January 2010
On 24 January 1791, 牧师杰里米·贝尔纳普邀请了九位志趣相投的波士顿人加入他的行列，创造了他们称之为简单的, "The Historical Society,现在是马萨诸塞州历史学会——美国最古老的致力于收集美国历史研究材料的组织. Ten months later, on 1 November 1791, Belknap drafted the Circular Letter, of the Historical Society, 他在会上宣布了新社会的成立和目标, as well as soliciting donations for its library. 他在《利记APP官网手机版》中提出的“使命宣言”(尽管贝尔纳普不会用这个词) Circular Letter, "to collect, preserve, and communicate, materials for a complete history of this country,两个多世纪以来基本保持不变.
The Circular Letter, a three-page pamphlet on a single folded sheet, announces the creation of the Historical Society, defines its function, and solicits contributions of historical, ethnographic, 来自公众的统计信息分为14类:城镇历史, the devastations of war, the development of new towns, the history of local churches, biographical anecdotes, topographical data, the state of agriculture and civic improvements, 印第安人和他们现在的状态的历史证据, vital statistics, metrological records, bills of mortality, the development of commerce, modes of education, and, as a catch-all, remarkable events. As a postscript, Belknap requested "any books, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps or plans which may conduce to the accomplishment of the views of the Society; and any natural or artificial productions which may enlarge its museum."
In the Circular Letter, Belknap also announced that the American Apollo, 波士顿的一份周报将公布协会的调查结果. 出版仍然是协会记录美国历史的核心任务, 两者都是为了传达“人类智慧和勤奋的所有宝贵努力”, from the beginning of its settlement," but also for preservation; as Belknap noted in his founding address to his fellow members, “没有确定的方法来保存历史记录和材料, but by multiplying the copies."
杰里米·贝尔纳普1744年出生于波士顿，毕业于哈佛大学. 他成为一名公理会牧师，定居在多佛, New Hampshire, in 1767, where during nineteen years of service, he found time to write a three-volume History of New Hampshire. 在他的研究中，贝尔纳普表现出了对原始资料进行检查的顽强决心. Working in relative isolation in rural New Hampshire, 他在很大程度上依赖于一个广泛的通讯员网络的合作，以查找和核实他的信息 History that covered not only exploration, and military and political history, 还有花岗岩州的地理和自然历史, and the manners and customs of the inhabitants, including Native Americans. After the outbreak of the American Revolution, 贝尔纳普前往波士顿周围的围城线采访并收集有关战斗如何开始的信息.
Jeremy Belknap returned to Boston in 1787, 在那里他成为了朗巷教堂的牧师——现在的阿灵顿街教堂. In the metropolis of New England, among men who shared his antiquarian interests, 贝尔纳普开始将他在新罕布什尔州发展起来的历史研究概念和程序应用到更广阔的舞台上. As he wrote to Ebenezer Hazard in 1795, 马萨诸塞州历史学会(Massachusetts Historical Society)的一句名言是:“没有什么比拥有一个好的资料库和保持良好的观察力更好的了。, not waiting at home for things to fall into the lap, but prowling about like a wolf for the prey." Before his death in 1798, 通过他自己的贡献和他请求的礼物, 贝尔纳普为历史学会非凡的当代收藏奠定了坚实的基础. 他还担任过MHS的第一任通讯秘书, 并通过通函的修订和扩充版本, 试图将新组织成立的消息及其宗旨“传达给美洲大陆和岛屿上的每一位科学先生”.”
After 219 years, 马萨诸塞州历史学会仍然忠实于其创始人提出的使命:“收集”, preserve, 并传播促进马萨诸塞州和国家历史研究的材料."
The Circular Letter, of the Historical Society 标志着MHS网站上的第100个“月度目标”， www.gurgaonpropertysale.com. To browse a list of previous objects, please see the Object of the Month Archive. Every month since August 2001, with the exception of a two-month hiatus in 2007, MHS staff members and, occasionally, “客座主持人”从收藏中选择一件手稿或手工艺品进行在线展览. 而一些“物品”是著名的历史文献或艺术品, others demonstrate the range of materials in the Society’s collections; call attention to an exhibition or program to be held at the Society; or highlight a recent acquisition. At the time of the founding of the MHS, 杰里米·贝尔纳普还对开发一个“珍品柜”感兴趣，通过展示不寻常的或“奇怪的”人造和自然历史物品，向公众介绍美国历史. 本月的物品也一直忠实于这一目的- MHS网站上虚拟文物展览的原始标题是“来自我们的橱柜”，偶尔选择的物品通过展示收藏中的异国情调甚至异想天开的物品来反映这一原始目的.
Belknap, Jeremy. "历史学会对公众的导言." Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Ser. 1, vol. 1 (1792), 2-4.
Tucker, Louis Leonard. 克利奥的配偶:杰里米·贝尔纳普和马萨诸塞州历史学会的成立. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1990.
Tucker, Louis Leonard. 马萨诸塞州历史学会:二百周年历史，1791-1991. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1996.
见证美国的过去:马萨诸塞州历史学会两个世纪的收藏. 波士顿:马萨诸塞州历史学会和美术博物馆，波士顿，1991.
