David Pulsifer (22 September 1802, in

Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A reside ...

– 9 August 1894, in

Augusta, Maine Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the Un ...

), was a historian and a preserver of old records.

Biography

He studied in the district schools, and then went to

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...

to learn

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...

, where, in handling old records, his taste for antiquarian research was first developed. Subsequently, he served as clerk in county courts and transcribed several ancient books of records. In 1853 the

governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...

called the attention of the executive council to the perishing condition of the early records and recommended that the two oldest volumes of the general court records should be printed at the expense of the state.

Ephraim M. Wright Ephraim M. Wright was a Connecticut and Massachusetts teacher, clergyman and politician who served as 12th Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1853–1856. Career For many years Wright was engaged in teaching and political work. ...

and

Nathaniel B. Shurtleff Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, Sr. (June 22, 1810 – October 17, 1874) was an American politician, serving as the twentieth mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from January 6, 1868 to January 2, 1871. Shurtleff, who had been defeated as the K ...

were appointed to take charge of the printing, and Pulsifer, who was acknowledged to be especially skilful in deciphering the chirography of the 17th century, was charged with the copying. Pulsifer had previously copied the first volume for the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

. Of his work, Samuel F. Haven, in his introduction to the printed records in the ''Archaeologia'', wrote that Pulsifer "unites the qualities of an expert in chirography with a genuine antiquarian taste and much familiarity with ancient records.”

Works

Pulsifer edited: *''Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England'' (vols. ix. to xii., Boston, 1859–61) *''The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America'' (1843) *''A Poetical Epistle to George Washington, Esq., Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, by Rev. Charles H. Wharton, D. D.'', first published anonymously in Annapolis in 1779 (1881) *''The Christian's A. B. C.'', an original manuscript, written in the 18th century by an unknown author (1883) *''Inscriptions from the Burying-Grounds in Salem, Mass.'' (Boston, 1837) He wrote: *''Guide to Boston and Vicinity'' (1866) *''Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, with General John Burgoyne's Account'' (1872)

Notes

References

* 1802 births 1894 deaths 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers American curators Bookbinders American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub