard College Library up to the 1860's is taken from the following sources: C. A. Cutter, "Harvard College Library," North American Review, eVIl (October, 1868), 568-93; John Langdon Sibley, The Annual Re ort of the Librarian of Harvard Universit Read 15 Jul , 1 4 to the Committee of Overseers A ointed to Visit the Library 1 3 4 Cambridge: Welch, Bigelow, and Company, 1865), pp. 12-29; an account by Charles Folsom, in Harvard University. Overseers Committee on the Library, Report of the Committee of the Overseers of Harvard Colle e A ointed to Visit the Library for the Year 1 3 1 3 Boston: George C. Rand & Avery, 1864), pp. 7-14 (Hereinafter cited as Report ••• for the Year 1863 [1862/63J); Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, passim; Clifford K. Shipton, "John Lang­ don Sibley, Librarian," in An American Librar Histor Reader, selected by John David Marshall Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String Press, 1961), pp. 161-89. Other helpful information may be found in "Harvard College Library, 1638-1938," Harvard Library 45 1 studied in Europe. Special purchases increased the size of the collection during the 1820's and the 183U's and the plan of the impressive University of Gottin~en library was adopted for arrangin~ the books on the shelves. A new catalog was printed in 1830 and a supplement in 1833. Finally a new building, made possible by an unrestricted bequest by Massa- chusetts Governor Christopher GOl'e, was erected in 1841. Althou;!,h the increases in the size of the collection were substantial, the growt,h of the library was at best un- ~ystematic, especially since there were only very limited funds allocated for regular book purchases. The more rigor- nus expansion of the librcu'y began only after the appoint- ment of John Langdon Sil>ley in 1841. Sibley, who served as assistant liLrarian from 1841 to 1855 dod as librarian from 1856 to 1878, was preeminently a zealous, perhaps even fanat- ieal collector of library materials. His activities in that r'e~ard fina] 1 y confrolited the issue of regular purchasing funds for' the libral'Y. One of his biographers has written, To Sibley it was the sacred duty of the librarian to preserve a copy of every printed item for the use of posterity. No one else in his generation did more to spread the idea of the importance of ephemeral material for history.2 ~artly, therefore, as a result of his conscious efforts, the ~ 0 t e s, I]I( ~la r c h , 1 93 9 ), 20 5- yo • lHorison, Three Centuries of Harvard, pp. 226-27, ~65-66. For Ticknor's experience in Germany and his subse­ quent effort to transplant that ideal at Harvard College, see T.lack, George Ticknor', ehs. 2 and 3. 2Shipton, "John 1.8ngdon Sibley," p. 168. 46 library increased from about 50,000 volumes in 1841 to nearly 70,000 volumes in 1856 when Sibley himself became the chief administrator. A large part of that increase came from do- nations that he had personally sought out. By 1861 the total 1 had risen to nearly 96,000 volumes and by 1868 to 118,000. His ideal of a comprehensive collection, while not supported by substantial allocations of fUnds for regular purchasing until the 1870 1 s, brought to the library in 1858 a gift from William C. Gray of $5,000 a year for each of five years for the purchase of current materials. The effect was felt during the period 1859/60 to 1863/64 when annual acces- sions amounted to more than 5,000 volumes a year, more than half of which were purchased. The great increase in the size of the collection pro- duced ot.. her problems as well. The most immediate effect was the need for a larger staff. When Sibley assumed the librar- ianship in 1856 he added Ezra Abbot in the assistant librar- ian's position. But it soon became evident that two men could not by themselves handle the great increase in accessions. 1"Librarian l s Report," [1859/60J, in Harvard Univer­ sity. Overseers Committee on the Library, Report of the Committee of the Overseers of Harvard Colle e A ointed to Visit the Librar~ for the Year 1 a Boston: George C. Rand &: Avery, 18 1), P 23; Shipton, lIJohn Langdon Sibley," p. 165. Library statistics are taken from the annual reports of the librarian. For the years 1858/59 to 1862/63 these are included in the printed reports of the Overseers Committee on the Library as given above. They will be cited hereinafter only as "Librarian's Report" with the academic year of the report in brackets. Sibley issued his 1863/64 report separ­ ately at his own expense. See above, p. 44, footnote 1. His r~ports for 1864/65 to 1867/68 are in manuscript form only and are cited accordingly. Other material taken from the Overseers reports are cited as Report ••• for the Year •••• 47 By April of 1859 Sibley had begun experimenting with the use of female clerical help in book processing. He also had the occasional assistance of undergraduates and of the President 