Item Details
1811
This dinner invitation was sent by Boston attorney and politician Harrison Gray Otis to William Warland Clapp, a Boston journalist and publisher. The dinner was being held on Commencement Day in Cambridge to celebrate the 1811 graduation of Otis's son H.G. Otis, Jr. and William Powell Mason from Harvard University. Answers were to be left at the Boston house of H.G. Otis, Esq.
Harrison Gray Otis (1765 - 1848) was a businessman, lawyer, and politician, becoming one of the most important leaders of the United States' first political party, the Federalists, and one of the wealthiest men in Boston. He graduated from the Boston Latin School in 1773 and Harvard University in 1783. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1786, and commenced practice in Boston. In 1794 he was elected to the Massachusetts legislature and in 1796 was appointed by President George Washington to be the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. In 1797, he was elected to the US Congress from Massachusetts as a Federalist and a strong advocate for centralized government. He was appointed U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts by President John Adams and was again elected to the state legislature from 1802 to 1817, serving several terms as President of the state Senate. In subsequent years, Otis was elected U.S Senator from Massachusetts (1817–1822) and served as Mayor of Boston from 1829 to 1831. Otis was an overseer of Harvard University from 1810 to 1823, and a fellow of the university from 1823 to 1825, as well as one of the original incorporators of the Boston Bank. He was also a founding member of the American Antiquarian Society.
Harrison Gray Otis Jr. (1792 - 1827) - (I could locate no biographical information)
William Powell Mason (1791 - 1867) graduated from Harvard University in 1811 and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar. Subsequently he succeeded John Gallison as reporter of the First Circuit of the United States. He published Reports of Cases in the Circuit Court of the United States for the First Circuit, from 1816 to 1830 (5 vols., Boston, 1819 - 1831) and a second series (5 vols., 1836).
William Warland Clapp Sr. (1783 - 1866) was a journalist and publisher (Clapp & Son's Press), involved with the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette, Hampshire Gazette, Boston Daily Advertiser, and many others.
3 1/4" x 4 5/8" - engraved on heavy card stock and in very good condition.
