Rome, 1889, probably after a model from life made at Newport years before that time.1 Purchased by the Society. A bronze medal of President Charles William Eliot, designed by Leon Deschamps and struck at the French Mint in 1907.2 Given by Grenville H. Norcross. A bronze medal struck for the Cambridge Historical Society by Tiffany and Company of New York in 1907, from a design by Bela L. Pratt, to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Given by the Cambridge Historical Society. A framed photograph of a silhouette of Joseph Willard, President of Harvard University from 1781 to his death in 1804. Given by his grandchildren, Joseph and Susanna Willard. A water-color sketch of the view up Summer Street showing Trinity Church, by N. Vautin after a drawing by Sarah Hodges in 1846; also another water-color sketch by the same artist in 1851-1852 showing the church from a point on Winter Street, after a sketch by Miss Hodges about the year 1850.* Given by Mrs. Sarah (Hodges) Swan, of Cambridge. Thirty-five bank bills on New England banks from 1849-1864 stamped "counterfeit" or "worthless by the Suffolk Bank, or National Bank of Redemption, Boston; and a Confederate States bill for fifty dollars, February, 1864.5 Given by George Eliot Richardson. Three tickets of the Massachusetts Government Lottery of the year 1744, signed by S. Watts. Given by King William Mansfield. A photograph of the only known portrait of Colonel James Montgomery, who died at Mound City, Kansas, December 6, 1871.5 Given by F. B. Sanborn. Four large photographic portraits of former Treasurers made by Baldwin Coolidge at the expense of the Society as follows: William Tudor, Treasurer from 1791 to 1796, and from 1799 to 1803, after a portrait by Stuart in the possession of Robert H. Gardiner, of Gardiner, Maine.6, 7 Josiah Quincy, Treasurer from 1803 to 1820, after an oil painting by Stuart in the Museum of Fine Arts. Nahum Mitchell, Treasurer from 1839 to 1845, after an oil painting in the possession of Horace P. Chandler. Peleg W. Chandler, Treasurer from 1845 to 1847, after a photograph by Notman, Boston, furnished by Horace P. Chandler. A photographic portrait of Richard Frothingham, Treasurer from 1847 to 1877.8 Given by James F. Hunne well. 1 See ante, 204, 234; 2 180; 8 229; 230; 5 315; 6 394. 7 1 Proceedings, i. xxxvi, 282. 8 See ante, 295. A crayon portrait of Charles C. Smith, Treasurer from 1877 to 1907, drawn from life for the Society, in November, 1907, by Miss Mary N. Richardson.1 A large etched portrait of John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts, by Jacques Reich, after the original painting in the Massachusetts Senate Chamber attributed to Van Dyke. Given by Frederic Winthrop. In accordance with the vote of the Council at the meeting in March, the ancient classical coins belonging to the Society have been given to Harvard College, and the following letters have been received in acknowledgment: At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College in Boston, March 23, 1908, the following communication was presented: BOSTON, March 14, 1908. The following vote was passed by the Council of the Massachusetts Historical Society at a meeting held on the 12th instant: On the recommendation of the Cabinet-Keeper, it was voted that the ancient classical coins belonging to the Society be given to Harvard College. EDWARD STANWOOD, Whereupon it was Secretary of the Council. Voted, That the generous offer of the Massachusetts Historical Society be gratefully accepted. A true copy of record. Attest: JEROME D. GREENE, Secretary. LIBRARY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 7th, 1908. GRENVILLE H. NORCROSS, Esq., Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass. MY DEAR MR. NORCROSS,I beg to acknowledge the receipt from the Massachusetts Historical Society of about a thousand ancient coins, chiefly of the later Roman Emperors, and I beg to thank the Society for transferring to this Library a collection which cannot fail to be of interest to classical and historical students. Very truly yours, WM. C. LANE. Dr. Malcolm Storer, curator of coins of Harvard College, has kindly arranged for this Society the Admiral Vernon medals of the Appleton Collection. I again call attention to the crowded condition of the 1 See ante, 394. Cabinet room, and suggest that either an addition be built on the rear land or that the Ellis Hall be used for exhibition of prints, engravings, autographs, and documents suitable to be displayed on movable easels. GRENVILLE H. NORCROSS, BOSTON, April 9, 1908. Cabinet-Keeper. ALBERT MATTHEWS presented the report of the Committee appointed to examine the Library and Cabinet: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY AND CABINET. The Committee has, with the kind aid of the Librarian and of the Cabinet-Keeper, performed its