Edward E. Ayer

Edward Everett Ayer
Born	Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	May 3, 1927(1927-05-03) (aged 85)
Occupation(s)	Industrialist, philanthropist, collector
Known for	Donating extensive Native American book and manuscript collections to Newberry Library and Field Museum of Natural History; founding trustee of Newberry Library; first president of Field Museum

For the University of Richmond academic historian, see Edward L. Ayers.

Edward Everett Ayer (November 16, 1841 – May 3, 1927) was a prominent American industrialist, best known for donating his extensive assemblage of books and original documents related to Native American cultures and colonial-era history and ethnology to institutions such as the Newberry Library and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He amassed significant wealth through supplying timber to the rapidly expanding railroad sector during the 19th century. Ayer’s passion for collecting was sparked in his youth by an unexpected encounter with a book—William H. Prescott's renowned History of the Conquest of Mexico—which he discovered in a small library at a silver mine near Tucson, where he was stationed during his military service. According to his own reflections, this experience profoundly influenced him and laid the groundwork for his enduring fascination with literature on Indian Americana.

Early life

The Ayer family had resided in Massachusetts since their arrival from England two centuries earlier until 1836. Following the pioneering spirit of early settlers to the New World, Edward’s father, Elbridge Gerry Ayer, sought new opportunities on the frontier and relocated to Southport (now known as Kenosha, Wisconsin), where Edward was born in 1841. His elder sister Mary is believed to have been possibly "the first white child born" in that area. The establishment of a military road by Congress transformed Southport into an important commercial route. Edward’s father operated a general store, engaged a blacksmith contractor, and ventured into grain brokerage. Eventually, he sold his business to acquire land five miles south near a planned train station, where he played a role in founding the town of Harvard, Illinois. His involvement also extended to securing modest railroad construction contracts. Edward received his education at Harvard’s inaugural schoolhouse, recalling that "books were very scarce ... I virtually never saw any but the Bible and Josephus' works."

At nineteen, in 1860, Ayer moved westward to Silver City, Nevada, obtaining work at a quartz mine. The savings from this demanding labor enabled him to relocate to San Francisco, where he stayed with family acquaintances and found employment at a saw mill, gaining initial experience in the timber industry that would later generate his wealth.

With California’s entry into the American Civil War, Ayer enlisted in August 1861 with the First California Cavalry Volunteers and spent several years serving in the American southwest. During this period, he was assigned to guard the Cerro Colorado silver mine near the Mexican border. The mine’s owners had supplied it with a small library (a donation from Colonel Samuel Colt, famed for Colt revolvers), where Ayer discovered Prescott’s History of the Conquest of Mexico. At about twenty years old, this was the first time he encountered a library; reading Conquest of Mexico was an eye-opening experience that "seemed to open up an absolutely new world to me".

After completing his military service in 1864, Ayer returned to Harvard, Illinois, inheriting a one-third interest in his father’s general store. Within weeks he traveled to Chicago on business and happened upon a bookseller from whom he purchased Prescott's complete five-volume set on the conquests of Mexico and Peru. Reflecting on that day in his memoirs, he wrote:

I feel that that day, taking those books home, was, perhaps, the happiest day of my life up to that time; and going home I only touched the earth in high places. And I want to reiterate that the finding of Prescott's Conquest of Mexico in that mine in Arizona in '62 has been responsible and is to be credited as the principal force that has given me a vast amount of enjoyment in this world, and is absolutely responsible for the "Ayer Collection" in the Newberry Library, Chicago.

Notably, Ayer’s nephew was artist Elbridge Ayer Burbank, celebrated for his numerous portraits of Native American individuals.

Book and manuscript collections

Edward Ayer assembled a vast repository of books and manuscripts focused on American history, specifically related to the Native peoples of North America, including those from Central America. As a founding Trustee of Chicago's Newberry Library upon its establishment in 1892, Ayer pledged in 1897 to gift his collection of approximately 50,000 items to the institution. Due to the scale of this donation, the transfer was not finalized until 1911. By 1941, the collection was known to contain three significant holograph manuscripts: the trilingual Latin-Spanish-Nahua dictionary by Bernardino de Sahagún, Father Junípero Serra's diary from 1769, and Father Francisco Ximénez's bilingual transcription and translation of the oral tradition of the K'iche' Maya, now recognized as the Popol Vuh.

Ayer also played a key role as an early patron of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), contributing significantly to its creation and serving as its inaugural president. The museum originated from collections gathered for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, with curator F.W. Putnam aiming to establish a permanent display for these artifacts. As one of the museum’s founders, Ayer took initiative in creating an endowment fund and sought financial support from retail magnate Marshall Field, after whom the museum would later be named. Initially, Field expressed disinterest, reportedly stating, "I don't know anything about a museum, and I don't care to know anything about a museum." Nevertheless, Ayer persuaded him by reportedly warning, "You can sell dry goods until hell freezes over, but in 25 years, you will be absolutely forgotten." Field ultimately donated one million dollars toward the museum’s establishment and left an additional eight million dollars in his will.

In 1894, Ayer personally contributed to expanding the museum’s library by donating 400 volumes on ornithology along with another 600 volumes he had acquired from Charles Cory’s collection. He continued to enhance the library’s holdings through further acquisitions in natural history, particularly in ichthyology, as well as through donations from his personal collections. By 1926, just prior to his passing, the Ayer Collection at FMNH had become one of the most comprehensive and distinguished collections of its kind globally.

External links

• Edward E. Ayer Collection housed at the Newberry Library