1 s secretary. By 1862 the force had reached eleven, Abbot him- self having two assistants, one of whom was Charles Cutter, 1 and during the decade the staff grew steadily in size. In this environment an administrative conflict arose between demands to provide adequately for the public and the needs of the internal operations of the library. A consid- erable part of the conflict was fostered by the physical in- adequacies of Gore Hall itself, a fact that Sibley constantly reiterated. It was a Gothic building totally unfit for an expanding library. Yet, because of its architecture and the fact that it was a gift to the College, few were willing to advocate any substantial changes in its features. Built be- tween 1838 and 1841 it had originally been intended to house Harvard's library collections for a century. With the inde­ 2 fatigable energy of Sibley its capacity was reached by 1860. I"Librarian ' s Report, II [1858/59J, p. 21; [1859/60J, p. 27; [1860/61J, p. 33. In 1876 John Fiske reported that besides himself there were twenty assistants" "A Librarian1s hork,1I Atlantic Monthly, XXXVIII (October, 1876), 480. 2Shipton, "John Langdon Sibley,tI pp. 175-76, 180-83; Kimball C. Elkins, "Foreshadowings of Lamont," Harvard Library Bulletin, VIII (Winter, 1954), 46-51; Harvard University. Overseers Commi.ttee on the Library, Report ••• for the Year 1863 [1862/63J, pp. 7-14; Sibley, The Annual Report of the Librarian" •• [1863/64J, pp. 12-29; John Langdon Sibley, "Library Journal," p. 252, November 29 and December 5, 1864, ~~~), HUA. Sibley's "Library Journal ll was one of two diary ~ecords that he kept. The other was his "Private Journal.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Seeking a Forgotten History
    HARVARD AND SLAVERY Seeking a Forgotten History by Sven Beckert, Katherine Stevens and the students of the Harvard and Slavery Research Seminar HARVARD AND SLAVERY Seeking a Forgotten History by Sven Beckert, Katherine Stevens and the students of the Harvard and Slavery Research Seminar About the Authors Sven Beckert is Laird Bell Professor of history Katherine Stevens is a graduate student in at Harvard University and author of the forth- the History of American Civilization Program coming The Empire of Cotton: A Global History. at Harvard studying the history of the spread of slavery and changes to the environment in the antebellum U.S. South. © 2011 Sven Beckert and Katherine Stevens Cover Image: “Memorial Hall” PHOTOGRAPH BY KARTHIK DONDETI, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY 2 Harvard & Slavery introducTION n the fall of 2007, four Harvard undergradu- surprising: Harvard presidents who brought slaves ate students came together in a seminar room to live with them on campus, significant endow- Ito solve a local but nonetheless significant ments drawn from the exploitation of slave labor, historical mystery: to research the historical con- Harvard’s administration and most of its faculty nections between Harvard University and slavery. favoring the suppression of public debates on Inspired by Ruth Simmon’s path-breaking work slavery. A quest that began with fears of finding at Brown University, the seminar’s goal was nothing ended with a new question —how was it to gain a better understanding of the history of that the university had failed for so long to engage the institution in which we were learning and with this elephantine aspect of its history? teaching, and to bring closer to home one of the The following pages will summarize some of greatest issues of American history: slavery.
    [Show full text]
  • The Invisible Woman and the Silent University
    The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Spring 5-2012 The Invisible Woman and the Silent University Elizabeth Robinson Cole University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, History of Gender Commons, Online and Distance Education Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Cole, Elizabeth Robinson, "The Invisible Woman and the Silent University" (2012). Dissertations. 538. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/538 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AND THE SILENT UNIVERSITY by Elizabeth Robinson Cole Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2012 ABSTRACT THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AND THE SILENT UNIVERSITY by Elizabeth Robinson Cole May 2012 Anna Eliot Ticknor (1823 – 1896) founded the first correspondence school in the United States, the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. In the fall of 1873 an educational movement was quietly initiated from her home in Boston, Massachusetts. A politically and socially sophisticated leader, she recognized the need that women felt for continuing education and understood how to offer the opportunity within the parameters afforded women of nineteenth century America.
