Antiquarians and Archaeologists: The American Antiquarian Society 1812-1912 WILLIAM L. JOYCE IN OCTOBER 1912 the American Antiquarian Society com- memorated its centennial anniversary with a day of gala fes- tivities. The celebration was highlighted by the appearance of the president ofthe United States, William Howard Taft, who was featured speaker at a dinner that concluded the day's events. A local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram, noted proudly that the Society was 'rounding out 100 years of activity that have placed it in the foremost rank ofthe world's institutions.'^ By 1912, the Society had become a vastly different institu- tion from that founded by Isaiah Thomas and his colleagues a century before. At the time of its founding in 1812, AAS had no permanent facility and was based in the home of its founder. Moreover, it had no collections until Thomas donated his li- brary a year later. Thomas and his colleagues planned not only to acquire literary collections, but to maintain a cabinet—or museum—as well. The desiderata of the Society were initially described by Thomas in 1813: The chief objects of the enquiries and researches of this society will be American Antiquities, natural, artificial and literary; not, however, excluding those of other countries. . . . Among the articles of deposit, books of every description, in- An earlier version of this essay was read at a session of the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists held in September 1980 at Cincinnati, Ohio. ' H^orcester Telegram, October 27, 1912, p. 1. 301 302 American Antiquarian Society eluding pamphlets and magazines, especially those which were early printed either in South or North America; files of News- papers of former times, or of the present day, are particularly desirable—as are specimens, with written accounts respecting them, of fossils, handicrafts ofthe Aborigines, &c. Manuscripts, ancient and modern, on interesting subjects, particularly those which give accounts of remarkable events, discoveries, or the de- scription of any part of the continent.^ The purposes of AAS included not only the collection of lit- erary documents, but also 'specimens' such as fossils and 'ab- origine handicrafts.' Indeed, a major function of collected lit- erary documents was to describe specimens, the circumstances under which they were found, and what their significance might have been. In any case, the Society soon began collecting both library materials and a comprehensive 'cabinet.' The study of the ancient Indian nations ofthe American continent also soon attracted the attention of AAS members, and the Society also became an important sponsor and disseminator of American archaeological research.^ By the occasion of its centennial, however, the chief activity of AAS had become the support and management of a research library specializing in early American printed documents. The Society's library contained over 100,000 volumes, in addition to newspapers, countless pamphlets, and some 35,000 manu- scripts. The collection of early American nev^^spapers was ri- valed only by those of the Library of Congress and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, while the collection of pre- 1820 American imprints was judged to be preeminent. The Society also maintained collections of almanacs, annual reports of voluntary associations, printed railroad and canal documents, ^ An Account of the American Antiquarian Society (Boston: Isaiah Thomas, 1813), reprinted in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 1812-1849 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1912), pp. 17-18 (hereafter Proceedings of AAS 1812- 1849). 3 Ibid., pp. 9, 33. The first expression of this interest in Indians was stated by William Jenks in his address to the Society on the occasion of its first annual meeting. Ibid., pp. 25-38. Antiquarians and Archaeologists 303 and 'dozens of other reports which no other library in the coun- try attempts to preserve in a comprehensive way.''* In his first librarian's report, written in 1909, Clarence Saunders Brigham (who was to remain as librarian, then director, until his retire- ment in 1959 ) stressed development of the early American im- prints collection. He also observed that the Society's new building ( the third—and present—Antiquarian Hall had been occupied in early 1910) would permit AAS to expand its col- lection of manuscripts. 5 But the cabinet had been dispersed, and the sponsorship of archaeological expeditions had ceased. AAS had become essentially a research library. What accounted for this remarkably expansive initial per- ception of the purposes and objects of the Society.'' How and why did the Society's goals come to be more sharply focused by the time of the Society's centennial celebration? Why did the Society choose to close its museum and disperse its artifacts? What kinds of source materials were collected? Why? What can the history of a repository such as AAS tell us about the evolution of American culture in the nineteenth century? The answers to these questions may help to begin to provide us with greater understanding of the origins and development in the nineteenth century not only of AAS, but of other reposi- tories as well. This essay outlines in preliminary fashion how the changes at AAS may also reflect patterns of change that in- fluenced other American learned societies and scholarly activi- ties throughout much of the nineteenth century. As the AAS petitioners stated to the Massachusetts General Court when they applied for incorporation, the Society's 'im- mediate and peculiar design is to discover the antiquities of our own Continent, and by providing a fixed, and permanent place of deposit, to preserve such relics of American Antiquity as are * Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society (hereafter Proceedings of AAS) 23(1913):6. 