Although now a full-time employee of AAS, my love for the Society began years before I started working here when it first introduced me to the thrill of researching in an archive. As a senior History major at the College of the Holy Cross, I was introduced to AAS by my thesis advisor, who suggested ...
Leicester Academy, List of Students, 1812-1817. Leicester Academy was founded in 1784 in Leicester, Massachusetts, and functioned as a private, co-educational institution until 1921, when it was leased to the town to be used as a public high school. This volume, containing a list of students, will be added to the already substantial collection of school ...
For the first time ever, the extensive 1880s-era correspondence between Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan and Sullivan’s mentor at Perkins School for the Blind, Michael Anagnos, are available online. An unusual collaboration between the American Antiquarian Society and Perkins (www.perkinsarchives.org) harnesses the power of social media to create a revealing new online exhibit that ...
Huse, Jonathan, Papers, 1795-1842. Jonathan Huse (1767-1853) was born in Methuen, Massachusetts and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1788. In 1795 he became minister of the Congregational church in Warren, Maine. In the late 1820s a growing number of members of his congregation became interested in Hopkinsianism and a movement began to form a second ...
The town of Oakham had a rich theater scene in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It seemed that every week there was a theater or musical piece being presented in the Oakham Memorial Town Hall. In organizing the 250th anniversary celebrations of Oakham in 2012 I was given the responsibility to find ...
Fitch’s Geography for Beginners, ca. 1850-1858. This handwritten textbook of geography is something of a mystery. Heavily illustrated with original drawings and images clipped from publications, the text is divided into lessons with topics such as “About Travelling,” “About the Surface of the Earth,” “About Animals,” and “About Trees and Plants.” The title, Fitch’s Geography… suggests ...
Winsor, George Jr., Ledger, 1845-1868 George Winsor, Jr. (1790-1880) lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and married Hannah Delano in 1817. Winsor was a captain of merchant vessels, including the Delano and the brig United States. This ledger begins in 1845 with the accounts of Enoch Train & Co. and Augustus Hemenway. These pages show entries such ...
Apothecary and General Merchandise Ledger, 1859-1863 This ledger belonged to an unknown apothecary and general store owner in Vermont. The volume is arranged chronologically and lists daily notes and transactions for the business. A very active business is illustrated in this volume, with many transactions happening each day. Entries include items sold and prices, including ...
Parsons, Aaron. Daybook, 1848-1851. Aaron Parsons was a blacksmith and tinsmith in Stafford Springs, CT. His daybook chronologically records his business transactions from February 1848 through November 1851. Most concern the repair and restoration of metal ware, including items such as tea kettles, coffee pots, lead pipes, pumps, cylinders, milk pans, lamps, oven, and boilers, to ...
Parsons, Aaron. Daybook, 1848-1851. Aaron Parsons was a blacksmith and tinsmith in Stafford Springs, CT. His daybook chronologically records his business transactions from February 1848 through November 1851. Most concern the repair and restoration of metal ware, including items such as tea kettles, coffee pots, lead pipes, pumps, cylinders, milk pans, lamps, oven, and boilers, to ...
With AAS’s annual Adopt-A-Book event right around the corner (read about last year’s event here), I thought I'd share another collection that will be up for adoption in April. The Sawyer brothers lived in Manchester, New Hampshire in the mid 19th century. Brothers Joseph and Henry enjoyed life in the bustling city, and loved sharing their ...
On this day 150 years ago, Martha LeBaron Goddard (1829-1888) wrote the letter transcribed below to her friend Mary Ware Allen Johnson. Her letters, composed over the years of the Civil War (of which the AAS has about 30), describe one woman’s response and ways of intersecting with the world (and war) around her. This letter ...
Recently I’ve been going through some newly acquired diaries in our manuscript collection. Randomly reading diary entries can prove to be very entertaining. Sure, you could end up reading page after page of daily weather, or recaps of Sunday sermons, but once in a while you’ll find a gem. Because so many diaries are straightforward ...
So the Old Colony Cake didn’t turn out too bad! While the ingredients were identical to traditional cake recipes, the ratios were a bit different. The result was very thick batter and a dense cake, but the lemon added a much needed bright flavor. Not sure which way to add the lemon, I added both ...
With winter upon us, and snow (finally!) on the ground, I thought it would be a good time to fire up the old hearth, so to speak, and return to some historic recipes. This time around, I decided to explore our manuscript cookbook collection. These handwritten recipes include as much variety as one would find ...