duty. Accessions to the Cabinet are constantly made, and space for their accommodation is as constantly diminishing. Hence the Committee recommends that an addition be made to the present room. While the Cabinet-Keeper is interested in numismatics, he does not pretend to that expert knowledge which is requisite for the proper care and display of the coins. Therefore the appointment of a curator of coins is suggested. In the Library the excellent method of mounting newspapers, adopted two years ago, is being carried on as rapidly as possible. It is suggested that additional steel stacks be built in the large room over the Dowse Library, if the floor is sufficiently strong to permit it, to replace the wooden cases. which are a serious menace and ought to be removed. The Committee thinks it would be singularly appropriate if a bust of Francis Parkman were procured and placed over the cabinet containing the Parkman Papers, to correspond with that of Robert Charles Winthrop over the cabinet containing the Winthrop Papers. ALBERT MATTHEWS, WILLIAM R. THAYER, Committee. April 9, 1908. Dr. DENORMANDIE, for the Committee to nominate officers, presented a list of officers for the ensuing year, and the following named gentlemen were elected: For President. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. For Vice-Presidents. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN. For Recording Secretary. EDWARD STANWOOD. For Corresponding Secretary. For Treasurer. ARTHUR LORD. For Librarian. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN. For Cabinet-Keeper. GRENVILLE HOWLAND NORCROSS. For Members at Large of the Council. NATHANIEL PAINE. EDWARD H. HALL. ROGER B. MERRIMAN. MELVILLE M. BIGELOW. EDWIN D. MEAD. Dr. Green having been elected to two offices, Bliss Perry, on motion of Dr. DeNormandie, was elected an additional member of the Council to make the number thirteen. Dr. DENORMANDIE read the following paper: MODERNISM. The Pope's Encyclical against modernism is such an open attack upon the historical method in the investigation of truth, to which we owe so much, that its consideration belongs very naturally to our work and interests here. This vehement denunciation of modernism does not refer to the improvements which science and the inventive mind of man have introduced for our comfort or convenience in these latter years, although some of them in the beginning came under a like condemnation; it means a censorship or a bar upon all writings, and all the results of thought in the present age which have made popular the researches of the naturalists or the students of the ethnic religions, or the bearing of the historical method upon biblical criticism, or of the generally accepted theory of evolution in some form. It is condemnation of everything upon every subject which the most earnest, diligent, and consecrated study of the past few generations has made known to us, and classes it all as destructive, pernicious, atheistical. Its haughty assumption is that all who spoke by the Spirit of God lived and died centuries ago, and that everything which belongs to the realm of spiritual thought was settled by ancientism, and has no value if it contradicts the venerable uses, forms, or decrees of the Vatican. To fight against modernism is as futile as to fight against the movements of the planets, and it is to be regretted because it appeals only to persons in mental servitude, and keeps the chains of ignorance and bondage from being unloosed. The great discoveries that have made the world glad and expanded life's comforts and enjoyments were almost all met by the same condemnation, because it was feared they would profane some mystery, or destroy faith in what are superstitiously regarded as infallible authorities. Those who made or accepted these discoveries, and thus advanced human knowledge, were called sorcerers, or said to be in league with Satan if they were chemists; they were considered infidels if they were astronomers, and atheists if they were scientists. There lingers on, among those who have no real, deep faith in God, the survival of the old fear that the intellect is, by the very nature of its workings, destructive of religious faith, that they who follow it move towards uncertainty, doubt, and unbelief. We take the opposite ground. We affirm just the contrary view. A reverent mind seeking the truth is just as much under the law of God to-day as any one was at the introduction of Christianity or at the foundation of the world. All the teachings and revelations of modernism are just as necessary, just as helpful, just as divine, as any teachings by any of the ancients. All the earnest and consecrated labors of the intellect are just as sacred now, when pursued in the interests of truth, as when of old the great poet of the Orient sang the praises of Wisdom. |