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PIONEER SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN.

LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS.

JOINT RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO THE STATE LIBRARY.

SECTION 1. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, That it shall be the duty of the State Librarian to issue a printed circular to the citizens of the State, inviting them to deposit in the State Library such minerals and geological specimens as any citizen may find upon his premises, or in any portion of the State; and also inviting them to donate any books, pamphlets, or papers pertaining to the history of Michigan; also any Indian relics, and curiosities of any kind.

SEC. 2. Whenever any such specimens may be deposited in the Library, it shall be the duty of the Librarian to correctly label and classify each specimen or gift, and to enter in a book kept for that purpose the name of the donor, and the character and quality of each specimen or gift donated.

SEC. 3. The circular of the Librarian shall specify the kind and quality of specimens desired, in geology, mineralogy, and fossils.

SEC. 4. The cabinet so collected shall be open for the inspection of all persons, subject to the rules and regulations of the Librarian, during the same hours as are provided for the State Library.

SEC. 5. This resolution shall take immediate effect.
Approved April 15, 1873.

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE INCORPORATION OF STATE, COUNTY, OR MUNICIPAL, HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That any five or more persons and their successors, that may hereafter associate together for the purpose of collecting and preserving historical, biographical, or other information in relation to the State of Michigan, or any portion thereof, may become a body corporate by complying with the requirements of this act.

SEC. 2. The persons intending to become a body corporate for the above named purpose, shall publish a notice of their intention to meet for organization, three

successive weeks, in at least one newspaper published nearest to the place where such meeting is to be held; said notice to state the object of the meeting, and when and where it will be held, and to be signed by at least three of the persons interested in establishing such organization; said meeting to be open to the public. SEC. 3. The articles of association adopted at the meeting provided for in the preceding section shall specify:

First, The name, officers, and object of the association;

Second, The limit of property;

Third, The limit of subscription of members;

Fourth, The town, city, village, county, district, or extent of the territory in which the operations of the society may be carried on or to which they are limited. SEC. 4. The articles of association, duly signed by each original member together with the certificate signed by the secretary, stating the amount of subscription paid in, must be registered in the office where the association is located, in a book kept for that purpose, and a copy of the same must be forwarded to the Secretary of State.

SEC. 5. On complying with the requirements of this act as above specified, the association so organized shall be a body corporate, and shall be capable of holding such real estate and personal property as may be necessary to carry out the objects of such society; of suing and being sued in any court of this State; may have a common seal, and may alter or amend the same at pleasure, and be subject to the general laws of the State applicable to such societies; may make such by-laws and regulations, not inconsistent with its articles or with the laws of the State, as may be necessary to promote the efficiency of the organization.

SEC. 6. Should a State association be organized under this act, it shall be the duty of the secretary of said State society to make and transmit to the State Librarian a report of the transactions of said society, including copies of papers read at its meetings or contributed by its members, of facts collected by correspondence or otherwise, at the end of the month of September of each year.

SEC. 7. District or county, town, city, or village associations organized under this act are hereby required to report through their secretary in the month of September in each year, to the secretary of the State association, the proceedings of said society during the year, giving copies of papers read at its meetings or contributed by its members during the preceding year; such report from district, county, town, city, or village societies to be used in compiling the report of the State association provided for in section six. All collections of documents, periodi cals, newspapers, books, maps, pictures, specimens and curiosities which may be made by said State society, shall be placed in the State Library in charge of the State Librarian, and shall be regarded as belonging to the State whenever said society may be dissolved, or for any cause discontinue its organization.

SEC. 8. This act shall take immediate effect.

Approved April 25, 1873.

GENERAL CIRCULAR ISSUED BY THE STATE LIBRARIAN.

MICHIGAN STATE LIBRARY, LIBRARIAN'S OFFICE,

Lansing, June 2, 1873.

Pursuant to the requirements of a Joint Resolution passed by the Legislature of Michigan, approved April 15th, 1873, the State Librarian issues this circular with a desire and wish that it may meet with a prompt and hearty response from every party who may receive the same.

We should no longer hesitate or delay to gather up and preserve in the achives of the "Beautiful Peninsula" a history of the acts of those pioneers who have gone before us, and by whose aid were constructed the primitive foundations of our great and growing commonwealth.

