ca. 1860-ca. 1960
Guide to the Photograph Collection
Abstract
Portraits of members of the Saturday Club.
Historical Sketch
The Saturday Club of Boston began in 1855 as an informal organization of Boston's authors, scholars, and statesmen. Its eleven original members were Louis Agassiz, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., John Sullivan Dwight, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, James Russell Lowell, John Lothrop Motley, Benjamin Peirce, Samuel Gray Ward, Edwin Percy Whipple, and Horatio Woodman. For many years, the Club met at 3 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month at the Parker House for a meal and discussions that lasted well into the evening. The club formally incorporated in 1886, for the purpose of "having conversation and discussion upon historical, literary, scientific, and artistic subjects." The monthly meal was changed to a 1:30 pm lunch in 1898, and the club changed its primary meeting location to the Union Club in 1902. Besides conversation and club business such as the nomination of members, meetings included occasional guests, lectures, readings, and polls on current events. The Saturday Club is still in existence today.
Sources
Emerson, Edward Waldo. The Early Years of the Saturday Club (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1918).
Howe, M. A. de Wolfe. Later Years of the Saturday Club (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1927).
Forbes, Edward W. and John H. Finley, Jr. Saturday Club: A Century Completed (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1958).
Engel, James and Michael Shinagel. The Saturday Club: The 150-Year Milestone (Hollis, N.H.: Puritan Press, 2007).
Collection Description
Photographs from life and of portraits of members of the Saturday Club of Boston, most used to illustrate memoirs of the men in publications of the club. The collection is arranged alphabetically.
Acquisition Information
Deposited by the Saturday Club, 1929, 1977.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Portraits
Arranged alphabetically.
II. Oversize portraits
Preferred Citation
Saturday Club photographs, Massachusetts Historical 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.