THE JOHN HARVARD LIBRARY 



The intent of 

 Waldron Phoenix Belknap, Jr., 

 as expressed in an early will, was for 

 Hansard College to use the income from a 

 permanent trust fund he set up, for "editing and 

 publishing rare, inaccessible, or hitherto unpublished 

 source material of interest in connection with the 

 history, literature, art (including minor and useful 

 art), commerce, customs, and manners or way of 

 life of the Colonial and Federal Periods of the United 

 States . . . In all cases the emphasis shall be on the 

 presentation of the basic material." A later testament 

 broadened this statement, but Mr. BelJ^nap's inter- 

 ests remained constant until his death. 



In Uniting the name of the first benefactor of 

 Harvard College with the purpose of this later, 

 generous-minded believer in American culture the 

 John Harvard Library seel^s to emphasize the impor- 

 tance of Mr. Belknap's purpose. The John Harvard 

 Library of the Bel\nap Press of Harvard University 

 Press exists to maJ^e boo\s and documents 

 about the American past more readily 

 available to scholars and the 

 general reader. 



