Academy, in 1780, were of earlier origin; but the multiplication of such institutions was not to be looked for till more tranquil times, and especially attention was more likely to be turned to the sources of the history of the country, from the period when it had vindicated an independent nationality, and had won a place for its history by the side of that of the other families of man.

The original idea of this society has been attributed to our late estimable fellow-laborer, Mr. Thomas Wallcut. It appears, however, to be a more probable account which ascribes the first movement to Dr. Belknap and Judge Minot.* Dr. Belknap had removed from Dover, New Hampshire, to Boston three years before. In the preparation of his "History of New Hampshire," of which the first volume was published in 1784, he had been made to feel the want of access to some full repository of materials for recovering the story of our early times. Judge Minot, who, by his "History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts," had manifested and cultivated his ability and taste for this department of study, -Judge Sullivan, then preparing for his "History of Maine," and Dr. John Eliot, who had been long laboring on the collections finally incorporated into his "Biographical Dictionary," had experienced the same need of a more sufficient apparatus. Mr. James Winthrop, of Cambridge, and Dr. Peter Thacher, of Boston, had an inclination for such pursuits, and were in possession of original historical materials, thought to be of value. Mr. Wallcut, with a genuine antiquarian quλonovía, had been in the habit of transcribing important ancient papers, to place them beyond the reach of accident. These gentlemen, with Dr. James Freeman and Judge Tudor, of Boston, and the Honorable William Baylies, of Dighton, men

These statements are printed as they were delivered. A friend has since called my attention to an obituary notice of Dr. Belknap, published in the Columbian Centinel for June 25, 1798, and understood to be from the pen of Dr. John Eliot, who could not have failed to be well informed upon the point in question. The following is an extract: "The Historical Society have lost their most laborious and diligent member, and the founder of their institution. . . . He frequently met with disappointment from the loss of valuable papers, and he often mentioned to his friends in New Hampshire and Boston, that it was necessary to preserve them by multiplying copies, and making it the principal duty and interest of an association to collect them, and to study their value. The proposals of Dr. Belknap met with the approbation and encouragement of several gentlemen in this town and its environs, and the society was incorporated in 1794.'

of a kindred love of antiquity and truth, were the first associates. At a meeting, at which they all were present, except Judge Minot and Mr. Baylies, our society was organized on the 24th day of January, 1791; some preliminary arrangements having been made, at an interview some weeks before, between Drs. Belknap, Thacher, and Eliot, and Judges Tudor and Winthrop. Judge Sullivan was chosen President; Dr. Belknap, Corresponding Secretary; Mr. Wallcut, Recording Secretary; Judge Tudor, Treasurer; Dr. Eliot, Librarian; and Dr. Thacher, Judge Minot, and Mr. Winthrop, the Standing Committee.

The objects of the society were described in its constitution to be, "the preservation of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and records, containing historical facts, biographical anecdotes, temporary projects, and beneficial speculations"; and "a collection of observations and descriptions in natural history and topography, together with specimens of natural and artificial curiosities, and a selection of every thing which can improve and promote the historical knowledge of our country, either in a physical or political view." The society was to consist of thirty resident and thirty corresponding members, a number afterwards doubled; * and stated meetings were to be held in each quarter of the year, an arrangement subsequently changed to that of a meeting every month.

The first meetings took place at the houses of Judge Tudor and Judge Sullivan; after a few months, the society obtained the use of an apartment belonging to the Massachusetts Bank, in a building erected for a linen factory, on land, now occupied by Hamilton Place; in January, 1794, by the liberality of the projectors of the Tontine Crescent, on the south side of Franklin Street, they were enabled to place their collections, which had now become considerable, in the upper chamber of the centre building of that structure. The society's act of incorporation bears the date of the 19th of the following month. Its

The members are chosen by ballot, in the form prescribed by the society's vote of August 29, 1815, that, " In balloting for members, and in taking any questions by yeas and nays, the law and custom of our forefathers be adopted, as it stands in the Statute of Elections 1643, mutatis mutandis, - For the yearly choosing of Assistants, the Freemen shall use Indian Corn and Beans, the Indian Corn to manifest elec. tion, and the Beans contrary.'

sessions continued to be held in that place till the present more convenient accommodations were provided, at the cost of some of its members, and of other public-spirited citizens, in the year 1833.

