Durfee, Calvin; Prime, S. Irenaeus. Williams Biographical Annals; With an Introduction by Rev. S. Irenaeus Prime, D. D. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1871. First Edition. [10871]
Publisher's purple cloth, edge-worn with fraying at the spine ends and corner tips, 8 1/2 x 6 inches, tight. 1871 gift inscription on ffep. Frontispiece portrait and several additional steel engravings, plus a real photo mounted of the Soldier's Monument. 1870 newspaper clipping from the Troy Daily Times describing President Mark Hopkins tipped in next to his entry. 665 clean pp. Fair. Hardcover.
This volume includes Sketches of the Presidents, the Vice-Presidents, the Trustees, Principal Donors, Professors, and "Fallen Heroes." It includes a chapter on The Men of the Haystack - Notice of Mr. Rice - Dedication of Missionary Monument.
Then follows Sketches of the Alumni, pp. 206-665, which is the main body of the volume.
A thorough treatment of the men of Williams College, founded in 1793. The "Haystack Prayer Meeting" of 1806 led to the establishment of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a long-standing and successful agency for spreading evangelical Christianity around the world.
"One third of all the men who have been educated in this college have become preachers of the everlasting gospel; and of those a large number - I cannot say how many, but this volume will tell us - have been, or are now, missionaries of the cross among the heathen." - Introduction.