    [Show full text]
  • Harvard Library Bulletin</Em>
    The Kentucky Review Volume 8 | Number 2 Article 5 Summer 1988 Keyes Metcalf and the Founding of The Harvard Library Bulletin Dennis Carrigan University of Kentucky, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kentucky-review Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Carrigan, Dennis (1988) "Keyes Metcalf and the Founding of The Harvard Library Bulletin," The Kentucky Review: Vol. 8 : No. 2 , Article 5. Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kentucky-review/vol8/iss2/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Kentucky Libraries at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Kentucky Review by an authorized editor of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Keyes Metcalf and the Founding of The Harvard Library Bulletin Dennis Carrigan In Random Recollections of an Anachronism, the first volume of his autobiography, Keyes Metcalf has told how he came to head the Harvard Library. In 1913 he had joined the New York Public Library, and had expected to work there until retirement. One day early in 1936, however, he was summoned to the office of his superior, Harry Miller Lydenberg, and there introduced to James Bryant Conant, the President of Harvard, who was in New York to discuss with Mr. Lydenberg a candidate to be Librarian of Harvard College, a position that was expected to lead to that of Director of the University Library.
    [Show full text]
  • Reorganization at the Harvard Law School Library (A)
    Reorganization at the Harvard Law School Library (A) As a new and self-proclaimed “rookie” library leader, John Palfrey reflected on recent reorganization activities at the Harvard Law School Library with equal measures of pride and uncertainty. Had the process really gone as well as many thought? What had been done right? Could a different approach have been taken that would have produced less fear, trepidation, and anxiety among library staff? How might his experience help other library leaders struggling with how to best meet the challenges of organizational change and library transformation? Harvard Law School Established in 1817, Harvard Law School (HLS) is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Several leading national publications consistently ranked HLS among the top three law schools in the country. Historically, HLS had admitted about ten percent of its applicants annually and boasted such notable alumni as United States President Barack Obama and, in 2011, six of the nine sitting Justices of the United States Supreme Court. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, HLS had also been known for its politically contentious faculty. During that period, a divide between conservative and liberal faculty members led to very public squabbles about faculty appointments, tenure cases, and policy decisions. Deadlocked by bitter ideological infighting, the faculty had gone years without a single new hire. Newer faculty levied charges of political incorrectness against older faculty, particularly regarding minority and feminist issues. Unrest then spread to the student body, when, in 1992, nine students occupied the office of then-Dean Robert Clark for a twenty-five hour sit-in protesting a lack of black and female faculty.
    [Show full text]
  • The Separate Undergraduate Library
    ELIZABETH MILLS The Separate Undergraduate Library A new phenomenon came into being in 1949 with the opening of the first separate library for undergraduates in a university. Many have now been built, and more are planned. This paper discusses some of the thinking that preceded their development. It analyzes three of them—Lamont, Michigan, and UCLA—in some detail, and speculates as to their future. OVER THE PAST eighteen years, a num- in enrollment of students, at both the ber of large universities in the United graduate and undergraduate level, has States have established separate libraries caused critical crowding in libraries and for undergraduate students. Either a brought an urgent and imperative need new separate building has been con- for more space. Steadily growing re- structed specifically for the purpose of search collections have added their pres- serving the undergraduates or an old sure for needed room and stack space. building has been converted into a dis- The establishment of research centers crete library to provide a special collec- and graduate schools has brought in- tion, special facilities, and services spe- creasing demands on library facilities cifically oriented to the undergraduate from faculties and scholars. These fac- students. Of late, more and more uni- tors—the need for improved service to versities appear to be following this pat- undergraduates and critical space prob- tern so that it would seem that a defi- lems—have worked together to bring nite trend among academic institutions about the development of the separate has been started. undergraduate library. This development appears to be the This paper proposes to offer a study of result of several concurrent factors.
    [Show full text]
  • Harvard Library Bulletin, Volume 6.2)
    Harvard Library bibliography: Supplement (Harvard Library Bulletin, Volume 6.2) The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Carpenter, Kenneth E. 1996. Harvard Library bibliography: Supplement (Harvard Library Bulletin, Volume 6.2). Harvard Library Bulletin 6 (2), Summer 1995: 57-64. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42665395 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA 57 Harvard Library Bibliography: Supplement his is a list of selected new books and articles of which any unit of the Harvard T University Library is the author, primary editor, publisher, or subject. The list also includes scholarly and professional publications by Library staff. The bibli- ography for 1960-1966 appeared in the Harvard Library Bulletin, 15 (1967), and supplements have appeared in the years following, most recently in Vol. 3 (New Series), No. 4 (Winter 1992-1993). The list below covers publications through mid-1995. Alligood, Elaine. "The Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine: Poised for the Future, Guided by the Past," in Network News, the quarterly publication of the Massachu- setts Health Sciences Library Network (August 1994). (Elaine Alligood was formerly Assistant Director for Marketing in the Countway Library of Medicine.) Altenberger, Alicja and John W. Collins III. "Methods oflnstruction in Management for Libraries and Information Centers" in New Trends in Education and Research in Librarianshipand InformationScience (Poland:Jagiellonian University, 1993), ed.
