J. Hammond Trumbull

James Hammond Trumbull (December 20, 1821 – August 5, 1897) was an American historian, philologist, bibliographer, and politician. A scholar of American Indian languages, he served as the first Connecticut State Librarian in 1854 and as Secretary of State from 1861 to 1866.

Early life and education

Trumbull was born in Stonington, Connecticut, to parents Gurdon and Sarah Ann (Swan) Trumbull. His mother was descended from Stonington's first colonists; his father was a wealthy merchant and state legislator, distantly related to Governor Jonathan Trumbull. James Trumbull's siblings included clergyman and author Henry Clay Trumbull and entomologist and author Annie Trumbull Slosson. Trumbull studied at Tracy's Academy in Norwich and enrolled at Yale University in 1838. He never received his degree, withdrawing before the end of his junior year because of ill health.

Trumbull received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Yale in 1850 and an honorary LLD in 1871. He subsequently received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Columbia University, both in 1887.

Career

While at Yale, Trumbull developed a keen interest in natural history, particularly conchology. Joining the Yale Natural History Society, he collaborated with James Harvey Linsley to write and publish a three-volume catalog of Connecticut's fish, reptiles, and shellfish in 1844 and 1845.

In 1847, Trumbull moved to Hartford and became assistant secretary of state of Connecticut from 1847 to 1852. Becoming interested in local history, in 1852 he edited and published, at his own expense, the first volume of the Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut (1636-1689), followed two years later by a second volume and in 1859 by a third volume. Charles J. Hoadly subsequently edited the remaining twelve volumes in the series.