By 杰里米Dibbell

One of my favorite things about the early volumes of MHS 诉讼 是 the donation lists from the first few years, 当时协会不仅积累了礼物，以加强其手稿和印刷书籍的图书馆，而且还收集了大量的自然历史标本和“珍奇品”.“在第六次会议上收到了这类的第一笔大额捐款, 1791年12月21日, “哥伦比亚号”和“华盛顿号”(“美国首批驶往努特卡海峡和桑威奇群岛的船只”)的船主向历史学会“献上一顶帽子”, 斗篷, 还有土著人的披风, several pieces of cloth manufactured t在这里 from the bark of trees, 以及美洲那个地方的其他人工的和自然的奇珍异宝带来了这些船只……”.

这样的捐赠继续到来:1793年1月29日 诉讼 note more “curiosities” from the Pacific, 外加《好奇的玫瑰,”“A Milliped[e], 在霍普金顿发现的,” and “Some Teeth of the Spermaceti Whale.” In April of the same year came “A Tarantula, 先生. 以利沙西格妮,” (Sigourney later gave “a Fur Seal, from Falkland Islands”) “A Specimen of Animal Preservation, 先生. 参议员杰里米·贝尔纳普(Jeremy Belknap.,” and the one I like best of all: “A very large Flamingo, 先生. 小威廉·赫西.1793年至1794年间的其他有趣的礼物包括“锯鳐的骨头，来自约翰. 小威廉·米勒.“一只德默拉拉负鼠，标本，彼得·蔡斯船长送的”“一只马达加斯加蝙蝠，彼得·蔡斯博士送的”. 德克斯特,” and this grand list from Jeremy Belknap: “A Flying Fish, 一块刻薄的石头, an Ermine from New Hampshire, 印第安独木舟, 一些硬币, a Globe-fish 从圣. 海伦娜和一只海豚.”

1795年11月24日. Thomas Hewes presented “A Bird of Paradise, from Batavia; a Crocodile and nondescript Quadruped, 从锡兰; a Silver Pen and Case, from Indian; a Gentoo Letter; a bundle of Palm Leaves, showing the manner of keeping accounts in India; a Bow and Arrows, from Bengal; a Petrified Substance, 从圣. Helena; a Hooka, 或吸烟机, of India; a Gentoo Slipper; a Horned Snake, from the Asps of Bengal; a Remora, from the Indian Ocean; a Firearm, 从锡兰, curiously wrought with gold and silver; a Sandwich Island Cup; two branches of Coral, from the Isle of France; a piece of Vitrified Rock, from the Isle of Ascension; a box of Insects, from the Cape of Good Hope; an Antelope’s Horn; a Crystallization, from a salt-pit in Liverpool; a collection of Marine Shells, 其中包括悍马, 布洛克之心, and the Razor; a Petrified Snake Skin; a branch of the Cinnamon Tree; a Hog Fish; and an Indian Fan.同一天，他从西印度群岛带来了两只蚱蜢. 爱德华Renouf.

在那些日子里，历史学会的宿舍一定是个相当有趣的地方. This continued for several years, 每次聚会都会捐赠几件纪念品(“一只巨大的蛤蜊”), weighing four hundred and seventeen pounds” arrived in January 1803, 例如).

随着MHS的成熟, 并且更专注于作为手稿仓库(并多次搬家), 许多自然历史和人种学的标本都从收藏中移走了:在19世纪30年代，这些标本被存放在波士顿自然历史学会(今天的前身)的橱柜里 科学博物馆), and later much of the material from the Pacific Coast and islands, along with the archaeological relics, 给了皮博迪考古与民族学研究所(现在的 皮博迪博物馆 哈佛大学).

But not quite everything left the Society’s holdings. Among the remaining “curiosities” 是 the following:

“一个钩子，产自桑威奇群岛，是用库克船长的骨头做成的。. 雅各布·威廉姆斯(1804年5月. A letter in the MHS 档案 from W. 爱默生在给相应秘书的信中写道:“我从执事雅各布·威廉姆斯那里收到了这封信附带的钩子, formerly an officer in my church, who requests me to present it in his name to the Historical Society. 这是他的儿子雅各布·威廉姆斯(Jacob Williams)送给他的，他的儿子是从一个参加过上校. 德比, 他死在滑铁卢, 沙洲群岛之一, in 1802, 和谁, (德比) received it from an indian chief, 谁说, 钩子的尖头是用这位著名航海家的骨头做的, 上校. 烹饪.” In 1996 the hook was tested by the staff of the Kendall Whaling Museum; they confirmed that it is human bone, but could not narrow it down to the precise original owner.

的 windpipes of a chicken and a turtle, given by S. Hall of Bridgewater, 31 January 1833. We have no idea which is which (informed suggestions gladly accepted).

钉子和树皮应该来自梅西·奥蒂斯·沃伦的家和爱国者小詹姆斯·奥蒂斯附近的那棵树.1783年5月，他被一道闪电击中身亡. He had reportedly said to Mercy before this, "我亲爱的姐姐, 我希望, 当全能的上帝以他公义的天意将我从时间中带到永恒中，那将是一道闪电.他的愿望实现了.

