PREFACE. In this volume may be found the record of fifteen stated meetings of the Society, from October, 1892, to March, 1894, both included, and of the special meeting, held November 21, 1893, in memory of the first Vice-President, Francis Parkman. Perhaps the most striking paper here printed is the autobiographical fragment by Mr. Parkman, read at the latter meeting. It was well said at the time, that even Mr. Parkman's intimate associates did not really know the man until they listened to that touching and suggestive paper. Among other noteworthy communications are Charles Francis Adams's paper on the Spanish Discovery of America, Justin Winsor's paper on the Anticipations of Cartier's Voyages, Mr. Adams's paper on the World's Fair at Chicago, Samuel A. Green's paper on the Formation and Growth of the Library, the translation of the Letters of Pero Menendez, and the numerous original letters and documents communicated at various times by Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., Thomas W. Higginson, and other members. There are also memoirs of HENRY W. LONGFELLOW, by Horace E. Scudder; of HENRY W. FOOTE, by Winslow Warren; of ROBERT C. WATERSTON, by Josiah P. Quincy; of FITCH EDWARD OLIVER, by Edmund F. Slafter; and of FRANCIS PARKMAN, by Octavius B. Frothingham; each of which is accompanied by a portrait. The portrait of Mr. Waterston is a photograph from the original oil painting, by Otto Grundmann; the portrait of Mr. Parkman first appeared in Stedman's Library of American Literature, and the use of the plate was cheerfully granted by the present publisher of that work, Mr. William E. Benjamin of New York. The other illustrations are fac-similes of the Maggiolo, or Maiollo, map and of the Rufus Putnam map. For the Committee, BOSTON, April 20, 1894. CHARLES C. SMITH. |