American Antiquarian Society

The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located

in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society
and national research library of pre-twentieth century
American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the
oldest historical society in the United States with a national focus.[3] Its main building, known as Antiquarian
Hall, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in recognition of this legacy.[4] The mission of the AAS is to collect,
preserve and make available for study all printed records
of what is now known as the United States of America.
This includes materials from the rst European settlement through the year 1876.[5]

Street. There have been several additions to this building

to accommodate the growing collection, the most recent
of which was completed in 2003.[16]

1.1 History of printing

As part of AASs mission as a learned society, it offers a variety of public lectures and seminars. One topic
to which AAS dedicates signicant academic energies
is printing technology, especially in eighteenth-century
British North America. Since Isaiah Thomas was a newspaper man himself, he collected a large number of printed
materials.[17] With regard to printing, paper making, edition setting, and reprinting, not much had changed in
European technology by the eighteenth century. It was
not until the late eighteenth century that paper-making
material began to evolve from a hand-woven cloth to an
industrial pulp. AAS undertakes special eorts to preserve printed records from this time period, as the Society maintains an on-site conservation department with
various sewing, cloth, and binding materials to aid in the
preservation process.[18]

The AAS oers programs for professional scholars, precollegiate, undergraduate and graduate students, educators, professional artists, writers, genealogists, and the
general public.[6] AAS has many digital collections available, including A New Nation Votes: American Election
Returns 17881824.[7]
The collections of the AAS contain over three million
books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, graphic arts
materials and manuscripts. The Society has two thirds
of the books printed in the United States before 1820;
many of these volumes are exceedingly rare and a number of them are unique.[8] Historic materials from all fty
U.S. states, most of Canada and the British West Indies
are included in the AAS repository. One of the more famous volumes held by the Society is a copy of the very
rst book printed in America, the Bay Psalm Book.[9]
AAS also has one of the largest collections of newspapers printed in America through 1876, with more than
two million issues in its collection.[10]

2 Notable members

History

On the initiative of Isaiah Thomas, the AAS was founded

on October 24, 1812 through an act of the Massachusetts
General Court.[11] It was the third historical society established in America, and the rst to be national in its
scope.[12] Isaiah Thomas started the collection with approximately 8,000 books from his personal library.[13]
The rst library building was erected in 1820 in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts.[14] In 1853, the Society
moved its collections to a larger building at the corner
of Highland Street, also in Worcester.[15] This building
was later abandoned and another new building was con- Isaiah Thomas, the founder of the American Antiquarian Society
structed. Designed by Winslow, Bigelow & Wadsworth,
the Georgian Revival building was completed in 1910 The American Antiquarian Societys membership inand stands on the corner of Park Avenue and Salisbury cludes scholars, writers, journalists, lmmakers, collec1

tors, and civic leaders.[19] Notable members include the

following:
John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Ken Burns
Elihu Burritt
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Calvin Coolidge
Walter Cronkite
Esther Forbes
Henry Louis Gates
Annette Gordon-Reed
Rutherford B. Hayes
Andrew Jackson
Thomas Jeerson
Jill Lepore

4 References
[1] National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
[2] American Antiquarian Society. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved
2008-07-10.
[3] Gura, Philip F. The American Antiquarian Society, 1812
2012: A Bicentennial History (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 2012) p. x
[4] http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=775&
ResourceType=Building
[5] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/mission.htm
[6] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/programs.htm
[7] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/digitalaas
[8] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/tours.htm
[9] Gura, p. 24
[10] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/newspapers.htm
[11] Gura, p. 1
[12] http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=775&
ResourceType=Building

James Madison

[13] Gura, p. 33

David McCullough

[14] Gura, p. 32

James Monroe

[15] Gura, pp. 98-99

Nathaniel Philbrick

[16] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/development.htm

Dorothy B. Porter

[17] Gura, pp. 14, 33

Franklin Pierce Rice

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
William H. Taft
Woodrow Wilson

EXTERNAL LINKS

See also
History of books
List of antiquarian societies
Massachusetts Historical Society

[18] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/conservation.htm
[19] http://www.americanantiquarian.org/members.htm

5 Further reading
Goslow, Brian (2014-01-30). Worcesters best
kept secret: The American Antiquarian Society belongs to everyone. Worcester Magazine. Retrieved
2014-10-10.
Gura, Philip F. The American Antiquarian Society, 18122012: A Bicentennial History (Worcester:
American Antiquarian Society, 2012) 454 pp.
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society.
Worcester, Mass.: the Society, 1843

John Ratcli
List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places listings in
northwestern Worcester, Massachusetts

6 External links
American Antiquarian Society Homepage

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

American Antiquarian Society Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Antiquarian_Society?oldid=668839053 Contributors:

Jengod, WhisperToMe, Sfoskett, Ceyockey, Pentawing, Fahrenheit451, Tim!, Eyu100, Vegaswikian, AaronB0413, TexasAndroid, Rjensen,
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Sonanto, IPBiographer, Amfraas and Anonymous: 9

7.2

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7.3

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