The New International Encyclopædia/Chamberlain, Mellen

CHAMBERLAIN, Mellen (1821-1900). An American librarian and historical writer. He was born in Pembroke, N. H., graduated at Dartmouth in 1844 and at the Harvard Law School in 1848, and in 1849 began the practice of the law in Chelsea, Mass. He subsequently served for some years in the Massachusetts Legislature; was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate; became a justice of the Boston Municipal Court in 1866; and from 1870 to 1878 was Chief Justice. From 1878 to 1890 he was librarian-in-chief of the Boston Public Library. He devoted much of his time to the study of American history, and wrote a number of monographs and essays of considerable value, some of which were collected into a volume entitled, John Adams, the Statesman of the Revolution, and Other Essays (1898). Among his other publications are: The History of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullin Point (1880); The Journals of Captain Henry Dearborn, 1775-83 (1886-87); and several chapters, notably the one entitled “The Revolution Impending,” in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America (Boston, 1884-89).