By 杰里米Dibbell

利记APP官网手机版MHS的早期卷，我最喜欢的一点是 诉讼 捐赠名单是前几年的吗, when the Society accumulated not only gifts to enhance its library of manuscripts and printed books but also a hefty collection of natural history specimens and “curiosities.” 的 first large donation of this type was received at the sixth meeting, 1791年12月21日, when the owners of the ships “Columbia” and “Washington” (“the first vessels from the United States to Nootka Sound and the Sandwich Islands”) presented to the Historical Society “a hat, 斗篷, 还有土著人的披风, 那里用树皮制作几块布, and other artificial and natural curiosities of that part of America brought in those vessels …”.

Donations along these lines continued to arrive: on 29 January 1793 the 诉讼 注意更多来自太平洋的“奇珍异宝”, 外加《利记手机官网》.同年4月，“一只狼蛛，来自琼斯先生. 以利沙西格妮,(西格妮后来给了他一个“毛皮印章”, 来自福克兰群岛”)“动物保护的标本, 先生. 参议员杰里米·贝尔纳普(Jeremy Belknap.“还有我最喜欢的一只:一只非常大的火烈鸟. 小威廉·赫西.” Other interesting gifts from 1793-94 include “a Bone of the Sawfish, 先生. 小威廉·米勒.,” “A Demerara Opossum, stuffed, from 上校ain Peter Chace,” “A Madagascar Bat, from Dr. 德克斯特,以及杰里米·贝尔纳普(Jeremy Belknap)的《利记手机官网》(A Flying Fish), 一块刻薄的石头, 新罕布什尔州的银鼠, 印第安独木舟, 一些硬币, 一种来自圣岛的球鱼. 海伦娜和一只海豚.”

1795年11月24日. 托马斯·休斯带来了《利记APP官网手机版》, 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.

的 Historical Society’s quarters must have been a pretty interesting place in those days. 这种情况持续了好几年, with each meeting witnessing the donation of a few items of note (“A Giant Clam, 重达417磅”，于1803年1月运抵, 例如).

随着MHS的成熟, and became more focused as a repository for manuscripts (and moved premises several times), many of the natural history and ethnographic pieces were removed from the collections: in the 1830s the specimens were deposited in the cabinet of the Boston Society of Natural History (precursor of today’s 科学博物馆), 后来从太平洋海岸和岛屿上收集了大量的材料, 还有考古遗迹, were given to the Peabody Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (now the 皮博迪博物馆 哈佛大学).

但并不是所有的东西都离开了协会. 其余的“奇闻”包括:

“A Hook, from the Sandwich Islands, made out of a bone of 上校ain 烹饪,” received 先生. 雅各布·威廉姆斯(1804年5月. 卫生部档案里有一封W. 爱默生 to the Corresponding Secretary reports “的 hook which accompanyes [sic] this Note I received from Deacon Jacob Williams, 以前是我教堂的一名官员, 是谁要求我以他的名义把它交给历史学会的. It was given to him by his son Jacob Williams, who received it from a man, who attended 上校. 德比, 他死在滑铁卢, 沙洲群岛之一, in 1802, 和谁, (德比)从一个印第安酋长那里得到的, 谁说, that the prong of the hook was made of one of the bones of the celebrated navigator, 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, 但无法将范围缩小到原来的主人.

鸡和乌龟的气管，S. 布里奇沃特大厅(1833年1月31日. 我们不知道哪个是哪个(明智的建议乐意接受).

Nail and tree bark supposed to be from Mercy Otis Warren’s home and tree near Patriot James Otis, Jr., when he was struck by the bolt of lightning which killed him in May, 1783. 据说在此之前他曾对默西说过, "我亲爱的姐姐, 我希望, when God Almighty in his righteous providence shall take me out of time into eternity that it will be by a flash of lightning.他的愿望实现了.

有关该协会藏品历史的更多信息，请参见 诉讼 卷. 28, pp. 312-348号，当时的图书管理员塞缪尔·A. 格林对这个问题作了详尽的叙述.

By 杰里米Dibbell

I suspect every membership-based organization has some stories about the members that have warranted expulsion over the years. 的 MHS kicked out three members in its first two decades (but has used the practice very sparingly – if at all – ever since). What did those members do to warrant removal from our membership rolls?

