From James Madison to Isaiah Thomas, 12 October 1820
To Isaiah Thomas
Montpellier (Virga). Ocr. 12. 1820
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr. Thomas,1 with his acknowledgments for the copy of the Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society,2 and his best wishes for the success of an Institution, the valuable objects of which are so well explained and recommended in the early pages of the Volume.
RC (MWA: Isaiah Thomas Papers).
1. Isaiah Thomas (1749–1831) was a printer, and publisher of the Massachusetts Spy, first in Boston and later, from 1775, in Worcester, Massachusetts. There he established a printing company that published a wide variety of titles, and that at its height employed 150 people and included printing presses, five bookstores, a paper mill, and a bindery. He retired in 1802, though retaining ownership, and devoted himself to other business interests and philanthropy. In 1812 he founded the American Antiquarian Society and became its first president, an office he held until his death (Clifford K. Shipton, Isaiah Thomas: Printer, Patriot and Philanthropist, 1749–1831 [Rochester, N.Y., 1948], 2, 18–19, 32, 51–55, 63, 65–66, 67–70, 81–82, 84).
2. Archæologia Americana: Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, Mass., 1820; Shoemaker 92).