    [Show full text]
  • The Trinity for Unitarians 1
    The Trinity for Unitarians - An Overview in 4 Parts by Rev. Tony Lorenzen pg. 1 The Trinity for Unitarians 1 – Overview and Method Method “You might say that Unitarianism has become dogmatic for us — the Trinity being something that a "good" UU simply cannot believe in because we are, by default, anti-Trinitarians. I'd suggest instead that UUs celebrate theological liberalism as a method rather than as a set of theological conclusions.” – Chris Walton, Editor UU World (in his blog “Philocrities”). “Christian Faith is the response to Jesus” not “getting back to the religion of Jesus.” The Trinity is part of that response as Jesus communities answer the question “How is God with us?” “When God is too close or too removed, humans take his place." Biblical Studies – historical critical method and the use of reason become the hallmark of anti-trinitarian theological method, yet many if not most of the Unitarian, Universalist and other “heretics” we encounter will use an “uncritical” approach to scripture in their justification for theological positions, even using “proof-texting” or citing scripture texts th uncritically to support their views, well into the 19 ​ century. ​ “Some of us UUs these days are just finding the Trinity a helpful metaphor and a window to God, however smudged.” – Rev. Tony Lorenzen Heresy/Hertics Heresy comes from a greek work meaning “to choose.” A heretic is someone who has not given up the right to choose what to think or what to believe. Heresy is measured in juxtaposition to orthodoxy or “right” thinking. Arianism - from Arius (256-336) north African priest (leader).
    [Show full text]
  • Bible Matters: the Scriptural Origins of American Unitarianism
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Vanderbilt Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive BIBLE MATTERS: THE SCRIPTURAL ORIGINS OF AMERICAN UNITARIANISM By LYDIA WILLSKY Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In Religion May, 2013 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor James P. Byrd Professor James Hudnut-Beumler Professor Kathleen Flake Professor Paul Lim Professor Paul Conkin TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………3 CHAPTER 1: WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING AND THE PASTORAL ROOTS OF UNITARIAN BIBLICISM………………………………………………………………………………..29 CHAPTER 2: WHAT’S “GOSPEL” IN THE BIBLE? ANDREWS NORTON AND THE LANGUAGE OF BIBLICAL TRUTH………………………………………...................................................77 CHAPTER 3: A PRACTICAL SPIRIT: FREDERIC HENRY HEDGE, THE BIBLE AND THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH…………………………………………………………………...124 CHAPTER 4: THE OPENING OF THE CANON: THEODORE PARKER AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF BIBLICAL AUTHORITY…………………………………………..168 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………...........................205 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………213 INTRODUCTION The New England Unitarians were a biblical people. They were not biblical in the way of their Puritan ancestors, who emulated the early apostolic Church and treated the Bible as a model for right living. They were a biblical people in the way almost every Protestant denomination of the nineteenth century
    [Show full text]
  • Emerson's Hidden Influence: What Can Spinoza Tell the Boy?
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Philosophy Honors Theses Department of Philosophy 6-15-2007 Emerson's Hidden Influence: What Can Spinoza Tell the Boy? Adam Adler Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/philosophy_hontheses Recommended Citation Adler, Adam, "Emerson's Hidden Influence: What Can Spinoza Tell the Boy?." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/philosophy_hontheses/2 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Philosophy at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EMERSON’S HIDDEN INFLUENCE: WHAT CAN SPINOZA TELL THE BOY? by ADAM ADLER Under the Direction of Reiner Smolinski and Melissa Merritt ABSTRACT Scholarship on Emerson to date has not considered Spinoza’s influence upon his thought. Indeed, from his lifetime until the twentieth century, Emerson’s friends and disciples engaged in a concerted cover-up because of Spinoza’s hated name. However, Emerson mentioned his respect and admiration of Spinoza in his journals, letters, lectures, and essays, and Emerson’s thought clearly shows an importation of ideas central to Spinoza’s system of metaphysics, ethics, and biblical hermeneutics. In this essay, I undertake a biographical and philosophical study in order to show the extent of Spinoza’s influence on Emerson and
    [Show full text]
  • 20659069.Pdf