For more on the history of the Society’s collections, see 诉讼 卷. 28, pp. 312-348, in which then-librarian Samuel A. Green gives an extensive account of the subject.

By 杰里米Dibbell

我怀疑每个会员制组织都有一些利记APP官网手机版成员的故事，这些成员多年来都有理由被开除. MHS在最初的20年里开除了3名成员(但从那以后就很少这么做了——如果有的话)。. What did those members do to warrant removal from our membership rolls?

1797年7月20日，前两名被开除的成员在同一次会议上被开除. 的 诉讼 (卷. I, p. 106) record: “W在这里as Edmund 伦道夫 and William 布朗特, who have been elected Corresponding Members of this Society, 是, 在我们看来, unworthy of our confidence; t在这里fore, 投票, That they be no longer considered as Corresponding Members.” 的 motion passed without dissent. 伦道夫, the the Attorney General of the United States, 由杰里米·贝尔纳普提名，并于1792年10月23日当选为通讯会员. 布朗特 was at the time of his expulsion a fairly new member, having just been elected on 25 October 1796.

为什么被解雇?? 1795年，伦道夫因截获法国政府的电报丑闻而辞去国务卿一职，据报道，这一丑闻令华盛顿政府感到尴尬. 布朗特, a United States Senator representing the new state of Tennessee, 被卷入了一场阴谋，煽动克里克和切罗基印第安人帮助英国人入侵西班牙西佛罗里达. 1797年7月7日，他被众议院弹劾(罪名是“严重轻罪”), entirely inconsistent with his public duty and trust as a Senator”), and expelled by the Senate the following day. Twelve days later, the Historical Society acted as well.

的 third expulsion hit much closer to home. 波士顿的塞缪尔·图雷利, 一个钟表匠, was elected a Resident Member of the Society in 1793, and served as Cabinet-Keeper from 1793 until 1808. In 1802, 图雷利请求允许他从学会的藏品中借用一些自然历史标本来建一座新博物馆, 这是被批准的. 五年后, 虽然, the Society got a little anxious about Turell’s Cabinet, and a committee was formed on 25 August 1807 “to demand of Mr. Turell, Cabinet-Keeper, 他所拥有的属于协会的各种物品, and to see that they 是 returned to the Cabinet.”

的 committee’s demands went unheeded, 1811年8月27日，协会成员投票决定将图雷利开除出MHS，因为他没有归还从收藏中借来的文章, and had “otherwise acted unworthily as a member.”

In his bicentennial history of the Historical Society, 前馆长莱恩·塔克指出:“不知道图雷利是否归还了他所借的物品.”

By 杰里米Dibbell

我们的艺术策展人安妮·本特利(Anne Bentley)最近指出了一个有趣(但残酷)的现象!引用的一段 利记APP官网手机版卫生程序 1929年3月的会议. 我觉得有必要分享一下, and for any current author out t在这里 who’s ever received a bad review, take heart – it could be worse.

的 诉讼 记录下先生. Ford [Worthington Chauncey Ford, then the Society’s Editor] “read the following criticism on 爱默生’s 生活的行为，发表于 南方文学信使 for April 1861 [卷ume XXXII, pp. 326-7] – a fateful month in our history.” What did the reviewer have to say about Mr. 爱默生?

“His mind is like a rag-picker’s basketfull of all manner of trash. 他的书是有价值的，正因为它们与世俗无关. 它们说明了自由社会哲学的毫无价值. 利己主义, 或者更确切地说，是人文主义, (如果我们可以创造一个词的话), 以短文提出的, 标签, 对于一个在政治上没有固定观点的人来说，零星的句子可能会有很好的效果, 宗教或道德, and have lived for forty years on pure fanaticisms. We of the South require something better than this no-system. 你那支离破碎的哲学家, 爱默生邮票, who disturbs the beliefs of the common folk, 不再用更高更纯洁的信仰来创作或试图创作它们, 是对社会的诅咒吗. 这样的人应该受到永久监禁的轻微惩罚, 有很多笔, 墨水和纸. Burn his writings as fast as they come from his table, 等作家死后，就悄悄地把他埋在监狱的后院. 如果在生命早期, 他大脑中负责思考的脑叶已经被硝酸腐蚀掉了, 爱默生本可以成为比新英格兰任何一位诗人都更好的诗人. As it is, he is a moral nuisance. He ought to be abated by act of Congress and his works suppressed.”

多亏了 美国的形成 site, you can read a digital version of the original review (在这里), which includes two lead-off sentences not read by Mr. 福特开了进去。 诉讼他承诺按照这本书所教导的戒律(如果有的话)生活, will find himself in a worse labyrinth than that of Crete. EMERSON never had a fixed opinion about anything.”

You can read a first edition of 爱默生’s 生活的行为 (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1860) at the Historical Society, or 在线 通过 互联网档案馆 (click on “flip book” at the left margin).