SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE SOCIETY.

The Massachusetts Historical Society is the oldest historical society in the United States, and had its origin in the new life inspired by the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Its chief founder was the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, at that time minister of the religious society worshipping in the Federal Street meeting-house in Boston, and known as the author of a History of New Hampshire, which still holds a foremost place among State histories. With him were associated four other students of early American history, all of them under fifty years of age, -the Rev. John Eliot, minister of the New North Church; the Rev. Peter Thacher, minister of the Brattle Street Church; William Tudor, a prominent lawyer in Boston; and James Winthrop, of Cambridge, at that time one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex County. Having formed the general plan of the Society, these gentlemen invited the co-operation of five other historical scholars, the Rev. James Freeman, minister of King's Chapel; James Sullivan, afterward Governor of the State; Thomas Wallcut, à zealous antiquary; William Baylies, a well-known physician of Dighton, who had served in each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts; and George Richards Minot, author of a "Continuation of the History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay" and a "History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts," known as Shays's Rebellion. On the 24th of January, 1791, less than two years after the organization of a national government, eight of the little group met at the house of Mr. Tudor, which stood on Court Street, at the corner of what was then known as Prison Lane (1722), subsequently (1841) named Court Square. Those thus brought together adopted a constitution limiting the number of members to "thirty citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," and organized the Society. At the next meeting several of the members handed in lists of books and manuscripts which they were willing to give toward the formation of an historical library. These gifts form the nucleus of the priceless collection now owned by the Society, and numbering at the date of the annual meeting in 1907 about 50,000 bound volumes, nearly 110,000 pamphlets, and upward of 4,700 broadsides. The collection of historical manuscripts, it is

believed, is larger and more important than that owned by any similar society in the United States.

Three years after its first meeting, the Society was incorporated, in February, 1794, by an act of the Legislature, which restricted the number of members to sixty, exclusive of Honorary Members "residing without the limits of this Commonwealth"; but by an additional act passed in 1857 the Society was authorized to enlarge its list of Resident Members to one hundred. This continues to be the limit to the number of members residing within the State. There is no charter restriction on the number of Corresponding or Honorary Members who may be elected; but by an understanding in the nature of unwritten law, reached after careful deliberation at the February meeting of 1894, the number of Honorary Members is limited to ten, and the number of Corresponding Members to fifty. It is understood that the choice of Honorary Members should be further restricted, and looked upon as a recognition on the part of the Society of what is considered by it supreme accomplishment in the field of historical work.1

From the first the objects of the Society have been the collection, preservation, and diffusion of the materials for American history; and so early as 1792 the first volume of Collections was printed. This volume has been twice reprinted, and up to the present time has been followed by sixty-five other volumes, comprising in part reprints of scarce publications relating to American history, and in part original memoirs, and early letters and other documents which had never before been printed. Among the more important documents thus made accessible are Hubbard's History of New England and Bradford's History of Plymouth, both of which were first printed by the Society, Governor Bradford's LetterBook, the Body of Liberties, the correspondence with reference to the donations to the town of Boston after the passage of the Boston Port Bill, Judge Sewall's Diary and Letter-Books, and important collections of Winthrop, Mather, Belcher, Belknap, Pepperrell, Trumbull, Heath, Warren, Jefferson, Bowdoin and Temple Papers, etc. Beside these volumes the Society has also printed forty volumes of Proceedings, covering the record of all its meetings for one hundred and seventeen 1 2 Proceedings, x. 326; xv. 51-54; xx. 396.

years, and including numerous historical documents of permanent value, and discussions by the members on interesting or important historical questions. In the Collections or Proceedings are memoirs of nearly all the deceased members of the Society, including many of the most distinguished men of their time in Massachusetts. A gallery of historical portraits has been formed, and many interesting relics have been gathered and placed under the charge of the Cabinet-Keeper, beside which the Appleton collection of coins and medals was bequeathed to the Society, which is also the custodian of other similar treasures.

At three different periods courses of public lectures have been given under the auspices of the Society, for the promotion of the objects for which it was formed. Of these only one has been published, a course of twelve lectures on subjects relating to the early history of Massachusetts, delivered before the Lowell Institute in the early part of 1869.

