Library's "Founder" Honored
Students Arrange an Exhibition in Baker to Mark Bicentennial of Birth of Isaiah Thomas, 1749-1831
As a bi-centennial observation of the birthof Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831), "leader of theAmerican Revolution in Printing," whoseearly gift of books to Dartmouth might besaid to have laid the foundation for the present College Library, a special exhibitionhonoring him was staged in the main-hallcases of Baker Library last month. The exhibition, under the general chairmanship ofEdward C. Lathem '51 of Bethlehem, N. H.,was organized and mounted by students inthe graphic arts class (Art 25) and membersof the undergraduate Dartmouth Chapter,American Institute of Graphic Arts. The exhibited material offered a number of sidelights on early Dartmouth history, and theeditors have asked Professor Nash of the ArtDepartment to tell something of the relationbetween Thomas and the College.
ISAIAH THOMAS, the best-known printer in America after his elder contemporary and admirer Benjamin Franklin, wrote in his diary under date of August 29, 1812:
"Heard that the degree of Master of Arts was on Wednesday last conferred on me at Dartmouth College. This was unsolicited by me. Perhaps not true." Then:"I find it was only a nomination, as is usual, for next year. This nomination was made by the President at the instigation of a friend as I am informed."
The instigator is nameless so far as the diary is concerned, although Thomas duly noted the award of the degree two years later, on August 24, 1814, repeating that he had never sought it and that it "was at this time unexpected." His carefully controlled pleasure in the matter is reflected in the September 3 entry about John Wheelock's call on him:
"Rev. Dr. Wheelock, Pres. of Dartmouth University, and Rev. Mr. Allen of Pittsfield called on me and spent an hour. President Wheelock informed me that that Corpora- tion, at their public Commencement, on the 24th ult. had conferred on me the honorary degree of Master of Arts. This honor, however gratifying, was never sought for by me."
The Dartmouth man closest to Thomas at the time was probably Samuel MacGregor Burnside of the class of 1805. Although a newcomer to Worcester early in '8l2 he was already figuring in the intimate conferences at which, over a haunch of venison, Thomas's idea of the American Antiquarian Society began to be realized. Burnside was chosen recording secretary at toe first meeting of the Society on September 19, 1812 when Thomas became president. The following June Wheelock was elected a member and at the first anniversary meeting in October 1813 the Dartmouth professors Ebenezer Adams and Roswell Shurtleff were admitted to Thomas's company of scholarly Americanists.
Adams, a member of the class of 1791, professor of mathematics and natural sciences, had been on friendly terms with the wealthy publisher for many years and may well have been the man to speak about him to President Wheelock. Before coming to the Dartmouth faculty in 1809, for most of the period since graduation Adams was head of Leicester Academy where Isaiah Thomas was known as an early and generous benefactor. One of the staple Thomas publications, Pike's Arithmetic, edition of 1797, carries on its title page the lines "Revised and corrected, by Ebenezer Adams, A. M., preceptor of Leicester Academy," vouching for professional esteem as well, at least of the older man for the younger. The circumstance is worth noting because continuing pleasant personal relations with business associates was not the usual way with Thomas.
Or John Thornton Kirkland, related to the Wheelocks and the College by family and professional ties—he had received the Dartmouth A. M. ad eundem alongside his twin brother George of the class of 1792 and at the same time associated with Thomas in the founding of the American Antiquarian Society, may have mentioned his name on the right occasion. Such a hint from the new president of Harvard could turn the trick.
Anyway, on the way home from a journey to Boston in September of 1914, President Wheelock stopped by Worcester and confirmed that Isaiah Thomas, the waif who at seven was apprenticed to a slovenly printer and thence had risen to be one of the richest and most powerful men in the Commonwealth, was indeed an honored member of the Dartmouth family. He was cited as journalist, in contrast with the five others, all theologians and college graduates, who received honorary degrees at the same commencement.
John Wheelock had a heavy fight on his hands. (He could tell from the tough action of the trustees at that recent meeting which had made Thomas a Dartmouth man.) Doubtless, now at Worcester, he was sizing up the tycoon: which side could count on him? But Thomas had made his way through a much greater war, emerging with both patriotic and property status enhanced. He knew all about holding his own in a conflict.
