The Massachusetts Magazine was published in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1789 through 1796.[1][2] Also called the Monthly Museum of Knowledge and Rational Entertainment, it specialized in "poetry, music, biography, history, physics, geography, morality, criticism, philosophy, mathematics, agriculture, architecture, chemistry, novels, tales, romances, translations, news, marriages, deaths, meteorological observations, etc. etc." It was intended as "a kind of thermometer, by which the genius, taste, literature, history, politics, arts, manners, amusements and improvements of the age and nation, may be ascertained."[3] Founded by Isaiah Thomas, the magazine was also published by Ebenezer T. Andrews (1789-1793), Ezra W. Weld (1794), Samuel Hill (1794), William Greenough (1794-1795), Alexander Martin (1795-1796), Benjamin Sweetser (1796), and James Cutler (1796). It was edited by Isaiah Thomas, Thaddeus Mason Harris (1795-1796), and William Bigelow (1796).[4] Contributors included Joseph Dennie (as Socialis), William Dunlap, Benjamin Franklin, Sarah Wentworth Morton (as Philenia), Judith Sargent Murray[5] (as Constantia), and Christian Gullager.[6] Sheet music was published with some issues, including compositions by Hans Gram.
- ^ Paul Leicester Ford. Check-list of American magazines printed in the eighteenth century. 1889.
- ^ Example: Vol. VII, No. VI, July, 1794 via archive.org
- ^ The Massachusetts Magazine, VIII (1796).
- ^ Frank Luther Mott. A history of American magazines, 1741-1850. Harvard University Press, 1930.
- ^ Archive of Judith Sargent Murray (via jsmsociety.com) -- list of MM article titles
- ^ Eve Kornfeld. Creating an American culture, 1775-1800: a brief history with documents. Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.