The interesting traces of the prehistoric races, who once inhabited our country, were the owners of our soil, and the masters of our great lakes and beautiful rivers, are fast disappearing. The aboriginal tribes, our more immediate predecessors, are fast passing away, and with them the traces of their ancestors, and all traditions of the more recent events in their own unwritten history. The imperfect records of the deeds performed, privations endured, and conquests made by the heroic men who were the pioneers of the present civilization, should be rescued from oblivion. The more wonderful achievements of the men of the present generation, whose subjection of vast areas of wild lands, immense forests of timber, and inexhaustible mineral resources to the uses of civilized life; whose construction of public works, and opening of railroads and highways, and whose building of villages and cities with numerous institutions of every kind, have been without a parallel in the history of the world,-these should not be lost, but should be recorded, and that history be carefully preserved.

Nature, too, has been lavish of her rich gifts in the shape of geological formations, fossils, minerals, fauna and flora within our borders, and their untold wealth in a commercial point of view, and their priceless value to the scientist, have never yet been properly or fully developed.

Our Legislature has been wise in taking the incipient steps to discover and preserve everything that relates to the history, antiquities, and statistics of Michigan, as a State and Territory; to rescue from oblivion the memory of its early pioneers, and to obtain and preserve narratives of their exploits, perils, and hardy adventures; to preserve memorials of its Indian tribes, their customs, religion, and history; and to establish a cabinet and museum for relics and curiosities as well as for specimens of the rich minerals of the State.

The real worth of everything which may be donated to our State Library, whether in books, pamphlets, journals, newspapers, manuscripts, narratives, maps,

and charts, natural curiosities, relics of a by-gone age, and specimens, can never be estimated by dollars and cents.

Dr. Alexander justly observes that "our national tendency, so far as we have any, is to slight the past and over-rate the present."

Our people are respectfully reminded that much can be secured now, which cannot be rescued or secured a few years hence; and their action in regard to the matters herein referred to is earnestly solicited.

In order that every one interested my fully understand the nature and scope of the collections which we desire to make, arrange, preserve, and exhibit, we beg leave to state that the following named materials as contributions and donations to our State Library are urgently solicited, viz.:

1. GENERAL STATISTICS.-In regard to marriages, births, and deaths; instances of remarkable longevity; official and reliable reports in regard to the insane, deaf, dumb, blind, idiotic, and feeble-minded; data of special epidemics; reports of medical societies, and printed essays and addresses read or made before such societies; minutes and proceedings, as well as reports of scientific, literary, religious, and benevolent societies of every name; orations, sermons, addresses, tracts, essays, discussions, letters, pamphlets, poems, magazines, serials, almanacs, catalogues. calendars; incidents, and anecdotes of the bench and bar, executive and legislative departments; crimes and criminal trials, agriculture, commerce, and navigation, imports and exports, mining, lumbering, and saline interests, insurance and banking, fish and floral culture; military organizations, reports, returns, and resolutions, number of volunteer corps, names of field staff, and general officers; description of ancient mounds, burial grounds, and fortifications that have been or are now in existence in the State.

2. BOOKS OF ALL KINDS.-Newspapers,-files of,-bound or unbound, manuscripts, diaries, narratives, letters, and other writings shedding light upon our early history; also of the period prior to A. D. 1800; the War of 1812; Indian wars and skirmishes; the Toledo war, so called; Pontiac's conspiracy; the Black Hawk war; also of the war growing out of the gigantic Rebellion of the present decade. Books and pamphlets and all literary and legal productions of Michigan authors are a desired specialty.

3. MODELS OF INVENTIONS.-Patented by Michigan men, and titles of books copy-righted by Michigan authors or publishers, with names and postoffice address of patentees, authors, and publishers.

4. HISTORIES. Of towns, villages, cities, and counties, together with copies of their charters, ordinances, by-laws, and regulations, surveys, maps, charts, directtories, in fact, whatever relates to the natural and civil history, topography, geography, climatology, and meteorology of any locality in the State.

5. The earliest notices of Indian tribes within our boundaries, their names, customs, religions, language, skirmishes, and battles; the Indian names of lakes, rivers, hills, islands, bays, and straits, and their signification.

6. Sketches of the lives of eminent and remarkable persons who have lived in Michigan or have figured in its history; especially notices and anecdotes of the prominent pioneers and actors, their narratives and statements, their journals, diaries, letters, and documents that may illustrate State history. We desire especially to have contributions of narratives and statements of old men and early settlers still living, but who are soon to pass away, that may be of public and general interest.

