Samuel Shapleigh

Samuel Shapleigh (July 9, 1765 – April 17, 1800) was an American librarian.[1]

Samuel Shapleigh
Born	July 9, 1765
Died	April 17, 1800  (aged 34)

Shapleigh was born in Kittery, Maine, on July 9, 1765. Left an orphan at an early age, he was twenty before he entered Harvard College with the class of 1789. He taught a while in the Cambridge grammar school, and then studied law, but his poor health prevented him from practicing. In November, 1790, he was chosen Butler and three years later (27 August 1793) Librarian. His salary was fixed at $360, on condition that he or a substitute should "continue in the College during the Summer, Fall and Spring vacations that Company may have access to the Library." He acted as Librarian until his death, on April 17, 1800.

He was buried in Cambridge, where his gravestone identified him as "a virtuous son, faithful librarian, and liberal benefactor of Harvard College".[1] By his will he bequeathed nearly the whole of his property to Harvard, the income to "be sacredly appropriated to the purchase of such modern publications as the Corporation, Professors, and Tutors shall judge most proper to improve the students in polite literature ; the books to be deposited in the library of the University, and to consist of poetry and prose, but neither in Greek nor Latin."[2]

References

1. "Shapleigh, Samuel, 1765–1800. Papers of Samuel Shapleigh, 1739/1740–1800: an inventory". Harvard University.
2. Public Libraries in the United States of America. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1876. p. 80.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Potter, Alfred Claghorn; Bolton, Charles Knowles (1897). The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877. University of California Libraries. Cambridge, Mass., Library of Harvard University.