Prince Society

Last updated
PrinceSociety Boston.png

The Prince Society, or Prince Society for Mutual Publication, (1858-1944) in Boston, Massachusetts, published "rare works, in print or manuscript, relating to America." [1] It was named after Thomas Prince, fifth pastor of Old South Church in Boston. Historian Samuel Gardner Drake founded the society because he "had not been made a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and he resented it." [2] Officials of the Prince Society included William Sumner Appleton, John Ward Dean, Charles E. Goodspeed, Edmund F. Slafter, John Wingate Thornton, and William Henry Whitmore. [3] It operated from offices in Bromfield Street (ca.1868) [4] and Somerset Street (ca.1872, 1908). [5] [6] Around 1920 society members "realized at last that a publication society 'on the mutual principle' had become an anomaly in this day and generation." The society continued for several "years of poise before the final leap into the abyss" in 1944. [7]

Contents

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Andros</span> Colonial administrator in British America (1637–1714)

Sir Edmund Andros was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served as governor of the provinces of New York, East and West Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinando Gorges</span> English military commander (d. 1647)

Sir Ferdinando Gorges was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essex's Rebellion against the Queen, but escaped punishment by testifying against the main conspirators. His early involvement in English trade with and settlement of North America as well as his efforts in founding the Province of Maine in 1622 earned him the title of the "Father of English Colonization in North America," even though Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Eliot Morison</span> American historian, Navy officer (1887–1976)

Samuel Eliot Morison was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years. He won Pulitzer Prizes for Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942), a biography of Christopher Columbus, and John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1959). In 1942, he was commissioned to write a history of United States naval operations in World War II, which was published in 15 volumes between 1947 and 1962. Morison wrote the popular Oxford History of the American People (1965), and co-authored the classic textbook The Growth of the American Republic (1930) with Henry Steele Commager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theophilus Eaton</span> British merchant and politician c. 1590–1658

Theophilus Eaton was a wealthy New England Puritan merchant, diplomat and financier, who took part in organizing and financing the Great Puritan Migration to America. He was a founder of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a founder and eventual governor of New Haven Colony. He also cofounded Boston, Massachusetts, Greenwich, Connecticut and Eaton's Neck in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy Cutler</span>

Timothy Cutler was an American Episcopal clergyman and rector of Yale College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amos A. Lawrence</span> Abolitionist

Amos Adams Lawrence was an American businessman, philanthropist, and social activist. He was a key figure in the United States abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War and the growth of the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts. He was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Kansas and Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Winthrop the Younger</span> American politician (1606–1676)

John Winthrop the Younger was an early governor of the Connecticut Colony, and he played a large role in the merger of several separate settlements into the unified colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Willard</span> American theologian (1640–1707)

Samuel Willard was a New England Puritan clergyman. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by the Indians during King Philip's War. Willard was pastor of the Third Church, Boston, from 1678 until his death. He opposed the Salem witch trials and was acting president of Harvard University from 1701. He published many sermons; the folio volume, A Compleat Body of Divinity, was published posthumously in 1726.

<i>Arbella</i>

Arbella or Arabella was the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet on which Governor John Winthrop, other members of the Company, and Puritan emigrants transported themselves and the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company from England to Salem between April 8 and June 12, 1630, thereby giving legal birth to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. John Winthrop is reputed to have given the famous "A Model of Christian Charity" sermon aboard the ship. Also on board was Anne Bradstreet, the first European female poet to be published from the New World, and her family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weld family</span> Ancient English lineage

The Weld family may refer to an ancient English family, and to their possible relations in New England, an extended family of Boston Brahmin. An early record of a Weld holding public office, is the High Sheriff of London in 1352, William. In the 16th and 17th centuries people called Weld and living in Cheshire began to travel and to settle in the environs of London, in Shropshire, in Suffolk and thence in the American Colonies, and in Dorset. While most of the Welds of England had adopted Protestantism, the exception was all three sons of Sir John Weld of Edmonton, who married into elite recusant families, thus reverting, with their descendants, to Roman Catholicism. The noted Catholic Weld lineage, unbroken till the new millennium, is that of Lulworth Castle in Dorset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Gardner Drake</span> American antiquarian

Samuel Gardner Drake was an American antiquarian, author and historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Weymouth</span> English explorer of North America

George Weymouth (Waymouth) was an English explorer and colonist of the area now occupied by the state of Maine. George Weymouth was a native of Cockington, Devon, who spent his youth studying shipbuilding and mathematics. His travels are among the early recorded contacts between Wabanaki nations and people of Northern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Levett</span> English writer, explorer and naval captain

Captain Christopher Levett was an English writer, explorer and naval captain, born at York, England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the king to settle present-day Portland, Maine, the first European to do so. Levett left behind a group of settlers at his Maine plantation in Casco Bay, but they were never heard from again. Their fate is unknown. As a member of the Plymouth Council for New England, Levett was named the Governor of Plymouth in 1623 and a close adviser to Capt. Robert Gorges in his attempt to found an early English colony at Weymouth, Massachusetts, which also failed. Levett was also named an early governor of Virginia in 1628, according to Parliamentary records at Whitehall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caleb Rice</span> American politician

Caleb Rice (1792–1873) was an American politician and businessman. He was the first Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, when it became a city in 1852, and the first president of MassMutual Life Insurance Company, now a Fortune 100 company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Henry Whitmore</span> American politician

William Henry Whitmore was a Boston businessman, politician and genealogist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Eliot Morison bibliography</span> List of books and articles

The Samuel Eliot Morison bibliography contains a list of books and articles written by American historian Samuel Eliot Morison.

The Dedham Public School System is a PK–12 graded school district in Dedham, Massachusetts. It is the oldest public school system in the United States.

Ebenezer Burgess was the minister of the Allin Congregational Church in Dedham, Massachusetts.

References

  1. "Prince Society. Constitution", Publications of the Prince Society, vol. 20, 1890
  2. Wolkins. 1936-1941; p.230
  3. Prince Society records, 1858-1944, Massachusetts Historical Society, OCLC   23825570
  4. Boston Directory. 1868.
  5. American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 13250
  6. Wolkins. 1936-1941
  7. Wolkins. 1936-1941; p.254

Further reading

Publications of the society

About the society