7. As a particular favor, we desire donations of the journals of the Judges and Council, Territorial Journals and laws, especially session laws prior to 1830. Legis

lative manuals prior to 1860, minutes, proceedings, journals, and debates of all the Constitutional Conventions held in the State except that of 1867.

8. RELICS AND CURIOSITIES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.-Indian weapons, costumes, ornaments, implements, stone-axes, spears, hatchets, tomahawks, arrow-heads, pipes, and pottery. Also specimens of Wild-Cat bank currency,-shin plasters,confederate money, cions, medals, tokens, coats of arms, banners, battle flags, and trophies of the late Rebellion.

9. Autographs, portraits, photographs, lithographs, paintings, engravings, or anything that may illustrate the history, progress, and present status of the fine arts in Michigan, or that may in any degree contribute to its cherished reminiscences. 10. NATURAL HISTORY.-This field is so fertile and vast in Michigan, that the limits of this circular will not allow us to particularize all of the specimens that would be desirable contributions to our State Library, hence we have used indiscriminate the popular and scientific nomenclature. The vocabulary of mineralogy alone embraces more than six hundred distinctive names. Our space restricts us to a limited list of orders, families, and classes.

The Upper Peninsula is so prolific in valuable minerals that it is now eagerly attracting the attention of the commercial world, while the researches of learned scientists are constantly bringing to light new developments. The Lower Peninsula is undoubtedly rich in coal measures, gypsum, saline deposits, peat, clays, and stone valuable for various purposes.

We desire specimens of the purest and best quality of the following named materials as contributions to the State Library, viz.:

1. GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

Aqueous, Volcanic, Plutonic, and Metamorphic rocks, according to the division of Lyell. Palæozoic, Copper Bearing, and Iron Bearing rocks, following the Nomenclature and. Geological Survey of Rominger, Pumpelly, and Brooks.

Specimens named in the Economic Geology of Winchell, viz.:

Metallic Ores.-Iron Pyrites, Mispickel, Magnetite. Hæmatite, Bog Iron Ore, Spathic Iron Ore, Native Copper, Copper Pyrites, Erubescite, Gray Copper Ore, Chrysocolla, Gold, Silver, Lead, and their associates, Peat, Coke, Bituminous, Cannel, and Anthracite Coals, Syenite and Granite, Sandstones, Limestones, Marble, Gypsum, Quicklime, Waterlime, Ochre, Manganese, Ferruginous Shales, Brine, Salt Borings, Clays, Sand, Gravel, Gritstones, Slates, Mineral Waters.

2. FOSSILS.

We cannot enumerate them, as the classes of animals are estimated at nearly ten thousand, but we desire fossil specimens of Insects, Fishes, Shells, Birds, Worms, and beasts of the fields, and colossal animals, such as are found in the orders Plesiosaurus, the Megatherium, and others. Zoophites, or animal plants, including sponges and corals. Cryptogamia, or Flowerless Plants.-Such as Mosses, Liverwort, Fungi, Algae, Lichens, Ferns, Ground Pines, etc., etc.

Phenogamous, or Flowering Plants.-Such as the Monocotyledons, or Exogens, including more than twenty orders, among which are the Grasses, Sedges, Liliaceous, and many other plants.

Dicotyledons.-Embracing more than one hundred orders, in which are included the petrifactions of all the ordinary forest trees, beside the far greater proportion of the ordinary flowering plants.

3. MINERALS.

ORDER 1, OXIDIZED STONES.-Families: 1. Quartz. 2 Feldspar. 3. Scapolite. 4. Haloid Stones. 5. Leucite. 6. Zeolite. 7. Mica. 8. Serpentine. 9. Hornblend. 10. Clays. 11. Garnet. 12. Gems. 13. Metallic Stones.

ORDER 2, SALINE STONES.-Families: 1. Cale Spar. 2. Fluor Spar. 3. Heavy Spar. 4. Gypsum. 5. Rock Salt.

ORDER 3, SALINE ORES.-Families: 1. Sparry Iron Ores. 2. Iron Salts. 3. Copper Salts. 4. Lead Salts.

ORDER 4, OXIDIZED ORES.-Families: 1. Iron Ores 2. Tinstone. 3. Manganese Ores. 4. Red Copper Ores. 5. White Antimony Ores.

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