As the Society neared the end of its first hundred years of active work, it was evident that an enlargement of methods had become necessary in order to keep abreast of the demands of a new century; and in 1889 a salaried editor was appointed to take charge of the publication of the Collections and Proceedings, the work of the members having been wholly gratuitous down to that time. In 1907 a still greater change was made by abolishing the admission fee and the annual assessment on Resident Members, thus placing Resident Membership on the same footing as Honorary and Corresponding Membership, honoris causa, with only the implied obligation that each person, according to the measure of his ability and opportunity, shall endeavor to promote the objects for which the Society was founded.

In its earliest years the Society had no established place of meeting; but in 1794 it received from several gentlemen, not members, the gift of an upper room over the arch in the Tontine Crescent, on the southerly side of what is now known as Franklin Street, where it remained until its removal in 1833 to the newly erected building of the Provident Institution for Savings, on Tremont Street adjacent to the King's Chapel Burial-ground, of which it then became part owner and afterward sole owner. In 1899 it removed to the building which it now owns and occupies at the corner of Boylston Street

and the Fenway, on land reclaimed from the tide long after the formation of the Society.

At the annual meeting in April, 1907, the Society held twenty-two permanent funds, of an aggregate amount of about $388,000, of which about one-fifth had come from persons who were not members of the Society or from their legal representatives. One of these benefactors, Thomas Dowse, also gave during his own life his large and valuable private library; and the cost of fitting up the room in which his books are kept and the Society holds its meetings was defrayed by the executors of his will. Rev. Robert C. Waterston, a member for nearly thirty-four years, gave the greater part of his library, and by his will left a sufficient sum for fitting up a room for its safe-keeping, which has been designated as the Waterston Room. The Ellis Hall commemorates the gift of the dwellinghouse of the Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis, seventh President, which under the provisions of his will was sold, and the proceeds applied toward the erection of the building now occupied by the Society.

The Society has been fortunate in having had only eight Presidents since its organization, James Sullivan, Christopher Gore, John Davis, Thomas L. Winthrop, James Savage, Robert C. Winthrop, George E. Ellis, and Charles Francis Adams. Mr. Savage and Mr. R. C. Winthrop together served for forty-four consecutive years (1841-1885).

ROGER B. MERRIMAN read a paper on a neglected phase of Queen Elizabeth's treatment of her Catholic subjects in England.

JAMES F. HUNNEWELL, in presenting a large photographic likeness of Richard Frothingham, Treasurer of the Society from 1847 to 1877, spoke as follows:

It is proposed that this Society shall have portraits of its past Treasurers. To the collection allow me to add a portrait of Richard Frothingham. Measuring twenty-one by twentyeight inches, it is from a small card photograph, and is the best likeness obtainable. It is enlarged nineteen diameters by Mr. Baldwin Coolidge.

In the Proceedings (second series, I. 381-393) for February, 1885, there is a memoir of Mr. Frothingham, written by

Charles Deane. I add only a few words to recall the story of the Treasurer's life.

Richard Frothingham was born in Charlestown, on January 31, 1812, and died on January 29, 1880. Descended from ancestors who were among the founders of the town in 1630, but whose previous history does not yet appear to be given correctly in type, he inherited and kept a strong local attachment, inborn reliability, and an abiding good name. Personally he showed three marked characteristics. He had great aptitude for office, and held with general satisfaction a large number and variety of official positions. With a strong liking for politics, he was a Democrat of the old school. At the outbreak of the Civil War, when there was uncertainty about the action of party men who had been under Southern influence, his leader" Stand by the Flag" rang out like a trumpet call to rally for the Union. He was a strong partisan, but a stronger patriot. He had, and it was a controlling part of his nature, the historic sense that shaped his chief life-work. For subjects he began with his native town, and expanded to the development of the nation. He was a notable man, one of the old worthies of this Society.

Through more than half a century I have had pleasant personal acquaintance with the Treasurers here, nearly half of that time with Richard Frothingham, and I am glad to help others to see him as I saw my old friend.

Mr. HUNNEWELL also read the following paper:

THREE EARLY WASHINGTON MONUMENTS.

During travels in the summer certain notable places are visited by some of us, and an account of a few of them may be worth giving; and a part of the pleasure we have had in our excursions may, in some degree, be shared with others. Our personal tastes may influence both travels and subjects.

Born on Bunker Hill and still having there my old library for almost daily visits, I have naturally been attracted to a Bunker Hill in Derbyshire, and to another in Devon. I by the way may remark that I have recently seen in the Proceedings (second series, XX. 474) for November, 1906, wonder expressed that I called the hill in Derbyshire prehistoric. I have no change to make in the title, or the article, unless it