Alexandre Vattemare visits Boston.

A French ventriloquist and impersonator, he begins a tour of the U.S. designed to promote “the establishment in every quarter of the world of free libraries and museums ever open to the use of the people.” On his second visit to Boston, he donates 50 books for the establishment of a library in Boston to Mayor Josiah Quincy at a meeting at City Hall. On his third visit in 1847, he donates 96 books, maps, and engravings to the city. Vattemare’s efforts contribute to creation of the Boston Public Library in 1848.*