James Winthrop, son of Professor John and Rebecca Winthrop, was born in 1752. Winthrop is sixth generation of John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1769 and assumed the duty of librarian in 1772. With the death of Winthrop's father, the professor's chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard was left vacant. James was considered for the chair on two occasions, only to be denied both times as a result of public opposition. However, the younger Winthrop was not discouraged, and continued to pursue numerous other activities and achievements. He was a founding member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Judge of Common pleas in Middlesex, and a founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Winthrop's main efforts though, were placed in his interpretations of Biblical Prophecies. Winthrop's mind and education have been called broad, but not deep. This knowledge was broadened in his elder years as he took up Russian and Chinese languages, adding to the long list of common language he already mastered. Winthrop's intimate friendship with Timothy Alden, as well as his past political and personal clashes with Harvard, ultimately connected him to Allegheny College and its library. Winthrop made the unlikely decision to bequeath the books of both himself and his father to the newly established college instead of Harvard, who expected to receive the extensive collection. Winthrop continued to be an overseer to the development of Allegheny and its library until his death in 1821.
William Winthrop, nephew of the Hon. James Winthrop, commissioned Mr. William Lewis to paint the portrait of James Winthrop in 1824. The artist worked from an "imperfect minature" painted around 1800.
