The New International Encyclopædia/Winsor, Justin

WINSOR, wĭn'zẽr, Justin (1831-97). An American historian and librarian, born in Boston, Mass. He was educated at Harvard College and continued his studies in Paris and Heidelberg. From 1868 to 1877 he was superintendent of the Boston Public Library, and from 1877 till his death librarian of Harvard University. His historical work was chiefly of a bibliographical and cartographical kind. The first book was a History of the Town of Duxbury (1849). This was followed by several valuable bibliographies, as that of the literature of the battle of Bunker Hill (1876), of the original quartos and folios of Shakespeare (1875), of the earlier editions of Shakespeare's poems (1879). etc. His more original work comprised The Readers' Handbook of the American Revolution (1880); Christopher Columbus (1891), a very iconoclastic book; From Cartier to Frontenac: A Study of Geographical History in the Interior of North America in Its Historical Relations, 1534-1700 (1894); and the Exploration of the Mississippi Basin (1895). He was also editor of a Memorial History of Boston (1880-81), and a Narrative and Critical History of America (1884-89) — a most scholarly performance and his most useful work, no small part of its value being due to his own bibliographical and cartographical contributions.