Massachusetts Historical Society
| Massachusetts Historical Society Building | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| National Historic Landmark | |||
 The building in 2008 |
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| location | Boston , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 20 '47 " N , 71 ° 5' 26" W | ||
| surface | 0.25 acres (0.1 ha ) | ||
| Built | 1899 | ||
| architect | Edmund M. Wheelwright | ||
| Architectural style | Georgian Revival | ||
| NRHP number | 66000770 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | October 15, 1966 | ||
| Declared as an NHL | December 21, 1965 | ||
The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is the oldest historical society of the United States and is headquartered in Boston in the state of Massachusetts . The Society's building has been a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places since the 1960s .
History and historical significance
The Massachusetts Historical Society, founded in 1791, aims to collect, preserve and publish historical material - especially manuscripts . Today her collection includes historically valuable documents, drawings, paintings and museum pieces ranging from Paul Revere's silverware to the epaulettes that George Washington wore in Yorktown. The total value of the collection is estimated at several million US dollars .
The founding of the MHS goes back largely to Reverend Jeremy Belknap , who was working on a book on the history of New Hampshire in the 1780s . This led him to believe that records must be kept in order to be preserved for posterity. On August 26, 1790, he met with some friends to talk about the establishment of a correspondingly established history association. On January 24, 1791, the society was founded as the "Historical Society" and renamed when it was registered in 1794 in "Massachusetts Historical Society".
Belknap had already started collecting manuscripts and records before the MHS was founded. He persuaded Paul Revere to document his midnight ride in writing, bought manuscripts collected from Jonathan Trumbull , and acquired selected books and manuscripts from John Hancock . Belknap also wanted to acquire the estate of Samuel Adams , but died before him. Even so, Belknap's collection formed a solid basis for the work of the MHS. As early as 1792, the MHS began to present its collection to the public.
Collections
The Massachusetts Historical Society's collection includes:
- Family records of Second President of the United States, John Adams, with materials by and about Abigail Adams , Charles Francis Adams, Sr. , John Quincy Adams , Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams , Charles Francis Adams, Jr., and Henry Adams , including the handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence of the United States by John Adams
- Materials by and about Thomas Jefferson , including his copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Coolidge Collection , which contains several thousand pages of his correspondence, records from his residence in Monticello, Virginia, and over 400 architectural drawings .
- Around 12,000 biographies and more than 10,000 documents on local history, including John Dunlap's first edition of the Declaration of Independence on 4/5. July 1776. Papers by John Winthrop on the settlement of New England and notes of negotiations with French Canada by Francis Parkman are also preserved .
- Paintings and objets d'art by John Singleton Copley , Sarah Goodridge , Chester Harding , Alonzo Hartwell , Samuel Stillman Osgood , John Smibert , Thomas Ball , Richard Saltonstall Greenough , Henry Dexter and Hiram Powers .
Massachusetts Historical Review has been published since 1999 .
architecture
The three-story building was built in 1899 by Edmund M. Wheelwright for MHS at Boylston Street / Fenway in Boston in the style of the Georgian Revival . The Back Bay Fens are very close by . It is the seventh and, to date, the last building in which the MHS is based.
Outdoor areas
The first floor of the building consists of granite - stone , while the upper floors of yellow bricks were built with elements of granite. The outer yokes are curved outwards on the front. The single-storey entrance is in the middle, and above it is a balcony with an iron railing. There is also a balcony on the second floor, but with a granite balustrade . The doors to the balconies are framed with corner stones and are spanned by an arch with fighters and a keystone .
The roof line is driven by a with rosettes and tooth section decorated cornice marked. Above it runs a railing that consists of alternating balustrades and massive sections. Further decorative elements are fluted pilasters of the Ionic order , various window decorations , floral festoon elements and iron balconies also decorated with floral motifs on the windows on the first floor.
Indoor areas
Inside, the external appearance is continued. The ceiling of the entrance hall, which is largely made of marble , is vaulted and supported by columns from the Doric order . The main staircase, also made of marble, has an iron railing and leads to the upper floors on the south side of the building. Reading rooms and offices are located on the ground floor, while the first and second floors are dominated by exhibition rooms. In addition, there are library and work rooms that continue up to the second floor and a rear annex that was built in 1971.
See also
literature
- Polly M. Rettig: National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form. (PDF) National Park Service , June 12, 1975, accessed May 10, 2017 .
Web links
- Massachusetts Historical Society Building in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
- Official website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 11, 2019.
- ↑ a b c cf. Rettig, p. 3.
- ↑ a b c d cf. Rettig, p. 2.