Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, Worcester's first printer and the first historian of American printing, the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester has grown steadily until it is today one of the greatest of all American history libraries. When the present beautiful and modern library building was erected, the museum feature of the Society's collections was discontinued and all efforts were concentrated on the building of a great library for the free use of scholars. Today historians, professors, graduate students, biographers, and bibliographers come from all parts of the country, many of them spending happy weeks or months in our quiet reading room. Hundreds of others write to us each year and are supplied through correspondence with the information they cannot come to Worcester to search out for themselves.

Many and varied are the evidences of co-operative anterprise in the early history of our country ranging from husking “bees” to sheriffs' posses; but none is more unique than the community purchase of a hearse by the community of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1812, as recounted in an account book owned by the Business Historical Society.

Interest in the internal improvement of the country, sectional enthusiasm, desire for personal profit — such were the motives characterizing the early railroad conventions which were a vital factor in the rapid development of our railroads a century ago. Detailed reports of these conventions are available in the almost complete file of the American Railroad Journal, possessed by the Baker Library.

Modern advertisers using rhymes in their copy may have obtained the idea from pamphlets similar to the one issued by Oak Hall, Boston clothiers, in 1850, and preserved in the collection of the Business Historical Society.

Adventures in the South Seas, narrated in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson's “Treasure Island,” are reported in the log of the Ship Hope for the years 1806 to 1808, now possessed by the Business Historical Society. Opportunity for adventure was derived from the unusual character of the voyage.