When Jeremy Belknap and seven associates met in Boston on January 24, 1791, to establish the Massachusetts Historical Society, there was nothing like it anywhere in North America. Belknap, concerned that accident and carelessness were jeopardizing America's documentary heritage, proposed an organization to provide a secure repository for rare manuscripts and printed works and a publication program to "multiply the copies" of these valuable items. The Society that eight Boston gentlemen created that evening was the first institution anywhere for "the collection and preservation of materials for a political and natural history of the United States". The Massachusetts Historical Society: A Bicentennial History, 1791-1991, is a candid and detailed account of this remarkable institution's first two centuries. Despite its location and its name, the Society has never been a provincial institution, dedicated to chronicling the story of a single city or state. Through its incomparable library and publications, as well as through the writings of such illustrious members as Belknap, Francis Parkman, William Hickling Prescott, Samuel Eliot Morison, and scores of modern scholars, the Society has been - and continues to be - a profound influence on the study of a nation's history.

Includes Part 1A: Books and Part 1B: Pamphlets, Serials and Contributions to Periodicals

This volume is designed as a general reference tool for the study of the history of Massachusetts. The only book of its type, the volume focuses largely on local history, emphasizing the new social history, and containing biographies of leading figures. Since Massachusetts history and U.S. history largely intertwined during the colonial and early national period, the book provides information on trends in early American history, and provides scholars and other interested readers with an up-to-date summary of major works and important interpretations of each period and of relevant themes, such as urban history, women in history, and oral history.

Critically acclaimed compilation includes writings by William Bradford, Increase Mather, William Hubbard, Anne Bradstreet, and other influential figures. "The best selection ever made of Puritan literature." — historian Samuel Eliot Morison.