Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 2389

Cotton Mather papers

Overview

Sermons, letters and petitions by the clergyman Cotton Mather.

Dates

  • Creation: 1682-1722 and undated

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

.16 linear feet (1 volume)

Contains autograph manuscripts and photostatic reproductions of a book list, sermons, excerpts from his diary, and letters to Thomas Prince of Boston (1687-1758), the Congregational minister Peter Thatcher of Boston (d. 1739), and the Congregational minister Joseph Webb (1666-1732) concerning the Hollis professorship of Divinity at Harvard College. Also contains petitions on behalf of Harvard College to the Governor and General Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, and to the Lieutenant-Governor and Council of Massachusetts Bay.

Biographical / Historical

Cotton Mather (Harvard A.B. 1678, M.A. 1681) was an American Puritan clergyman and writer.

Physical Location

Lobby VI.5.35

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Received from various sources; see individual items.

Recatalogued from MS Am 187 and MS Am 187.5.

Related Materials

The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass., holds the originals of two photostatic reproductions in this collection.

Title
Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728. Cotton Mather papers, 1682-1722: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01836

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440