5 Proceedings of AAS 20( 1909-10) :4O-52. 304 American Antiquarian Society portable, as well as to collect and preserve those of other parts of the Globe.'^ 'Antiquities,' vaguely defined as ancient relics or remains of unspecified age, were regarded less as source materials than as surviving historical remnants. By reason of their very survival, however, such antiquities were thought to have something valuable to contribute to the knowledge of citizens of the nation. Most early American learned societies—as diverse as they were—were dedicated to supporting a social order that stemmed from a religious faith linking knowledge of nature with adherence to God's will. They did so primarily by col- lecting literary documents, maintaining museums, and pub- lishing reports of the latest discoveries. Knowledge of the nat- ural order was eagerly sought after and natural phenomena were closely observed in the effort to discern laws. Members of America's learned societies supported one another in their ef- fort to collect and classify flora and fauna, to map the terrain, to describe and measure the climate and its effect on human health. Natural history specimens served as nonverbal transmittors of information, and, collectively, formed a memory bank for the expeditions that gathered them. Interested Americans cor- responded with knowledgeable members of European soci- eties who endowed the American activities with intellectual meaning.' Members of early American learned societies were in fact actively involved in the intellectual controversy that had raged unabated on both sides of the Atlantic for 150 years. The de- bate, skillfully recounted by the Italian historian Antonello « Isaiah Thomas et al., 'Petition to the Legislature of Massachusetts,' December 3, 1812, reprinted in Proceedings of AAS 1812-1849, p. 2. ' A. Hunter Dupree, 'The National Pattern of American Learned Societies, 1769- 1863,' in Tbe Pursuit of Knowledge in the Early American Republic: American Learned and Scientific Societies from Colonial Times to tlx Civil ff^ar, ed. Sanborn C. Brown and Alex- andra Oleson (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), p. 25; Barbara Gut- man Rosenkrantz, 'Early American Learned Societies as Informants on Our Past: Some Conclusions and Suggestions for further Researcii,' ibid., p. 345. See also Alexandra Oleson, 'Introduction: To Build a New Intellectual Order,' ibid., p. xvii. Antiquarians and Archaeologists 305 Gerbi, centered around the 'notion of the presumed inferiority of the nature of America, and especially its fauna, including man, in comparison with the Old World's, and the resulting unavoidable decadence and corruption to which the whole Western Hemisphere found itself condemned.'^ From its orig- inal comprehensive statement by BufFon in the middle of the eighteenth century, the idea was advanced by various Euro- pean thinkers, refuted, and recast with different emphases by DePauw, Hegel, and others until the debate was trivialized in the late nineteenth century and its arguments shown to contain serious deficiencies.^ Until its demise, however, this debate shaped the activity of learned societies on both sides of the At- lantic. It was a factor in the growth and development of the American Antiquarian Society. Americans participated enthusiastically in the progress of an argument that was marked by observations regarding the di- versity and size of American flora and fauna, by reports mea- suring the American climate and its effects on humans, and, most especially, by investigations into the size, strength, and physical and cultural accomplishments of Amerindians. The major means by which this knowledge was generated and re- ported in America was the reports and observations of early American learned societies. Such observations were congenial with the Linnaean system of classification, based upon easily observed physical characteristics and agreement on principles of nomenclature. These straightforward procedures enabled many Americans to refer to themselves as 'natural historians' because such knowledge was readily accessible through ob- servation, i" Moreover, the learned societies functioned as 8 Antonello Gerbi, The Dispute of the J^ew JVorld: The History of a Polemic, 1750- 1900, rev. ed., trans. Jeremy Moyle (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973), p. xi. ' Gerbi, Dispute of tbe JVew Pf^orld, pp. xv-xviii and passim. ^° George H. Daniels, American Science in the Age of Jackson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), p. 38. In the early nineteenth century, the term 'natural his- tory' included the contemporary disciplines of botany, zoology, mineralogy, geology, and paleontology. Ibid., p. 238 n. 35. 