John Allan (February 26, 1777-November 19, 1863) was a Scottish-born American antiquarian.
Allan was born in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was a tenant farmer, and sent his son to a grammar school. After leaving school he worked on the farm, but, finding this labor uncongenial, he emigrated to New York in 1794, secured employment as a clerk or book-keeper, and speedily acquired a high reputation for industry and trustworthiness. He was book-keeper to Rich & Distrow, merchant tailors, for many years, and to his clerkship he added also the business of commission agent, and was at one time much employed as a house agent and collector of rents. By these various employments he secured a moderate independence. He married early in life, and occupied for a quarter of a century a house in Pearl Street. opposite Centre Street, the site of which is now part of the public street. In 1837 he removed to 17 Vandewater Street, where he resided until his death, and there found leisure for gratifying his taste for antiquarian research. In a room at his house his valuable and unique collection of pictures, books, autographs, and rare and curious articles, especially attractive to the antiquary and virtuoso, was frequently viewed by visitors to the city and by others. In this room, so garnished, he died. Mr. Allan's collection was sold at auction a short time after his death, and the total receipts amounted to $87,689.26. At that time but one of his children, a Mrs. Stewart, was living, and he had appointed her sole executrix of his estate. One of Mr. Allan's hobbies was a fancy for snuff-boxes, of which he had gathered a large and valuable collection. Another was illustrating such works as the Life of George Washington by Washington Irving and Robert Burns's Poems, which brought extremely high prices at his celebrated sale. See Duyckinck's "Memorial of John Allan," issued by the Bradford Club (New York, 1864).
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was one of the fireside poets from New England.
Robert Charles Winthrop was an American lawyer and philanthropist and one time Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a descendant of John Winthrop.
Mason Locke Weems, usually referred to as Parson Weems, was an American book agent and author who wrote the first biography of George Washington immediately after his death. He was the source of some of the apocryphal stories about Washington. The tale of the cherry tree is included in the fifth edition of The Life of Washington, a bestseller that depicted Washington's virtues and was intended to provide a morally instructive tale for the youth of the young nation.
James Lenox was an American bibliophile and philanthropist. His collection of paintings and books eventually became known as the Lenox Library and in 1895 became part of the New York Public Library.
Henry Stevens was a renowned American bibliographer.
The Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the home of noted American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for almost 50 years, and it had previously served as the headquarters of General George Washington (1775–76).
Isaiah Thomas was an American newspaper publisher and author. He performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Worcester, Massachusetts, and reported the first account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. He was the founder of the American Antiquarian Society.
Joseph Hunter was a Unitarian Minister, antiquarian, and deputy keeper of public records now best known for his publications Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York, the two-volume South Yorkshire , still considered among the best works written on the history of Sheffield and South Yorkshire, and his 1852 pamphlet on Robin Hood in which he argued that a servant of this name at the court of Edward II was identical with the famous outlaw. His name was adopted by the Hunter Archaeological Society.
John Sartain was an English-born American artist who pioneered mezzotint engraving in the United States.
The Poe Museum or the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, is a museum located in the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, United States, dedicated to American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Though Poe never lived in the building, it serves to commemorate his time living in Richmond. The museum holds one of the world's largest collections of original manuscripts, letters, first editions, memorabilia and personal belongings. The museum also provides an overview of early 19th century Richmond, where Poe lived and worked. The museum features the life and career of Poe by documenting his accomplishments with pictures, relics, and verse, and focusing on his many years in Richmond.
Evert Augustus Duyckinck was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York.
Sarah Helen Power Whitman was an American poet, essayist, transcendentalist, spiritualist and a romantic interest of Edgar Allan Poe.
Henry Ulke was an American photographer and portrait painter.
Jonathan Leavitt was a bookbinder who later co-founded the New York City publishing firm of Leavitt & Trow, one of the nation's first publishing houses. Leavitt was also co-founder of another early New York publishing house with his brother-in-law Daniel Appleton. George Palmer Putnam, who went on to found a New York publishing dynasty, received his first job from Leavitt. Eventually Jonathan Leavitt went into business on his own, and after his death the firm was run by his son George Ayres Leavitt.
Thomas Astle FRS FRSE FSA was an English antiquary and palaeographer.
John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder was an American missionary for the Moravian Church.
Mark Noble (1754–1827) was an English clergyman, biographer and antiquary.
Daniel Pinckney Parker (1781-1850) was a prominent merchant, shipbuilder, and businessman in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts.
Nathaniel Thayer II was a United States financier, philanthropist, and the father of John Eliot Thayer II, an amateur ornithologist.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). "ALLAN, John". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . New York: D. Appleton.
