his collection to Harvard, but withdrew the bequest because of Harvard's failure to award him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree until just before his death. Bentley was one of the American Antiquarian Society's earliest elected members; elected in 1813, he also left his books on history and natural science to the Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts in his revised will. He left the rest of his library to the just-established Allegheny College, founded by fellow Harvard graduate Timothy Alden. Bentley Hall on the Allegheny College campus is named in his memory. World news From 1797 to 1817, Bentley wrote columns twice weekly for the Salem Gazette and Salem Register, discussing American and foreign news and politics on current topics such as the China trade, slavery, and the French Revolution, and often reflecting Bentley's Jeffersonian outlook. He twice declined Thomas Jefferson's offers of prominent positions, first as chaplain of the United States Congress, and then as first president of the University of Virginia. Bentley kept a detailed diary recording not only current events in Salem and the world, but also his own thoughts on a broad range of topics. The diary fills nearly 32 volumes; an abridged 11-volume version was published in 1905. William Bentley died on December 29, 1819, of a heart attack. The noted orator Edward Everett delivered his eulogy. He is buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery. Works on Bentley Brown, Richard D. Knowledge Is Power: The Diffusion of Information in Early America, 1700-1865 (1991) excerpt and text search pp 197–217 Ruffin, J. Rixey. 2007. A Paradise of Reason: William Bentley and Enlightenment Christianity in the Early Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. References Further reading (4 vols.) External links The Diary of William Bentley, D.D. (Google Books; includes detailed biographical sketch) Finding aid to William Bentley papers, ca. 1783-1819 at the Tufts Digital Library Allegheny College biography Ruffin Book Digital facsimiles of Christophe Daniel Ebeling letters to William Bentley. MS Am 576, Houghton Library, Harvard University. 1759 births 1819 deaths American Unitarian clergy 18th-century Unitarian clergy 19th-century Unitarian clergy American columnists American diarists Harvard University alumni Writers from Boston Writers from Salem, Massachusetts History of Salem, Massachusetts People from colonial Boston Burials at Harmony Grove Cemetery Members of the American Antiquarian Society People of colonial Massachusetts 19th-century American clergy 18th-century American clergy