306 American Antiquarian Society information networks and museums; they supported the com- munications structures that compensated for the lack of a na- tional center of learning by promoting the dissemination of knowledge. Americans also believed they were pursuing information important for the conduct of life. Certainly, Charles Willson Peale founded his museum in 1786 not only for scientists ofthe period, but also for the great majority of his countrymen, as he attempted a visual recreation of Linnaeus's Systema JVaturae and placed his specimens in their natural habitats rather than against plain white paper, ii Even the early statements ofthe Massachusetts Historical Society discuss observations and de- scriptions in natural history and topography as well as the dis- play of specimens of natural and artificial relics.12 These activi- ties were designed not only to report the results of research, but also to educate the public and provide knowledge about the advanced development of New World flora and fauna. Such de- velopment demonstrated the benign environment of the New World and predicted glorious results for the American repub- lican experiment. The American emphasis on the value of learning led early AAS members to collect a bewildering array of materials for its library and cabinet. These 'antiquities' were thought to be valuable manifestations of New World vitality and fecundity and included literary materials (such as books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, almanacs, and manuscripts) and mu- seum objects (such as coins, fossils, palm leaves, arrowheads and other Indian artifacts, including the 'iron hatchets' found near a burial place of Onondaga Indians). Later, the Society's " Rosenkrantz, 'Early American Learned Societies as Informants,' pp. 347-48; Charles Coleman Sellers, 'Peale's Museum and "The New Museum Idea," ' Proceed- ings ofthe American Philosophical Society 124( 1980) :25, 27. 12 Walter Muir Whitehill, 'Early Learned Societies in Boston and Vicinity,' in Pursuit of Knowledge in Early America, pp. 163-64. Antiquarians and Archaeologists 307 museum acquired art objects, notably statuary, including an enormous reproduction of Michelangelo's Moses.'^^ Except for Moses, these objects helped elucidate issues ar- gued over by participants in Gerbi's 'New World Dispute.' An incorporator of AAS, the Rev. William Jenks, observed in 1815 in the first anniversary address: 'Wedded to systems, and not always disposed to undergo the labour necessary to ascer- tain their truth, European writers have contented themselves too frequently with vague reports and slight resemblances. Hence their reasoning has been deceptive, and their results false. Yet the misrepresentations, which have been made by DePauw and Buifon ... have happily excited able replies, from mature examination of facts.'i"* Jenks believed that the Society should undertake three fields of inquiry: the ancient Indian nations; the 'Western Mounds' of Indians in the Ohio Valley ( this was later extended to the Mississippi Valley and, still later, to Central America, espe- cially the Yucatan); and the early European settlements.^^ These investigations, he reasoned, would belie the claims of the New World's European detractors. The Society actively sponsored research and published re- ports pertaining to 'aboriginal history.' Because of its support of the work of Caleb Atwater on Indian mounds in Ohio, and that of Increase Allen Lapham on mounds in Wisconsin, and that of Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis on Indian monuments in the Mississippi Valley, the Society was a major sponsor of American archaeological and ethnological re- search. Moreover, additional research on Indian languages and other aspects of Indian culture was reported in AAS publica- " Proceedings of AAS 1812-1849, p. 490; Clifford K. Shipton, 'The Museum of the American Antiquarian Society,' in Whitfield J. Bell et al., A Cabinet of Curiosities: Five Episodes in tbe Evolution of American Museums (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1967), pp. 37-38. 1" 'Address by Rev. William Jenks,' in Proceedings of AAS 1812-1849, pp. 34-55. >5 Ibid., pp. 25-38; Rosenkrantz, 'Early American Learned Societies as Informants,' p. 348; Walter Muir Whitehill, Independent Historical Societies (Boston: Boston Athe- n»um, 1962), pp. 68-70. 308 American Antiquarian Society tions.1Ö Indeed, as late as 1903-4, the Society's Proceedings in- cluded only four articles, all of which dealt with aspects of American Indian civilization: 'The Contributions of the Amer- ican Indian to Civilization,' 'Algonquian Language and Liter- ature—Report by the Committee of Publication,' 'Myths and Superstitions of the Oregon Indians,' and 'Aboriginal Lan- guages of North America,' by then AAS Vice-President Ed- ward Everett Hale, a Worcester minister better known as the author of The Man without a Country. In addition to a 'respectable cabinet to consist chiefly of ab- original curiosities,' it was the Society's purpose to 'secure suf- ficient aid and patronage from a liberal public to establish a useful library.!' By donating the library with which he wrote in 1810 his acclaimed—and still useful—History of Printing in America, Isaiah Thomas provided the Society with the base upon which his successors have built the remarkable research library that has become the principal work of AAS. Unlike the relatively specialized collections that now consti- tute the Society's holdings, however, the early efforts