Foreword

    FOR a variety of reasons, this memorial volume to Clifford Kenyon Shipton is long overdue. Shortly after Ted Shipton’s death in December 1973, the Council of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts voted to publish a volume, in his memory, containing papers written by his friends. In line with this decision, a number of articles were completed and set in galley proof. But, at about the same time, the Colonial Society embarked upon its program of holding conferences on various aspects of Massachusetts colonial history. These symposia were the idea of our late Editor of Publications, Walter Muir Whitehill, and he naturally became deeply involved not only in the conferences themselves but also in the volumes of conference papers which were to be published after each one. This preoccupation resulted in putting the Shipton volume on the “back burner,” so to speak. Also, in a number of cases, Walter promised the authors of articles submitted to the Society that their work would appear in the Shipton volume, even though the individual author’s relationship with Ted Shipton had often been a distant one.

    Finally, since the Society has published no volume of Transactions since 1963, articles that might well have been included in a Transactions volume were incorporated into the Shipton one.

    As a result of all this, the present book is not what was originally conceived when the Council voted to publish a memorial to Ted. About half the articles are the work of his friends, written expressly in his memory. Most of the rest are ones which Walter Whitehill had, at various times, accepted for publication. Finally, a few that seemed appropriate have been added after Walter’s death. Even though the original purpose of the volume has been modified, we believe that all the articles included herein are of very high quality and that this publication will do honor to Ted’s memory and carry out, in spirit at least, the original purpose of the Council.

    A glance at the Table of Contents will demonstrate that the twenty articles in this volume cover an extremely wide range, both of subject and of time. It soon became clear that there was no one obvious way to arrange their order. As a result, we have adopted a purely arbitrary arrangement: first come three papers dealing with the life and work of Clifford Kenyon Shipton; then the remaining seventeen pieces appear in alphabetical order, by the author’s name.

    The undersigned are jointly responsible for the finished product: Editor Allis sorted out the contents and reestablished contact with despairing contributors. Associate Editor Smith edited the papers and manhandled the results through the press.

    And so, at long last, we present this volume as a memorial to Ted Shipton. We hope he would have liked it.

    Frederick S. Allis, Jr.

    Editor

    Philip Chadwick Foster Smith

    Associate Editor

    Boston and Philadelphia

    October 1981