which have contributed to their existence and prosperity, a greater extension has been given to the biographical notices in this work, than is usual in a general history.
Every effort has been made to render the work complete, exact, and worthy of the institution it was designed to illustrate. In addition to the archives of the College, and those of the Colony and State of Massachusetts, the use of the books and manuscripts belonging to the Massachusetts Historical Society and to the American Antiquarian Society has been liberally afforded to the Author. Many ancient papers and manuscripts have been submitted to his inspection by those individuals in whose hands they now rest. The thread of the narrative has, however, been chiefly drawn from the records of the Corporation and Overseers; and no fact deemed generally important and interesting, which they contain, has been intentionally omitted. When views concerning motives, characters, and events, are expressed, differing from those generally entertained, the original documents from which they result are invariably annexed. The desire to place these authorities in the hands of the public, and to preserve from loss original papers, illustrative of the manners and characters of a former age, has led to an enlargement of the Appendix to each volume far beyond the original design.
