Increase Mather Papers 1659-1721 Guide to the Microfilm Edition

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Collection Description Related Materials Acquisition Information Restrictions on Use Organization Detailed Description of the Collection Preferred Citation Access Terms

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

Increase Mather, the youngest son of the Reverend Richard Mather (1596-1669) of Dorchester, and the father of Cotton Mather (1663-1728), has been described as the "foremost American Puritan" of his generation. Teacher of the Second Church of Boston for more than fifty years, president of Harvard College from 1685 to 1701, agent for the Massachusetts Bay Colony in England to request the return of the charter, and the author of approximately 175 books, pamphlets, prefaces, and printed sermons, Mather was intimately involved in political and religious affairs in Boston during the last four decades of the 17th century.

Collection Description

This collection consists of the diaries, correspondence, documents, writings, and sermons of Increase Mather and represents the largest single extant collection of Increase Mather manuscripts. The collection is divided into six series: I. Diaries, II. Diary transcripts, III. Correspondence, IV. Writings, V. Miscellany, and VI. Sermons and sermon notes.

While Mather's diary entries are concerned, in large part, with devotional matters, the manuscripts of his writings and correspondence indicate the breadth of his wide-ranging interests, including education, history, politics, and science. Many of Mather's published writings deal with theological matters, but he also wrote important historical and scientific works, including A Brief History of the War with the Indians in New-England, a contemporary account of King Philip's War, and An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences, one of the first scientific writings in America.

This microfilm is Part II of the Mather Family Microfilm, a joint publication of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the American Antiquarian Society. It contains manuscripts held by both institutions. The holder of the original manuscript has been noted in this guide with "(AAS)" for the American Antiquarian Society and "(MHS)" for the Massachusetts Historical Society. Most of the diary volumes and all of the manuscript sermons and sermon notes described herein are found in the Mather family papers at the American Antiquarian Society. For a complete description of the American Antiquarian Society's original manuscript holdings, see the guide to the Mather family papers, 1613-1819, at the American Antiquarian Society.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following collection related to the Increase Mather papers:

Cotton Mather papers, 1636-1724. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0170.

In 1868, the Massachusetts Historical Society published the "Mather Papers" (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, ser. 4, v. 8) contained in the "New-England Library" of the Reverend Thomas Prince, now deposited at the Boston Public Library. The collection includes a large number of Increase Mather letters, as well as related manuscript material.

Extracts of the Cotton Mather diaries were published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (ser. 7, v. 7-8), and the American Antiquarian Society has published a number of the Increase Mather manuscripts from the Mather family papers in the American Antiquarian Society Proceedings.

Increase Mather's diary, 1675-1676, was printed in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society (ser. 2, v. 8).

Acquisition Information

The bulk of the Mather family papers at the American Antiquarian Society, of which the Increase Mather papers form one of five major subdivisions, were purchased from Hannah Mather Crocker (1752-1829), the great-granddaughter of Increase Mather, by Isaiah Thomas and donated to the American Antiquarian Society by Thomas in 1814.

Other items in the Mather family papers at the American Antiquarian Society, including items in the Increase Mather papers, were the gifts of Thomas Walcut, 1834; Charles Chauncy Clark, 1835; the estate of Thaddeus Mason Harris, 1937; George Mather Randle, 1934; and Michael G. Hall, 1978.

The Increase Mather papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society consist of gifts of individual items, including those from Elizabeth Belknap, 1858, Sarah Louisa Byles, 1881, and Matt B. Jones, 1937, and purchases by the MHS.

For the present edition, Increase Mather materials from other collections at the Massachusetts Historical Society have been inserted chronologically, by type, to form a complete file of all Increase Mather manuscripts held by the MHS. Collections from which Increase Mather manuscripts have been drawn include: the papers of Jeremy Belknap, Mellen Chamberlain, Benjamin Colman, and John Davis; the miscellaneous bound manuscripts collection; the papers of James Otis, Sr., and Thomas Prince; the Saltonstall family papers; and the Alexander C. Washburn autograph collection.

Restrictions on Use

Requests for permission to publish should be directed to the institution in possession of the original manuscript.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Microfilm edition of the Increase Mather papers, a joint publication of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the American Antiquarian Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.