Before Dartmouth is mentioned again in his diary or the name of Thomas reappears in the College records, John Wheelock and the trustees had split the institution on Hanover plain and Daniel Webster was preparing to put it together again. At the annual meeting in August 1818 the two bowers of President Brown, Professors Adams and Shurtleff, were appointed agents of the trustees to solicit and receive contributions for the College. Evidently this action was carried through to regularize an already effective campaign, for under date of January 23 that year Isaiah Thomas at Worcester had written in his journal:
"Mr. Ebenr. Adams, one of the Professors of Dartmouth College, called on me. He is on a mission to collect a sum to enable the government of the College to defend their claim in the S. C. of the United States in Washington against the government of Dartmouth University." And the next day he added, "Professor Adams took breakfast with me." In a reference to this passage the principal biographer of Thomas queries: "Did he carry away also, with him, a subscription towards this 'sum'?" She need not ask the question, for in the summary of receipts and payments immediately following Thomas notes under cash paid away on January 23 the sum of §20 to Dartmouth College. In September, similarly, he entered a gift of §10 to the trustees.
The Thomas biographer asks another useless question with respect to the foregoing subscription: "Did this have any influence upon the degree given to Isaiah Thomas by Dartmouth?" She forgets that the honorary A.M. had been conferred years before, entirely unsought and unexpected as he said, by the hands of the very man his money is to fight against. According to the testimony of the College historian Lord, Thomas had been for many years its earnest friend, indicating that his good will and favors were not merely the result of attentions shown him.
His major benefaction was a box of books each bearing the distinguishing typographical label: Library of Dartmouth College, presented by Isaiah Thomas Esq. A. D. 1819, in his donation of 470 volumes. The gift, which he had intended as a legacy, was most timely as a reinforcement to the sorrily depleted and battered College collection relinquished by the retiring University faction. The decision to anticipate his bequest was probably responsive to a report of Ebenezer Adams regarding the desperate situation of the library. Anyway Adams wrote him in April of 1819, just at the time Thomas was dealt the cruel blow of his only son's sudden death, and the reply (Dartmouth MS 819408) is dated Worcester, July 8:
I am sorry that so much time has elapsed since I received your favour of the Bth of April without my being able to attend to its contents till now. The events which have taken place in my family and business, have demanded my whole attention, and must be my apology.
I herewith send you a Catalogue of Books which I am desirous to present to Dartmouth College. It will give me pleasure if they should be acceptable to the Corporation—to the members of which, please to have the goodness to tender my respects.
The Books are all packed, and ready for delivery at any moment. The weight I suppose to be not far from 400 lbs.
I wish to write at more length, but circumstances at this time forbid it.
Accept my best wishes for the prosperity of the College, and your happiness; and, believe me to be with sentiments of high esteem and respect for the Rev. President, and other Officers of this Institution, their
Obedient Servant,
Isaiah Thomas
The appended catalogue is in Thomas's hand, written on eleven pages. It lists altogether three hundred sixty-two titles ing from his own History of Printing to Sentimental Lucubrations by Peter Pennyless and, of course, emphasizing medicine and theology with a flavoring of Freemasonry. He carefully reckoned the value of the"books at $651,081/2. less fifteen per cent discount, making $553,401/2 net. They were contained in four hundred sixty volumes, mostly sheepskin-bound and represented the variety of American—and in a few instances imported— bookmaking craftsmanship during several decades. Together they form an instructive exhibit of literary tastes and techniques covering the changeover from the one-room colonial printingoffice where books might be printed, bound, published and sold, to the mass-producing establishment of many coordinated units under the leadership of such a captain of industry as Thomas—whose personal history, as shown by Dr. Shipton in a recent excellent biographical study, is a sort of epitome of the revolution in American printing and publishing.
The Isaiah Thomas collection, not intact but surprisingly—almost miraculously, with respect to certain wandering volumes which have been returned to the fold by observant, loyal alumni—complete considering the hard life it came to take part in, is really a nuclear bit in the modern College library. The trustees voted their thanks at the August, 1819 meeting for this "valuable donation in Books" but that was only the beginning of the appreciation which the gift has earned for the man who it might be said founded the present Dartmouth College Library.
AN OLD OVAL PRINT of Isaiah Thomas, who gave Dartmouth 470 urgently needed books at the time of the Dartmouth College Case, and (right) the special bookplate which was printed for the collection.
