Contains autograph manuscripts and photostatic reproductions of a book list, sermons, excerpts from his diary, and correspondence with Thomas Prince of Boston (1687-1758), the Congregational minister Peter Thatcher of Boston (d. 1739), and the Congregational minister Joseph Webb (1666-1732) concerning the Hollis professorship of Divinity at Harvard College. Also contains petitions on behalf of Harvard College to the Governor and General Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, and to the Lieutenant-Governor and Council of Massachusetts Bay.

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was America's most famous pastor and scholar at the beginning of the eighteenth century. People today generally associate him with the infamous Salem witch trials, but in this new biography Rick Kennedy tells a bigger story: Mather, he says, was the very first American evangelical. A fresh retelling of Cotton Mather's life, this biography corrects misconceptions and focuses on how he sought to promote, socially and intellectually, a biblical lifestyle. As older Puritan hopes in New England were giving way to a broader and shallower Protestantism, Mather led a populist, Bible-oriented movement that embraced the new century -- the beginning of a dynamic evangelical tradition that eventually became a major force in American culture. Incorporating the latest scholarly research but written for a popular audience, The First American Evangelical brings Cotton Mather and his world to life in a way that helps readers understand both the Puritanism in which he grew up and the evangelicalism he pioneered.

These guides to the microfilms entitled "The Mather papers" cover the filming of the papers of Cotton Mather (1663-1728), and the papers of his father, Increase Mather (1639-1823). The guides give summaries of the contents of each reel. Cotton Mather is famous as a clergyman involved with the witch trials in Massachusetts; he was also an intellectual, author, and scholar. His father, Increase Mather, was also a famous clergyman who served as president of Harvard College between 1685 and 1702. The microfilms of both sets of papers serve as original sources for genealogical and family history research, and also serve "... to disseminate widely important source material for the study of early New England history ..."--Introduction, pt. 2.