    1 Don Quijote en Boston: el Quijote de George Ticknor ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ JIMÉNEZ URIOSAMENTE, UNO DE LOS críticos decimonónicos más influyentes en la difusión de ideas e interpretaciones sobre Cervantes y el CQuijote fue una persona que estrictamente no podemos clasificar como cervantista. El bostoniano George Ticknor le dedicó a Cervantes tres capítulos de su History of Spanish Literature (1849), una obra panorámica que alcanzó gran difusión y éxito en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. Por ejemplo, en una reedición neoyorkina de 1900, el Quijote viene precedido “de un ensayo histórico sobre la vida y escritos de Cervantes por el doctor Jorge Ticknor, autor de Historia de la literatura española,ʺ que fue tomado “con permiso del autor de su interesante obra en tres tomos titulada Historia de la literatura española, y traducida al castellano por los señores Pascual de Gayangos y Enrique de Vedia. Madrid, Imprenta de Rivade‐ neira, 1852” (v). Gracias a esta pionera y exitosa History of Spanish Literature, Ticknor contribuyó decisivamente a formar lecturas posteriores del Quijote tanto en el mundo hispánico —a través de su temprana traducción al español— como, especialmente, en el angloparlante. M.F. Heisler y Anthony Close ya han notado la importancia de Ticknor, y han analizado breve pero perceptivamente los capítulos cervantistas del crítico de Boston. Close ha subrayado la importancia de la History of Spanish Literature de Ticknor al reconocerla como “the literary history which did most to introduce Spanish literature to the English‐ speaking world in the nineteenth century” (43). Según Close, Ticknor difundió en esta obra una versión moderada de la visión romántica del Quijote.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry Larcom Abbot 1831-1927
    NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS VOLUME XIII FIRST MEMOIR BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF HENRY LARCOM ABBOT 1831-1927 BY CHARLES GREELEY ABBOT PRESENTED TO THE ACADEMY AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1929 HENRY LARCOM ABBOT 1831-1927 BY CHARGES GREKLEY ABBOT Chapter I Ancestry Henry Larcom Abbot, Brigadier General, Corps of Engi- neers, U. S. Army, member of the National Academy of Sciences, was born at Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts, August 13, 1831. He died on October 1, 1927, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 96 years. He traced his descent in the male line from George Abbot, said to be a native of Yorkshire, England, who settled at Andover, Massachusetts, in the year 1642. Through early intermarriage, this line is closely con- nected with that of the descendants of George Abbott of Row- ley, Essex County, Massachusetts. The Abbots of Andover were farmers, highly respected by their townsmen, and often intrusted with elective office in town, church, and school affairs. In the fifth generation, de- scended through John, eldest son of George Abbot of An- dover,1 Abiel Abbot, a great-grandfather of General Abbot, removed from Andover to settle in Wilton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, in the year 1763. He made his farm from the wilderness on "Abbot Hill" in the southern part of the township. Having cleared two acres and built a two-story house and barn, he married Dorcas Abbot and moved into the house with his bride before the doors were hung, in November, 1764. They had thirteen children, of whom the fourth, Ezra Abbot, born February 8, 1772, was grandfather to our propo- s^tus.
    [Show full text]
  • William Hickling Prescott, 1844
    After Richard Saltonstall Greenough, William Hickling Prescott, 1844. H. 29 5/16 in. x W. 15 ​ ​ 3/8 in. (74.5 x 45.7 cm). Plaster, Gift of Mrs. Moses B. Lockwood, 1865. This magisterial portrait of the American historian, William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859), portrays a Victorian man of letters in the toga of a Roman senator. Though not one of the original set of ten plaster busts donated to the Athenaeum by James Phalen in 1840, it complements this group while expanding its circle to include an American writer. This bust is a plaster copy of the original, sculpted by Richard Saltonstall Greenough, which the Boston Athenaeum has in its permanent collection. Greenough has sculpted William Hickling Prescott resembling the busts of the Roman elite; a traditional Roman toga gracefully drapes over his shoulders while his head turns to the right as he gazes out into the distance. Prescott’s face is represented as relaxed and softened, perhaps reflecting his charming and charismatic personality, which his close friend and biographer, 1 George Ticknor, writes about in his book Life of William H. Prescott. Though Prescott suffered ​ ​ from failing eyesight due to an incident at Harvard University, where he studied Greek and Latin, Greenough does not allude to this. Unlike the James Phalen bust of Homer within the Athenaeum’s collection – whose filmy eyes emphasize Homer’s blindness – Greenough’s rendering of Prescott does not emphasize his handicap. However, perhaps the most distinguishable characteristic of Greenough’s bust of Prescott is the juxtaposition of Prescott’s Victorian sideburns against his classical features, such as his toga.
    [Show full text]