Book Review

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Book Review | The Journal of American History, 86.2 | The History Cooperative

Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. 1: 1743-1768. By Whitfield J. Bell Jr. (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997. xx, 531 pp. $40.00, isbn 0-87169-226-0.)

Whitfield J. Bell Jr., formerly librarian of the American Philosophical Society (APS), has worked for many years on the identification and biographies of members of the society, of which this is the first fruit. By way of apology for the possible omission of references to recent literature, he explains that some biographical sketches were done many years ago. But this is more than compensated for by an obvious command of a wide range of other historical sources both secondary and primary, including both print and manuscript. The volume at hand includes biographical sketches of eighty-five individuals who were members of organizations that were predecessors to the aps, which emerged from them in 1769. Historical introductions on each society are provided and portraits of thirty-one members are included. . . .

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