the Reverend John Prince
1751 - 1836
John Prince was born on 22 July 1751 in Boston. After completing his indentures to a tinsmith and pewterer, Prince studied for entrance to Harvard College and enrolled in 1772. He graduated in 1776 and went on to study divinity for a master's degree with the Reverend Samuel Williams of Bradford, Massachusetts. He was ordained in 1779 and became the pastor of the Congregationalist First Church of Salem. He became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the American Philosophical Society. Brown University honored him with a LL.D in 1795.
Prince's interest in science was encouraged by John Winthrop, the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard. His metalworking skills enabled him to become proficient in the repair and design of scientific instruments. The first record of Prince repairing Harvard apparatus dates from 1779, and he continued to serve his alma mater in this capacity until his death.
Prince was part of an extensive circle of people interested in science and shared observations with William Bentley, Manasseh Cutler, Thomas Barnard, Edward Augustus Holyoke, Joseph Willard, and other members of the Salem Philosophical Library, which came in 1782 to be housed in Prince's home. He was also visited by Benjamin Silliman, Nathaniel Bowditch, Walter Folger, Nathan Read, and Alexander Wilson. He frequently entertained his friends with scientific experiments, microscopical observations, and magic lantern lectures on a variety of topics.
John Prince's major contributions to science resided primarily in two activities: (1) his innovative designs for new forms of scientific instruments (especially the air pump, microscope, and telescope), which earned him the praise of Thomas Jefferson and the London instrument makers, George Adams and William and Samuel Jones; and (2) his sale of apparatus to numerous colleges and academies from Maine to Tennessee. Prince's clients included Harvard, Yale, Brown, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Williams, Middlebury, Amherst, Vermont, Union, Transylvania, Tusculum, and Charleston. Some of the instruments Prince sold were made or repaired by him; others were acquired in trade; and still others were purchased in London on behalf of a customer.
Prince's interest in science was encouraged by John Winthrop, the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard. His metalworking skills enabled him to become proficient in the repair and design of scientific instruments. The first record of Prince repairing Harvard apparatus dates from 1779, and he continued to serve his alma mater in this capacity until his death.
Prince was part of an extensive circle of people interested in science and shared observations with William Bentley, Manasseh Cutler, Thomas Barnard, Edward Augustus Holyoke, Joseph Willard, and other members of the Salem Philosophical Library, which came in 1782 to be housed in Prince's home. He was also visited by Benjamin Silliman, Nathaniel Bowditch, Walter Folger, Nathan Read, and Alexander Wilson. He frequently entertained his friends with scientific experiments, microscopical observations, and magic lantern lectures on a variety of topics.
John Prince's major contributions to science resided primarily in two activities: (1) his innovative designs for new forms of scientific instruments (especially the air pump, microscope, and telescope), which earned him the praise of Thomas Jefferson and the London instrument makers, George Adams and William and Samuel Jones; and (2) his sale of apparatus to numerous colleges and academies from Maine to Tennessee. Prince's clients included Harvard, Yale, Brown, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Williams, Middlebury, Amherst, Vermont, Union, Transylvania, Tusculum, and Charleston. Some of the instruments Prince sold were made or repaired by him; others were acquired in trade; and still others were purchased in London on behalf of a customer.
Invoices in Harvard University Archives:
[21 July 1779] Corporation Records, 3:45-46.
[7 Dec 1790] Treasurer's Reports to the President and Fellows, 1790-1791.
[4 Oct 1792] Treasurer's Reports to the President and Fellows, 1792-1793.
[8 Apr 1803] Corporation Records, 4: 641-642
[25 Feb 1804] Harvard College Papers, 1st series, 4: 63.
[8 Dec 1821, 8 May 1822] Corporation Papers, 1st series, supplements, box 12.
[1822?] Corporation Records, 1st series, supplements, box 12.
[4 Nov 1830] Corporation Records, 7: 205.
[31 July 1832] College Papers, 2nd series, 5: 176
[1838] College Papers, 2nd series, 8: 299-301.
[21 July 1779] Corporation Records, 3:45-46.
[7 Dec 1790] Treasurer's Reports to the President and Fellows, 1790-1791.
[4 Oct 1792] Treasurer's Reports to the President and Fellows, 1792-1793.
[8 Apr 1803] Corporation Records, 4: 641-642
[25 Feb 1804] Harvard College Papers, 1st series, 4: 63.
[8 Dec 1821, 8 May 1822] Corporation Papers, 1st series, supplements, box 12.
[1822?] Corporation Records, 1st series, supplements, box 12.
[4 Nov 1830] Corporation Records, 7: 205.
[31 July 1832] College Papers, 2nd series, 5: 176
[1838] College Papers, 2nd series, 8: 299-301.
Invoices of Prince are found in "Philosophical Apparatus and Professorships of Natural History," pp. 9-12, Harvard University Archives, UAI.15.960* vt. These date from 1789, 3 Apr 1791, 4 May 1792, 22 Aug 1792, 3 Sept 1792, 12 Nov 1792, 13 Jan 1793, 3 Mar 1793, 26 May 1793, 6 Nov 1794, 30 Dec, 1794, 22 Apr 1795, 27 May 1795, 4 Jan 1796, 30 June 1796, 5 May 1797, 14 May 1798, 27 Aug 1798, 24 Oct 1798, May 1799, 6 Nov 1799, 3 July 1801, 5 Aug 1801, 17 Aug 1802.
Sara J. Schechner, "Tools for Teaching and Research: John Prince, the Deerfield Academy, and Educational Reform in the Early Republic," <i>Rittenhouse</i> 10 (1996): 97-120.
Sara J. Schechner, "John Prince and Early American Scientific Instrument Making," in <i> Sibley's Heir: A Volume in Memory of Clifford Kenyon Shipton</i>, ed. Frederick S. Allis, Jr. and Philip C. F. Smith, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, no. 59 (Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1982), 431-503.