By Jeremy Dibbell
One of my favorite things about the early volumes of MHS Proceedings are the donation lists from the first few years, 当时协会不仅积累了礼物,以加强其手稿和印刷书籍的图书馆,而且还收集了大量的自然历史标本和“珍奇品”.“在第六次会议上收到了这类的第一笔大额捐款, on 21 December 1791, “哥伦比亚号”和“华盛顿号”(“美国首批驶往努特卡海峡和桑威奇群岛的船只”)的船主向历史学会“献上一顶帽子”, cloak, and mantle of the natives, several pieces of cloth manufactured there from the bark of trees, 以及美洲那个地方的其他人工的和自然的奇珍异宝带来了这些船只……”.
这样的捐赠继续到来:1793年1月29日 Proceedings note more “curiosities” from the Pacific, plus “A curious Rose,” “A Milliped[e], found at Hopkinton,” and “Some Teeth of the Spermaceti Whale.” In April of the same year came “A Tarantula, from Mr. Elisha Sigourney,” (Sigourney later gave “a Fur Seal, from Falkland Islands”) “A Specimen of Animal Preservation, from Mr. Jeremy Belknap, Sen.,” and the one I like best of all: “A very large Flamingo, from Mr. William Hussey, Jr.1793年至1794年间的其他有趣的礼物包括“锯鳐的骨头,来自约翰. William Miller, Jr.“一只德默拉拉负鼠,标本,彼得·蔡斯船长送的”“一只马达加斯加蝙蝠,彼得·蔡斯博士送的”. Dexter,” and this grand list from Jeremy Belknap: “A Flying Fish, a Vitriol Stone, an Ermine from New Hampshire, an Indian canoe, a number of Coins, a Globe-fish from the island of St. Helena, and a Dolphin.”
On 24 November 1795 Mr. Thomas Hewes presented “A Bird of Paradise, from Batavia; a Crocodile and nondescript Quadruped, from Ceylon; 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, from the island of St. Helena; a Hooka, or Smoking Machine, of India; a Gentoo Slipper; a Horned Snake, from the Asps of Bengal; a Remora, from the Indian Ocean; a Firearm, from Ceylon, 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, among which are the Hummer, the Bullock’s Heart, and the Razor; a Petrified Snake Skin; a branch of the Cinnamon Tree; a Hog Fish; and an Indian Fan.” The same day brought “Two Grasshoppers, from the West Indies from Mr. Edward Renouf.
在那些日子里,历史学会的宿舍一定是个相当有趣的地方. This continued for several years, 每次聚会都会捐赠几件纪念品(“一只巨大的蛤蜊”), weighing four hundred and seventeen pounds” arrived in January 1803, for example).
As the MHS matured, 并且更专注于作为手稿仓库(并多次搬家), 许多自然历史和人种学的标本都从收藏中移走了:在19世纪30年代,这些标本被存放在波士顿自然历史学会(今天的前身)的橱柜里 Museum of Science), and later much of the material from the Pacific Coast and islands, along with the archaeological relics, 给了皮博迪考古与民族学研究所(现在的 Peabody Museum at Harvard).
But not quite everything left the Society’s holdings. Among the remaining “curiosities” are the following:
“一个钩子,产自桑威奇群岛,是用库克船长的骨头做成的。. Jacob Williams, May 1804. A letter in the MHS Archives from W. 爱默生在给相应秘书的信中写道:“我从执事雅各布·威廉姆斯那里收到了这封信附带的钩子, formerly an officer in my church, who requests me to present it in his name to the Historical Society. 这是他的儿子雅各布·威廉姆斯(Jacob Williams)送给他的,他的儿子是从一个参加过Capt. Derby, who died at Waterloo, one of the Sandwhich Islands, in 1802, and who, (Derby) received it from an indian chief, who said, 钩子的尖头是用这位著名航海家的骨头做的, Capt. Cook.” In 1996 the hook was tested by the staff of the Kendall Whaling Museum; they confirmed that it is human bone, but could not narrow it down to the precise original owner.
The windpipes of a chicken and a turtle, given by S. Hall of Bridgewater, 31 January 1833. We have no idea which is which (informed suggestions gladly accepted).
钉子和树皮应该来自梅西·奥蒂斯·沃伦的家和爱国者小詹姆斯·奥蒂斯附近的那棵树.1783年5月,他被一道闪电击中身亡. He had reportedly said to Mercy before this, “My dear sister, I hope, 当全能的上帝以他公义的天意将我从时间中带到永恒中,那将是一道闪电.” He got his wish.
For more on the history of the Society’s collections, see Proceedings Vol. 28, pp. 312-348, in which then-librarian Samuel A. Green gives an extensive account of the subject.