Mellen Chamberlain
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Mellen Chamberlain (4 June 1821,
Pembroke, New Hampshire Pembroke is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,207 at the 2020 census. Pembroke includes part of the village of Suncook. The center of population of New Hampshire is close to the Pembroke town center. ...
- 25 June 1900, Chelsea, Massachusetts) was a United States lawyer, librarian and historian. He was librarian of the
Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...
for over a decade.


Biography

He graduated from
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
in 1844 and from the Harvard Law School in 1848. In 1849 he was admitted to the bar, opened a law office in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and made his residence in Chelsea, where, during 51 years of citizenship, he served the town in many public capacities. In 1858 and 1859 he was a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
and the Senate in 1863–64. He was associate justice of the Municipal Court of Boston 1866–70, and chief justice 1870–78. On 26 August 1878, he was chosen librarian-in-chief of the Boston Public Library, where he served until ill health compelled his retirement in 1890. During his administration, a new library building was begun and the cornerstone laid. Throughout his life he was a close student and investigator of American history.


Historical works

Besides chapters in Justin Winsor's ''Memorial History of Boston'' (1881), he wrote: * ''The History of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullin Point'' (1880) * ''Narrative and Critical History of America'' (1888) * ''
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
, the Statesman of the Revolution'' (1884) * ''The Authentication of the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
'' (1885) * ''John Adams, the Statesman, with Other Essays and Addresses'' (1898) * ''The Journals of Captain
Henry Dearborn Henry Dearborn (February 23, 1751 – June 6, 1829) was an American military officer and politician. In the Revolutionary War, he served under Benedict Arnold in his expedition to Quebec, of which his journal provides an important record ...
, 1775-83'' (1886–87) * ''The Constitutional Relations of the American Colonies to the English Government at the Commencement of the American Revolution'' (1887)


See also

* 84th Massachusetts General Court (1863) *
85th Massachusetts General Court (1864) The 85th Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 1864 during the governorship of John Albion Andrew. Jonathan E. Field served as president of the Senate and Alexa ...


Notes


References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Mellen 1821 births 1900 deaths American librarians 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Massachusetts state senators Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Pembroke, New Hampshire Lawyers from Chelsea, Massachusetts Politicians from Chelsea, Massachusetts 19th-century American politicians Historians from Massachusetts Librarians of the Boston Public Library 19th-century American lawyers American male non-fiction writers