Browse the Cotton Mather diary and personal documents

Rev. Cotton Mather (1663-1728), son of Increase Mather and Maria Cotton, was born February 12, 1663 in the city of Boston in Massachusetts Bay Colony. He attended Boston Latin School and Harvard, graduating in 1678. He was ordained May 13, 1684 at Second Church in Boston, also known as "Old North" Church or "the Church of the Mathers", where he served with his father, Increase (1639 O.S. - 1723 O.S.). Rev. Mather was married three times (first to Abigail Phillips of Charlestown, second to Elizabeth Hubbard, and third to Lydia George) and had 15 children, six of whom lived to adulthood. Cotton was also a prolific author, publishing some 280 distinct items. He is perhaps best remembered today for his endorsement of inoculation as a means of fighting smallpox, and for his persecutory role in the Salem witchcraft trials. Rev. Mather died on February 23, 1728.

The digital collections below include a portion of Rev. Mather's diary entries from 1716, an essay directed at his son Samuel with advice on attending college, and a listing of marriages which Rev. Mather performed, dated 1717.