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Clarence Brigham was a powerful force at the American Antiquarian
Society
for fifty years. Hired in 1908 as the Society's third librarian,
he held
that position until 1930, when he became the director until he
retired
in 1959. These were years in which the Society's holdings and
resources
expanded dramatically. His obituary reports that 'Under Dr.
Brigham's
direction the Society's library grew from 99,000 volumes in 1908
to 600,000
in 1939, plus half a million manuscripts, maps, newspapers,
pamphlets,
broadsides, and prints.'(1)
Brigham's plan to strengthen the Society's collections came at
just
the right time, according to a successor, Clifford K. Shipton
(1902-73),
the Society's fifth librarian. 'When Clarence Brigham became
librarian
of the American Antiquarian Society, it was at a crossroads. Its
founders
had planned it as a national institution, the leader in its field,
but
by 1900 it seemed like so many similar organizations, destined to
become
a social and antiquarian organization of no significance to the
scholarly
world. It is due to the vision, the foresight, and the vigorous
collecting
of Clarence Brigham that the institution has become again a
primary organization
of the nation in its field.'(2)
In 1910 Brigham supervised the move of the collection to its
third and
current location, organizing wagonloads of books, newspapers, and
pamphlets
to be taken from the old Lincoln Square building to the new
structure
at 185 Salisbury Street, where he reportedly placed most of the
books
on the new shelves himself. As librarian and later as director,
Brigham
also helped plan the stack expansion of 1924, eventually creating
over
twenty miles of shelving that housed the huge numbers of volumes
and printed
objects he was acquiring. He also expanded the staff and further
shaped
the Society's future by raising funds and encouraging scholars.
His ability
to select areas of the collection for expansion was legendary. 'He
would
take a field in which [Isaiah] Thomas had left us the bare
cornerstones,
and would buy the largest collection to become available, usually
at a
time when interest in that field was low. Then he could set out to
fill
the gaps.' Often Brigham was buying material, such as city
directories
or annuals, which other libraries passed over. 'His genius in
selecting
fields which were to become popular for collectors was amazing....
He
recognized fields of potential source material before most of the
professionals
and was the first to collect them.'(3)
Brigham's work as an author and bibliographer is reflected in
his articles,
books, and essays. He is best known for his monumental
bibliographic work,
The History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820.
After it
was published in 1947, after thirty-four years of research, he
noted that
'When I started in 1913, I blithely believed that five years would
finish
the job.'(4) Brigham also published several books on the history
of Rhode
Island, where he took his first position as a librarian after
graduation
from Brown University in 1899. His publications at the American
Antiquarian
Society included his Account of American Almanacs (1925) and Paul
Revere's
Engravings (1954). Fifty Years of Collecting Americana for the
American
Antiquarian Society (1958) provides an outstanding record of his
many
contributions to the Society's collections, from first editions
and graphic
arts to children's literature and early engraved American
currency.
Brigham served as president of the AAS Council from 1955 until
his retirement
in 1959. In 1955 a local journalist dubbed him, 'Mr. American
Antiquarian
Society,' stating, 'He is one of the greatest of American
bibliographers,
with a fabulous knowledge of American newspapers, pamphlets, and
books.
Under his guidance, the American Antiquarian Society has achieved
a world-wide
reputation.'(5)
Brigham gave his portrait to the American Antiquarian Society in
1950,
adding his likeness to those of previous librarians and directors
of the
institution. He commissioned the portrait from a society painter
whom
he believed was named Charles J. Fox. However, in 1978 court
proceedings
revealed that, in fact, there was no Charles J. Fox. Leo Fox, an
art dealer
from Miami and Long Island with impeccable social and political
connections,
had invented the name and set up Charles J. Fox, Inc., as a way to
avoid
paying taxes. According to a newspaper report, 'Fox says the real
artist
is Irving Resnikoff, who has never met any of the subjects but
paints
them from photographs.'(6) Resnikoff (b. 1897) was a Russian
immigrant
living in New York City. In his forty-year association with Fox,
Resnikoff
painted portraits of dozens of government officials, military
personnel,
and New York businessmen.(7) The pose, expression, and shadowing
of Brigham's
portrait exactly matches those in a photograph taken by Boston's
Fabian
Bachrach, indicating that Brigham submitted the photograph to Fox
for
his portrait.(8)
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1) 'C.S. Brigham, 86, Librarian, Dead,' New York Times,
August
15, 1963, American Antiquarian Society Newsclipping File.
2) Clifford K. Shipton quoted in Ivan Sandrof, 'Dean of
American
Antiquarians,' Worcester Sunday Telegram, January 11, 1959,
section F,
p. 4.
3) Clifford K. Shipton, 'Report of the Council,'
Proceedings
of the American Antiquarian Society 73 (1963): 330, 336..
4) 'C.S. Brigham, 86, Librarian, Dead.' Brigham's notes
and correspondence
related to the publication of History and Bibliography of American
Newspapers,
1690-1820 and Paul Revere's Engravings are contained in Clarence
Saunders
Brigham Papers 1877-1963, American Antiquarian Society's
Manuscript Collection.
5) 'A Deserved Honor for Clarence Brigham,' Worcester
Gazette,
October 21, 1955, American Antiquarian Society Newsclipping
File.
6) 'Portrait Signature a Hoax?' Worcester Telegram, March
1,
1978. Nine portraits signed by C. J. Fox are listed in Art of the
U.S.
Capitol (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Printing Office, House Document
#91-368,
1976).
7) See entries for Brucker, Stahr, and Ailes in William
Gardner
Bell, Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army Portraits of
Biographical
Sketches (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United
States
Army, 1992). See also, entries for Dillon and Fowler in the
Secretaries
of the Treasury Portrait Collection (Washington, D.C.: Dept. of
the Treasury,
2000), on-line document at
http://www.treas.gov/curator/secretary/portrait.htm.
8) A copy of Bachrach's photograph is part of the
American Antiquarian
Society's Graphic Arts Collection.
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