Note 366 — Chapter II · (continued 2)

Report, etc., p. 24. Beside the “Mather Papers,” which refer to the colonial period, the Prince Catalogue shows the “Cotton and Prince Papers” (p. 153) and the “Hinckley Papers” (p. 154), which extend beyond the colonial into the provincial period. Gov. Belcher’s letter-books are preserved in the cabinet of the Mass. Hist. Soc. Vol. i. begins with Sept., 1731, and his connection with Boston ceases in vol. v., where also his letters from New Jersey begin and are continued to Dec., 1755. (Cf. Mem. Hist. Boston, ii. 60.) Dr. Belknap (Papers, ii. 169) speaks of them as having been sold “at Russell’s vendue for waste paper; some of them were torn up.” Various letters of Belcher are printed in the N. H. Provincial Papers, iv. 866-880. The list of MSS. in the cabinet of the Mass. Historical Society (Proc., x., April, 1868) gives various ones of interest in the study of the last century in New England history.