at collec- tion development were quite diffuse. In addition to the Soci- ety's early American source materials, there were also a large number of English and European books, serials, and pamphlets donated to the Society, as well as prints of European lumi- naries, and manuscripts such as an illuminated leaf of a four- teenth-century French book of hours. In collecting source materials. Society officials reflected little understanding of the distinction between research institutions and collectors. After favoring the Society with gifts of the John Bradstreet Papers, the Joseph Lancaster Papers, the Philip John Schuyler letterbook, and other valuable books, pam- phlets, and manuscripts, the Rev. William Buell Sprague pres- as Proceedings of AAS (October 1849):7-8. Indeed, not until 1850 did AAS pub- lish anything regarding research on European settlements in the New World. See Marcus A. McCorison, 'Humanistic Societies in Early America," in Pursuit of Know- ledge in the Early American Republic, p. 258. " AAS Proceedings, 1812-1840, p. 526. Antiquarians and Archaeologists 309 sured Librarian Samuel Foster Haven for autographs in ex- change: 'Will you allow me to make one suggestion to you in confidence} When [it'} occurred to me that if I could have the privilege of looking thro' Mr. Thomas' correspondence, so far as mainly to look at the name and nothing more, I should find many things probably which you might be wiUing to spare and which would be very important to my purpose.'^^ Haven evi- dently agreed to accommodate Sprague's request because Sprague wrote Haven again a few weeks later: 'I need not say how much I feel obliged to you for your kind efforts to gratify me in respect to pamphlets and autographs and especially for the permission which your letter contains for my looking over some time hence the papers of Mr. Thomas. I am quite sure that I should find there many things which I should consider of great value which yet would be of little or no importance to the objects of your Institution.'^^ There was also little awareness of the distinction between private and public records, and the appropriate repository for each. As early as 1816, the Society wrote to the Worcester District Court to ask if an 'old book respecting land titles' could be transferred to AAS, now that 'it was no longer useful to the court.'20 The Society also acquired a letterbook of Jonathan Belcher while he was colonial governor of New Jersey; the volume contained both private and official correspondence, but was transferred to the Massachusetts Historical Society 'to re- store the volume to the original series.' Evidently no thought was given to directing the volume to the custody of the state of New Jersey.2i In collecting such materials, moreover, there was a poorly developed link between developing collections and serving scholarship. Before the first Antiquarian Hall was opened in '8 William Buell Sprague to Samuel Foster Haven, May 26, 1846, AAS Records. " William Buell Sprague to Samuel Foster Haven, June 18, 1846, AAS Records. 20 Proceedings of AAS 1812-1849, pp. 99-100 n. 1. 2' Ibid., pp. 221, 353 n. 1. 310 American Antiquarian Society 1820, the Society's collections were housed in the home of Isa- iah Thomas. Arrangements to use the collections were, of course, made with Thomas. After the hall was opened, the So- ciety's Councillors took turns staffing the facility to provide tours for those who wanted them. Finally, in the early 1820s, the cabinet was closed and the library was also made unavail- able to all but 'literary characters' because the burden was too great for local Councillors to bear. When Christopher Colum- bus Baldwin was hired in 1826, the library was opened from 10 to 1 and from 2 to 5 p.m. which, by the standards of the period, was generous access indeed.22 Physical access for readers only highlighted, however, the lack of intellectual access to the Society's holdings. Printed cat- alogues were the rule before the late nineteenth century, and the Society's only catalogue was published in 1837. Location symbols were added in 1841.23 Publication of the catalogue did not resolve the question of control of manuscripts or of other difficult-to-manage materials such as pamphlets, broadsides, and prints. Indeed, by the 1850s, Society Councillor Ira Moore Barton noted that the library had doubled in size and that an- other catalogue was needed. Moreover, the systematic ar- rangement, preservation, and cataloguing of pamphlets, news- papers, broadsides, and rare books was regularly praised as a goal, even if progress towards its fulfillment was uncertain. The needs of the Society's readers also began to find their way into the pages of the Proceedings.'^'^ Though actively engaged for more than a half century in the collection of materials for the study of early American history and culture, and indeed that of archaeological investigation as well, the Society, like its colleague institutions of the period, 22 Shipton, 'Museum of AAS,' p. 39. 23 Proceedings of AAS 1812-1849, p. 422. ^* Proceedings of AAS (April 1855):2; ibid. (April 1857):5-6; ibid. (October 1859):20-24; ibid. (October 1872):12-17. The first substantial description that pro- vides an overview of the Society's holdings appeared ibid. (April 1873): 14-56. The descriptive categories were 'manuscripts,' 'books,' 'Bibles,' 'newspapers,' and 'Cabinet.'