的 first two expelled members were booted at the same meeting, on 20 July 1797. 的 诉讼 (卷. I, p. 记录:“而埃德蒙·伦道夫和威廉·布朗特, 谁已当选为本会通讯会员, 是, 在我们看来, unworthy of our confidence; t在这里fore, 投票他们不再被视为通讯成员.该动议无异议通过了. 伦道夫, 美国司法部长, was nominated by Jeremy Belknap and elected to Corresponding Membership on 23 October 1792. 布朗特被开除时是一个相当新的成员, 1796年10月25日刚刚当选.

为什么被解雇?? 伦道夫 had resigned as Secretary of State in 1795 after a scandal involving intercepted messages from the French government that were reportedly embarrassing to the Washington Administration. 布朗特, 代表新成立的田纳西州的美国参议员, had been caught up in a scheme to incite the Creek and Cherokee Indians to provide assistance to the British in an invasion of Spanish West Florida. He was impeached by the House of Representatives on 7 July 1797 (for “a high misdemeanor, 完全不符合他作为参议员的公共责任和信任”)。, 第二天就被元老院开除了. 12天后，历史学会也采取了行动.

第三次驱逐事件的打击更近了. 波士顿的塞缪尔·图雷利, 一个钟表匠, 在1793年被选为该协会的常驻会员, 从1793年到1808年担任内阁总管. In 1802, Turell requested permission to borrow certain natural history specimens from the Society’s collections for a new museum, 这是被批准的. 五年后, 虽然, 协会对图雷利的内阁有点担心, 1807年8月25日成立了一个委员会. Turell, Cabinet-Keeper, the various articles belonging to the Society which have been in his possession, 让他们回到内阁.”

委员会的要求没有得到重视, and on 27 August 1811 the members of the Society voted to expel Turell from the MHS because he had not returned the articles borrowed from the collections, 并“在其他方面表现得与会员身份不符”.”

在他的历史学会两百周年的历史中, former Director Len Tucker notes “It is not known if Turell ever returned the items he had borrowed.”

By 杰里米Dibbell

Our curator of art, Anne Bentley, recently pointed out a fascinating (but brutal!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, 对于任何曾经收到差评的现任作者, 振作起来——情况可能会更糟.

的 诉讼 记录下先生. 福特[沃辛顿·昌西·福特], 然后是协会的编辑]，阅读以下对爱默生的批评 生活的行为，发表于 南方文学信使 1861年4月[第三十二卷，第一一六页. [326 . 27]这是我国历史上决定性的一个月.“评论者是怎么评价他的?. 爱默生?

“他的脑子就像一个拾荒者的篮子，装满了各种各样的垃圾. His books 是 valuable, for the very reason they 是 of no earthly account. 的y illustrate the utter worthlessness of the philosophy of free society. 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, and shreds of sentences may do very well for a people who have no settled opinions in politics, 宗教或道德, 四十年来，我一直在纯粹的狂热中生活. 我们南方需要比这种无制度更好的制度. 你那支离破碎的哲学家, 爱默生邮票, 是谁扰乱了普通人的信仰, without again composing or attempting to compose them with a higher and purer faith, 是对社会的诅咒吗. Such a man ought to be subject to the mild punishment of perpetual confinement, 有很多笔, 墨水和纸. 他的作品一从他的桌子上拿出来就马上烧掉, and bury the writer quietly in the back yard of the prison as soon as he is dead. 如果在生命早期, the speculative lobes of his brain had been eaten out with nitric acid, EMERSON would have made a better poet than any New England has given us. 事实上，他是个道德上的讨厌鬼. 他应该通过国会法案被削弱，他的作品应该被压制.”

多亏了 美国的形成 网站上，你可以阅读原始评论的电子版(在这里)，其中包括两句引语. 福特开了进去。 诉讼: “Whoever undertakes to conduct his life according to the precepts (if t在这里 be any) inculcated in this book, 会发现自己在一个比克里特岛更糟糕的迷宫里吗. 爱默生对任何事情都没有固定的看法.”

你可以读爱默生的初版 生活的行为 (波士顿:Ticknor and Fields出版社，1860年) 在线 通过 互联网档案馆 (点击左侧空白处的“翻书”).