author
John Russell Bartlett
1805–1886
A lively 19th-century man of letters, politics, and exploration, he is best remembered for helping record early American speech and for documenting the U.S.–Mexico boundary. His work brings together language, travel, and history in a way that still feels vivid today.
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About the author
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1805, John Russell Bartlett built an unusually varied career as a bookseller, historian, linguist, and public servant. He spent part of his youth in Kingston, Ontario, later returned to Providence, and became active in literary and scholarly circles.
He is especially known for Dictionary of Americanisms, an early attempt to gather and explain words and phrases used in the United States. Bartlett also served as U.S. boundary commissioner after the Mexican-American War, and his travels in the Southwest led to detailed reports and illustrated accounts that helped shape how readers in the East understood that region.
Later in life, he served as secretary of state of Rhode Island and became connected with major cultural institutions in Providence, including the John Carter Brown Library. Across these different roles, he left behind a body of work that reflects deep curiosity about American language, local history, and the wider world.