The Mercantile Library Association (1820-1952) of

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 ...

was an organization dedicated to operating a subscription library, reading room and lecture series. Members included James T. Fields and

Edwin Percy Whipple Edwin Percy Whipple (March 8, 1819 – June 16, 1886) was an American essayist and critic. Biography He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1819. For a time, he was the main literary critic for Philadelphia-based ''Graham's Magazine''. Lat ...

. Although the association had a relatively long history, its heyday occurred in the mid-19th century, particularly the 1840s and 1850s.

History

The association was organized in 1820, "to establish a library and reading room for the use of young men engaged in mercantile pursuits ...the first association of the kind in the United States." Founders included Theodore Lyman, J.G. Gibson, Samuel A. Otis, N.A. Barrett, Thomas Gorham, James T. Blanchard, Lynde M. Walter, Charles J. Johnson, Edward Codman, Henry A. David and Samuel W. Pomeroy. Initially the library operated from rooms in Merchants' Hall, Congress Street, and later moved to Harding's buildings on School Street (1836-1841), then to Amory Hall on Washington Street. The association underwent highs and lows through the years. After a decade of minimal growth, the association engaged in a successful fundraising effort in 1835, expanding its revenue and membership. Major benefactors included

Abbott Lawrence Abbott Lawrence (December 16, 1792, Groton, Massachusetts – August 18, 1855) was a prominent American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was among the group of industrialists that founded a settlement on the Merrimack River that ...

. In 1836 "a severe calamity was experienced in the destruction, by fire, of the cabinet of curiosities, and several valuable paintings. Many of the books were also very much injured by water." Thereafter membership and activities were re-energized. In 1842 "the Boston Marine Society deposited with the Association their extensive cabinet of curiosities, containing about two thousand rare and valuable specimens."" The association was officially incorporated in 1845. In 1840

Edward Everett Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mass ...

spoke to the association on "Accumulation, Property, Capital, Credit."Edward Everett
Importance of practical education and useful knowledge
being a selection from his orations and other discourses. Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb, 1840; p.307+ In 1844

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

gave a lecture entitled "The Young American."Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, and other miscellanies
Milford, 1922; p.254+. In 1847

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...

spoke on "White Slavery in the Barbary States." In 1849,

Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts St ...

addressed the association’s 29th Anniversary with a, “A Few Thoughts for a Young Man.” Other speakers included

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most fa ...

;Celebration of the 124th anniversary of the birthday of Washington. February 22, 1856. Boston: Watson's Press, 1856. poet Park Benjamin Sr.; George S. Boutwell; Thomas Greaves Cary; Rufus Choate;

Caleb Cushing Caleb Cushing (January 17, 1800 – January 2, 1879) was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served as a Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce. He was an eager proponent of territor ...

; George Stillman Hillard; William F. Sturgis; and Robert Charles Winthrop. By 1849, some 1,145 members belonged to the library. Library collections included 5,819 volumes. Around 1851, the library occupied quarters on Province Street, at the corner of Bromfield Street. By 1861 until at least 1868, the library had moved to Summer Street. In 1877 the association gave its collection of 18,000 books to the South End branch 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 ...

, located in the basement of the association's building on

Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...

and Newton Street. According to one historian, after 1881 "the Association, deprived of its library, entered upon a steadily less successful career as a social club that came to a dusty and inglorious end in 1952."

Lecturers and performers

;1830s: *

* James T. Fields ;1840s: * Park Benjamin Sr. * George W. Bethune30th Annual Report or 1849of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston. 1850 *

Elihu Burritt Elihu Burritt (December 8, 1810March 6, 1879) was an American diplomat, philanthropist and social activist.Arthur Weinberg and Lila Shaffer Weinberg. ''Instead of Violence: Writings by the Great Advocates of Peace and Nonviolence Throughout Histo ...

* Thomas Greaves Cary *

* Ezra S. Gannett * Mrs. Frances Anne Kemble * T.S. King * George Lunt * E.L. Magoun *

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...

* Geo. Putnam * William F. Sturgis *

* George Vandenhoff * Edwin P. Whipple * Richard S. Willis * Leonard Woods Jr. ;1850s: *

Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His r ...

31st Annual Report or 1850of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston. 1851 * Henry W. Bellows * Thomas H. BentonAmerican Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1 * Frank P. Blair Jr. * Rufus Choate * Thomas M. Clark * Orville Dewey * David Dudley Field * George Stillman Hillard; *

* G.P.R. James * Thomas S. King * George P. Marsh * Samuel Osgood * Francis T. Russell * Andrew L. Stone * James S. Thayer * Edwin P. Whipple ;1860s: * N.P. Banks * George S. BoutwellMr. Boutwell in Boston; Lecture before the Mercantile Library Association--The "Transition Period of the United States." New York Times, December 30, 1869; p.1. * Peleg W. Chandler * Henry F. Durant *

* J. Hanley Grimes * George H. Hepworth * Miss Angela Starr King * Benjamin F. Thomas

References

External links

Boston University
Records of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston. {{Authority control 1820 establishments in Massachusetts Clubs and societies in Boston Libraries in Boston Defunct organizations based in Massachusetts 1952 disestablishments in Massachusetts Defunct libraries 19th century in Boston

History

Lecturers and performers

See also

References

Further reading

External links