Wallace B. White, Territorial Librarian, February 1851-1853

Wallace Barnard White was born on August 8, 1823 in Massachusetts to parents Charles White and Sarah Blake. He attended the Public Latin School in Boston and Harvard College from 1839-1842, although it seems he may not have graduated. He served as Minnesota's Territorial Librarian from February 1851 to 1853. Prior to his appointment, he was the deputy postmaster of St. Paul and the personal secretary of Alexander Ramsey, first Territorial Governor of Minnesota. White joined other prominent Minnesota settlers including Governor Ramsey, H.H. Sibley, Alexander Faribault, and James Goodhue as a member of the delegation that traveled to Traverse des Sioux in July 1851 to sign a treaty with several bands of Lakota and Dakota Native Americans. His name appears as a witness on the resulting Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, signed July 23, 1851, by which the Native Americans ceded much of their territory and agreed to move onto reservations along the Minnesota River in exchange for annual deliveries of cash and goods. While in Minnesota he participated in social groups including the Freemasons and the New-England Society.

Following his tenure as Territorial Librarian, White served as a clerk in the Massachusetts 20th Infantry Regiment, Company K during the Civil War. The 20th Infantry was sometimes called the Harvard Regiment, due to the large number of Harvard graduates in the ranks. He enlisted August 24, 1861 and was discharged due to disability on November 23, 1862. He later held several positions in Washington, D.C. including Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Senate and a position in the War Department. He lived for a time in London, where he worked for a newspaper office, and died by suicide in Boston on May 6, 1882 at the age of 58 shortly after returning from Europe. He was buried in the Blake family tomb at the Central Burying Ground, Boston Common.

You may read more about the life and work of Wallace B. White in the resources linked in the Research Resources page, which are the source of this brief biography.