MEMBERS DECEASED.

Members who have died, or of whose death information has been received, since the last volume of Proceedings was issued, June 27, 1907, arranged in the order of their election, and with date of death.

UNIV. OF

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

THE

ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL, 1907.

HE Annual Meeting was held on Thursday, the 11th instant, at three o'clock, P. M.; the President, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, LL.D., in the chair.

The record of the March meeting was read and approved; and the Librarian and Cabinet-Keeper submitted their monthly reports.

Mr. Wilberforce Eames, of New York, Librarian of the Lenox Branch of the New York Public Library, was elected a Corresponding Member.

Hon. Samuel A. Green communicated, in behalf of Rev. Dr. GEORGE A. GORDON, the memoir of the late Rev. Dr. Samuel E. Herrick which Dr. Gordon had been appointed to prepare for publication in the Proceedings.

The Treasurer said that since he had come into the room he had received from the Executors of the Will of the late Hon. Stephen Salisbury, of Worcester (H. U. 1856), a check for the amount of the bequest of Mr. Salisbury of $5,000, together with the accrued interest up to the present time. There is no restriction on the use of this bequest, or of the income arising therefrom; but in the opinion of the Treasurer it should be treated as a permanent unrestricted fund.

In the absence of T. W. HIGGINSON, LL.D., in consequence of a death in his family, the Report drawn up by him as Senior Member at Large of the Council was read by Mr. Albert B. Hart, as follows:

2

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

[APRIL,

It is curious to compare the reports of the Council at the present day with the reports of fifty years ago, when the present building of this Society was non-existent and the crowded upper rooms upon Tremont Street afforded the only headquarters. In the report for 1867, for instance, it was stated by Mr. Saltonstall, the chairman of the retiring committee, that the prospects of the Society at the beginning of that year had been "somewhat gloomy," and that "the enhanced cost of paper and printing had apparently rendered it imperative to cease all effort at publishing the Collections or the Proceedings" (p. 5). It was certainly a great step from this to the first sentence of a report presented by Mr. A. McF. Davis in behalf of the Council in 1904, as he began his report by saying cheerfully, "From year to year it has been the pleasant duty of the Council to congratulate the Society upon. the satisfactory condition of our finances." This was simply the result of added bequests and of good investments which followed. It becomes easier and easier, therefore, to look with hopeful eyes on the future of the Society, and it is well to inquire if any change is yet to be made which would advance our arrangements still further.

The prosperity of the Society in regard to the fulness of attendance at meetings is quite remarkable, and it has in this respect greatly the superiority over various similar societies in this city. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that our members are brought together by unity of interest in a general theme; whereas the meetings of the others may be made up from a great variety of professions, and the proceedings are not always interesting or even intelligible to the less learned members. On the other hand, the locality of this building is still a little less accessible than was the previous dwellingplace of our Society, although the rapidity of the city's growth in this direction is quickly diminishing this obstacle, and a similar position is not regarded as a serious obstacle to the use made of the Medical Library just around the corner. But there are other reasons which make the Public Library at present more convenient for study than our own building, and it may be well to consider whether our unique manuscript collection in particular may not be made more accessible to 1 2 Proceedings, vol. xviii. p. 265.

readers by a wider array of small tables and seats, so that our increasing facilities may end in affording easier access to our important collections now placed in the outer hall.

It is quite worth considering, moreover, whether an additional assistant would not be a valuable addition for this purpose, when one considers the much larger attendance supplied in this respect at the Boston Public Library. The actual force now employed may be enough to supply the comparatively small number of students who now visit the rooms; and the arrangement of all papers in the drawers is very satisfactory; but the provision of one more attendant would seem essential to the larger service implied by such great additional supplies of unique treasures as the Winthrop and Parkman papers. The arrangements, still incomplete for miscellaneous collections, in the upper hall may also create additional need of enlarged service.

Of the two Resident Members who have died during the last year, Messrs. Young and Slafter, both have distinguished themselves for faithful service; and the whole nation is still mourning for the loss of our Honorary Member, Carl Schurz, whose autobiography is still passing through the magazines. Of the five Corresponding Members, the one whose name will be dearest to all students who have visited the British Museum is Richard Garnett; while Gustave Vapereau, Alexander Brown, Henry Martyn Baird, and Frederic William Maitland have all left honored memories behind. The loss of George Spring Merriam and of Thomas Corwin Mendenhall by resignation is also regretted, while the names of six new Resident Members are very welcome, these being Messrs. Lindsay Swift, George Sheldon, M. A. DeW. Howe, Arnold A. Rand, Jonathan Smith, and Albert Matthews. Messrs. Beekman Winthrop and James Phinney Baxter have been elected Corresponding Members, and there are still vacancies of four in that department. Captain Mahan has been transferred from the Corresponding membership to the Honorary position.

The following changes took place, during the year, in the membership of the Society:

The following publications have been issued by the Society during the year:

Serial numbers of Proceedings, Vol. XX., March to December, 1906. Collections, seventh series, Vol. VI. (Part II. of the Bowdoin and Temple Papers).

The following is a list of such publications by members of the Society, during the year, as have come to the knowledge of the Council:

Lee's Centennial. An Address by Charles Francis Adams at Lexington, Virginia, Saturday, January 19, 1907, on the invitation of the President and Faculty of Washington and Lee University.