The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Massachusetts Historical Society

MA8SACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. An association founded at Boston in 1791 and incorporated three years later, for the purpose of collecting and preserving early Americana and documents relative to the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Since 1792, 70 volumes of &lsquo;Collections&rsquo; and 50 volumes of &lsquo;Proceedings&rsquo; have been printed. It supports a museum of relics and a library containing 60,000 volumes and over 120 brochures, etc. Its prize collections are the Winthrop manuscripts on the early settlement of New England and the Parkman manuscripts dealing with French Canada.