military historical society massachusetts

HISTORY

John Codman Ropes

The Military Historical Society of Massachusetts was founded in 1876 by John Codman Ropes. Due to his deep interest in the Civil War, Mr. Ropes realized the importance of preserving its historical details with fullness and accuracy and led him to propose the organization of the Society. On February seventh, Mr. Ropes and twelve former officers of the federal forces during the Civil War formally organized the Society. The stated purpose was "the investigation of questions in military history and especially of questions relating to the late Civil War" (later broadened to include all aspects of "the military history of our own and other countries"). Within three years, the Society had grown to seventy-nine members of whom eight were former officers of the Confederate Army, three had no military affiliation listed (Mr. Ropes, le Comte de Paris, and Mr. Henry Armitt Brown) and the remainder were former officers of the Union Army or Navy.

On February 24, 1891, the Society was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a non-profit educational organization. (It is also recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit organization.) At the time of incorporation, the Society had grown to one hundred forty-six members. The purpose of the Society was further extended at that time to include "the establishment of a reading room and library devoted to such topics, and the maintenance of social meetings for the discussion of the same". In that same year, the First Corps of Cadets formulated plans to build its own Armory.

Colonel Thomas F. Edmands

Colonel Thomas F. Edmands, a member of this Society and Commander of the First Corps of Cadets, suggested to Mr. Ropes that his immense military library, including his Napoleonic collection, be placed permanently in the Cadet Armory. He therefore gave his entire collection of five hundred volumes on the Civil War, plus four hundred volumes on the Emperor Napoleon, plus many other volumes on military subjects. He also donated his collection of one thousand prints plus medals, bronzes and portraits as well as a death mask of Napoleon. This was augmented by gifts from others and eventually the library of the Society possessed over five thousand volumes. The collection remained in the Cadet Armory until the 1960's when the First Corps of Cadets was forced to sell the Armory at which time it was placed on permanent loan to the Mugar Library at Boston University where it is still available to serious scholars.