SEC. VI. Be it further enacted, that the Library and Museum of said society shall be kept in the town of Worcester, in the county of Worcester.

In the House of REPRESENTATIVES, October 23, 1812. This bill having had three several readings passed to be enacted.

TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker.

In SENATE, October 24, 1812. This bill having had two several readings passed to be enacted.

NOTIFICATION AND WARNING

To the Members Incorporated to attend the first meeting.

American Society of Antiquaries.

WHEREAS by an Act of the Legislature of this Commonwealth, passed October 24, 1812, Isaiah Thomas, Levi Lincoln, H. G. Otis, Timothy Bigelow, Nathaniel Paine and Edward Bangs, Esqrs. J. T. Kirkland, D. D. Aaron Bancroft, D. D. William Paine, M.D. Jonathan H. Lyman, Elijah H. Mills, Elijah Hammond, Timothy Williams, William D. Peck, John Lowell, Edmund Dwight, Elea

zer James, Josiah Quincy, William S. Shaw, Francis Blake, Levi Lincoln, Jun. Samuel M. Burnside and Benjamin Russell, Esqrs. Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, Redford Webster, Thomas Walcutt, Ebenezer T. Andrews, William Wells, and Isaiah Thomas, Jun. and such others as may associate with them for the purposes therein mentioned, were "formed into, and constituted a Society, and body politic and corporate, by the name of "The American Antiquarian Society," for the purposes therein specified.

And whereas, by the fifth section of said Act, the undersigned is "authorised and empowered to notify and warn the first meeting of said Society," therefore, in conformity thereto, he hereby notifies and warns each and every of the persons above named to meet at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, on Thursday the 19th day of November instant, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to take such measures as shall be necessary for organizing said Society, establishing such Rules and Regulations as shall be deemed expedient, "agree upon a method for calling future meetings," and to act upon any other matter or thing relating to the objects of said institution.

ISAIAH THOMAS.

WORCESTER, November 2, 1812.

The members met at the time and place appoint

ed, and the Society was organized.

LAWS

OF THE

AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.

ARTICLE I.

It

THERE shall be a President and two Vice Presidents. shall be the duty of the President, and in his absence, of one of the Vice Presidents, to preside in the meetings, and to regulate the debates of the Society and the Council; to call meetings of the Council, and extraordinary meetings of the Society by advice of Council. The President, or presiding officer, shall vote in council, and also have a casting vote. The Vice Presidents shall ex officio be members of the Council.

ARTICLE II.

There shall be seven Counsellors, exclusive of the President and Vice Presidents; any four of the whole number shall constitute a quorum. It shall be the duty of the Counsellors to direct the Corresponding Secretaries in the performance of their duty; to present to the Society for their acceptance, such regulations and by-laws as from time to time shall be thought expedient; to receive donations, and with the President to purchase, sell or lease, for the benefit of the Society, real or personal estate; to draw orders on the Treasury for necessary monies; and in general to manage the prudentials of the Society. It shall be the duty of the Council, to enquire concerning the characters of persons

living out of the Commonwealth, proper to be elected honourary members; particularly in Spanish America.

ARTICLE III.

There shall be one Recording Secretary; and one assistant Recording Secretary; and two Corresponding Secretaries. The Recording Secretary shall be the Keeper of the Seal of the Society, It shall be his duty to attend all meetings of the Society and Council, and to make and keep records of all their proceedings; and shall keep on file all literary papers belonging to the Society under the direction of the Council. It shall be the duty of the Corresponding Secretaries to receive and read all communications made to the Society; and to manage, under the direction of the Council, all the correspondence of the Society.

ARTICLE IV.

There shall be a Treasurer, who shall give such security as the President and Council shall require, for the faithful performance of his trust. It shall be his duty to receive and keep all monies and evidences of property belonging to the Society; to pay out to the order of the President and Council; to keep a record of his receipts and payments, exhibit the same, and settle with a Committee which shall be annually appointed for this purpose; and he shall put the money of the Society out to interest, under the direction of the Council.

ARTICLE V.

There shall be a Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, who shall give bonds to the satisfaction of the President and Council for the faithful performance of his trust. He shall receive, and have in his custody, all books, papers, productions of nature and works of art, the property of the Society. These he shall arrange in classes and register in a book, with a proper description of each article, with the donor's name, when the same shall be a present. No article shall ever on any occasion be loaned or taken from

the Museum; nor shall any book or other article be borrowed from the Library, except by a vote of the Council, and then the loan of such article shall be recorded, and a receipt given therefor by the borrower, engaging to return the same in four weeks, or pay a forfeiture, such as by a vote of the Council shall be affixed.

ARTICLE VI.

There shall annually be three meetings of the Society, viz.one in Boston on the twenty second day of December, and when the same shall fall on a Sabbath, then the day after; one in Boston on the first Wednesday in June; and one in Worcester on the Wednesday next after the fourth Tuesday of September, at such hours and places as shall be notified by the Secretary. At the annual meeting in Boston in December, shall be chosen by ballot, all the officers of the Society to serve during the following year, and until others are chosen. At this meeting a public oration shall be delivered by some person to be appointed by the Council. [The last section of this law is altered. The Oration is to be delivered annually on the 23d of October.]

ARTICLE VII.

At any meeting of the Society, any member may propose a candidate for admission, by writing the name of the candidate, with his own name, in a book to be kept by the Recording Secretary for that purpose; and at the next meeting such candidate may be balloted for, and on obtaining two thirds of the votes given in, shall be constituted a member.

ARTICLE VIII.

Each member shall annually pay into the hands of the Treasurer, at the meeting in December, two dollars towards a fund; and every person who shall neglect to pay the annual tax, and shall suffer himself to be in arrear for three annual taxes, after having been called upon by the Treasurer in person, or by writ