Preserving the Past, Making History: Historical Societies in the Early United States

Preserving the Past examines the more than fifty historical societies established in the United States between 1791 and 1850. The American Revolution stimulated awareness of the importance of gathering and protecting historical materials and preserving them in publicly-accessible places. By 1791 gentlemen in Massachusetts established the first historical society, and many more were founded between 1820 and 1850. The societies' choices determined, in great measure, the primary sources on which today's historians of early America depend. This study investigates the creation of historical societies, their collections and publications, and other activities which shaped historical collections and publications. Although early societies were organized around national ideals and rhetoric, the societies effectively focused on local, state, and regional identities; by 1850, they collectively preserved documents and artifacts documenting several layers of history and identity. All of the societies sought to collect material for use in writing history. At first, they understood this primarily in terms of gathering historical information (content), and solicited the creation of new documents containing desired facts. Over the decades, the process of collecting and the articulation of different collecting ideas led the societies to begin gathering documents based on circumstances of creation (author, date, place). The societies were created and led by white gentlemen, most from the professional classes. Despite their appeals for broad public support, the societies made choices in producing publications and providing access to their collections which affirmed developing differences between scholarly and popular history. The societies' production of publications and solicitation of new documents, along with other activities, complicates linear ideas of archival activity. This project therefore points to the importance of considering the histories of sources for shaping historical research.