The original scheme of the society does not appear to have contemplated any thing beyond the collection and preservation of objects and materials of history, for the benefit of posterity, and especially of students and writers in that department. But, before long, wider views of usefulness opened themselves, as they might be expected to do to men of such comprehensive intelligence. In 1792,* several papers which had come into the possession of the society were published on an extra sheet of the "American Apollo," a magazine issued weekly. These papers now constitute the first volume of our Collections. The number of original contributions was soon largely increased, in consequence of a circular letter addressed by the corresponding secretary to clergymen, and other men. of letters, in different parts of the country, soliciting communications relating to local history; and a series of publications has continued to be made, at about the average rate of one volume in two years, embracing relics of the ancient times, and communications of contemporary scholars.

The success of our society, in respect to its original object, will bear lasting witness to the enlightened zeal with which its affairs have been conducted through the first half century. The library contains at present about six thousand printed books, besides a great mass of manuscripts, arranged in a hundred volumes, mostly furnished with tables of contents. Gathered as they have been from various sources, and as opportunity permitted, these books and papers are of course miscellaneous, and of unequal value. But many are of great interest and curiosity, and together they make a collection which the writer on the antiquities of the United States, and especially of New England, is bound diligently to use. Most of the manuscripts, without the public-spirited care of our founders, would probably long since have perished, or gone out of

* On the 23d of October of this year, by appointment of the society, a discourse was delivered by Dr. Belknap, in the church in Brattle Square, on the completion of three centuries since the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.

sight, and with them would have been lost much of the clear light which has been thrown on the course of our early history, -a history incomparably precious to the New England man, as being that of his own great race, inestimably precious to the wise of every lineage, as being full of rich instruction and example.

The publications of our society, it may be permitted to one who has never had any part in them to say, have been models in their kind. The fidelity and skill of the editorial labor expended on them have not been, if they can be, surpassed. The judicious selection with which many of the venerable fragments of old time have been transferred from their obscurity to an honored place in our libraries; the scrupulous accuracy with which the copy has been made to represent the often faded and hardly legible original; the erudite exactness of the notes; the luxurious fulness of the indexes, sure and prompt guides to every apartment, and shelf, and object of the labyrinthine treasure-house, are worthy of all praise. With such helps, the reader finds himself on the paths to a wide range of knowledge, with the least possible pains of his own in exploring the way; and he goes on his course rejoicing, sure that, as far as he proceeds, he is treading on safe and firm ground. The publications of set treatises from the primitive age, like Hubbard's "History," Johnson's "Wonder-working Providence," Mourt's and Winslow's "Relations," Josselyn's "Account of Two Voyages," Gorges's and Smith's "Descriptions of New England," and others, are not more commendable examples of an intelligent pursuit of the objects of the association, than those of Governor Bradford's letter-book, the extracts from the papers of Deputy-Governor Danforth and Mr. Pynchon, the memoranda, public and private, relating to the expedition against Cape Breton, and numerous other disconnected and fragmentary documents illustrative of different points in our annals.

To our founders belongs the credit of an example which has been followed to similar good results in various parts of the country. The other States of New England, except Vermont, and the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and

Michigan, have each their historical society. The society of New York has published five volumes of transactions; those of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, each four; those of Maine and Georgia, each two; and that of Ohio, one. The plan of these associations, (and of the publications issued by them, is substantially the same with that of the Massachusetts society. The Antiquarian Society at Worcester, an institution of similar aims, has published two valuable volumes, and possesses a collection of rare interest, which we contemplate with such gratification as could be increased only by seeing it united to our own, so that the student might have access at once to the rich stores of both.

Of those whose names have been most prominent among the efficient and useful members of our association, many continue their enlightened labors for its service and that of the community. Of those departed, some have not been ambitious to connect their fame with the historical literature of the country in any other way. To the administration of the chief office in our society, Governor Gore and Lieutenant-Governor Winthrop devoted, each for several years, the eminent qualities which won for them the confidence of their fellow-citizens in high civil trusts; and while the dignity of their public stations was thus reflected upon these favorite studies, their coveted companionship increased the enjoyment, and their liberal example animated the zeal, of their associates. In the trust of recording secretary, Thomas Wallcut, the Reverend Drs. Freeman and McKean, and Gamaliel Bradford the younger; in that of treasurer, Judge Tudor; in that of librarian, the Reverend Drs. Kirkland, Alden, and McKean, William S. Shaw, Elisha Clap, and James Bowdoin; in that of cabinet-keeper, Samuel Turell, Redford Webster, and the Reverend Drs. Alden and McKean; in that of the standing committee, the Reverend Drs. Thacher, Freeman, and Kirkland, and Mr. Emerson, Judge Tudor, James Winthrop, Redford Webster, Samuel P. Gardner, and James Bowdoin, have entitled themselves to a grateful remembrance this day by their enlightened, diligent, and valuable labors. All these eminent persons, with the exception of Governor Gore, Dr. Alden,