Annual Meeting

    November, 1947

    THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Algonquin Club, No. 217 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, on Friday, 21 November 1947, at a quarter after seven o’clock in the evening, the President, Augustus Peabody Loring, Jr., in the chair.

    With the consent of those present, the reading of the minutes of the last Stated Meeting was omitted.

    The President announced the death on 18 May 1947 of Milton Ellis, a Corresponding Member; that on 24 June 1947 of Evarts Boutell Greene, a Corresponding Member; that on 23 July 1947 of Lawrence Shaw Mayo, a Resident Member; that on 9 September 1947 of Frederick Morton Smith, a Resident Member; that on 29 October 1947 of Hermann Frederick Clarke, a Resident Member, and that on 16 November 1947 of Lincoln Colcord, a Corresponding Member.

    The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of letters from the Most Reverend Richard J. Cushing, the Right Reverend Norman Burdett Nash and Miss Alice Bache Gould accepting Honorary Membership, and from Mr. Joseph Breed Berry, Mr. Charles Henry Powars Copeland, Mr. Sarell Everett Gleason, Mr. George Caspar Homans, Mr. Mark DeWolfe Howe, Mr. Frederick Milton Kimball and Mr. Chauncey Cushing Nash accepting Resident Membership in the Society.

    The Reverend Frederick Lewis Weis, of Lancaster, and Mr. Kenneth John Conant, of Cambridge, were elected Resident Members of the Society.

    The Annual Report of the Council was read by Mr. Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

    Report of the Council

    IN the past year the Society has held, as usual, three stated meetings: on 19 December 1946 at the Club of Odd Volumes; on 20 February at the house of Mr. Samuel Eliot Morison, and on 24 April at the house of Augustus P. Loring, Jr. The attendance has been about the same as in previous years.

    The following members have been elected to the Society:

    Resident:

    • Joseph Breed Berry
    • Charles Henry Powars Copeland
    • Sarell Everett Gleason
    • George Caspar Homans
    • Mark DeWolfe Howe
    • Frederick Milton Kimball
    • Chauncey Cushing Nash

    Honorary:

    • Richard James Cushing
    • Alice Bache Gould
    • Norman Burdett Nash

    In the autumn of 1946, Mr. Forbes indicated his wish to retire as Editor, after fifteen years of devoted service, during which he had been responsible for volumes 27, 28, 31, 32, 33 and 34 of the Society’s Publications. Consequently on 19 December 1946 the Council appointed Mr. Walter Muir Whitehill to succeed Mr. Forbes as Editor. Wartime restrictions upon the use of paper had prevented the printing of any volumes since 1943, but Mr. Forbes had been actively at work in preparing manuscripts for future publication and consequently four volumes are now in various stages of completion. These are Transactions (1943–1947), a volume of Maine land-grant papers (which Mr. Allis has been editing), the Massachusetts Council records from 1689 to 1698, and a fourth volume of Harvard College Records. A supply of rag paper is now on hand, and these volumes will be issued as the Society’s funds and the Editor’s time permits.

    The Society has continued its support of the New England Quarterly, copies of which are sent to all members who desire them.

    During the year we have lost by death eleven members, an unusually large number.

    Charles Francis Mason, Resident, 1896, died 28 February 1947. He was the senior member of the Society in order of election and received our greetings at the time of our last annual meeting. Bursar of Harvard University for thirty-four years, long an officer of the Watertown Historical Society and Moderator of the First Church of Watertown, established in 1630.

    Alfred Lawrence Aiken, Corresponding, 1926, died 13 December 1946. During his membership he held the presidency and other high offices in the New York Life Insurance Company. While previously living in Massachusetts, he was a leader in banking and served as a Trustee of Clark University, Wellesley College, the Worcester Art Museum, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

    Wilbur Cortez Abbott, Resident, 1921, died 3 February 1947. An eminent historian who migrated from New Haven to Cambridge. Oliver Cromwell became his lifework, but he was able to give odd moments to peopling the past with shady and entertaining characters like Colonel Blood, stealer of the British Crown jewels.

    Bentley Wirt Warren, Resident, 1936, died 27 February 1947. A distinguished Boston lawyer, he served as Trustee of Williams and Radcliffe Colleges and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and had an important part in many public activities in Massachusetts.

    Evarts Boutell Greene, Corresponding, 1915, died 24 June

    A teacher of history at the University of Illinois and at Columbia University, his publications were especially concerned with the colonial period.

    Frederick Morton Smith, Resident, 1939, died 9 September 1947. An officer in various Boston wharf companies, he assisted in carrying the maritime traditions of Massachusetts into the present day.

    Hermann Frederick Clarke, Resident, 1934, died 29 October 1947. A banker and collector, who devoted his leisure to the study of colonial silversmiths, he was the author of books on John Coney, Jeremiah Dummer, and John Hull.

    Lincoln Colcord, Corresponding, 1940, died 16 November 1947. The sea was in his blood. Born off Cape Horn in a bark, after boyhood he was cast away by fate on the shore of Penobscot Bay, where he looked for the vessels that had sailed by in former years and reviewed the maritime adventures of other men. Escaping from our landlocked age, he shipped in the Ptarmigan with the historian of Columbus for a stormier passage to the West Indies than Columbus ever knew. His monument is the Penobscot Marine Museum at Searsport and in the hearts of his fellow-voyagers.

    Milton Ellis, Corresponding, 1933, died 18 May 1947. A professor at the University of Maine, he was, as Managing Editor of the New England Quarterly, intimately associated with the projects of this Society.

    Lawrence Shaw Mayo, Resident, 1916, died 23 July 1947. A patient scholar, the biographer of John Endecott, John Winthrop, John Wentworth and other colonial leaders, he was engaged, at the time of his death, in preparing a fourth volume of Harvard College Records for publication by this Society.

    Allyn Bailey Forbes, Resident, 1931, died 21 January 1947. As Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society and as Editor of this Society’s publications for fifteen years, he was a scholar of meticulous accuracy and a valued friend to all who concerned themselves with the New England past. A central figure at all gatherings of this Society grave or gay, we shall miss him sorely. Ave atque vale!

    The Treasurer submitted his Annual Report as follows:

    Report of the Treasurer

    In accordance with the requirements of the By-laws, the Treasurer submits his Annual Report for the year ending 14 November 1947.

    Statement of Assets and Funds, 14 November 1947

    ASSETS

    Cash:

       

    Income

    $11,913.26

     

    Loan to Principal

    10,449.46

    $1,463.80

    Investments at Book Value:

       

    Bonds (Market Value $138,098.51)

    $139,537.04

     

    Stocks (Market Value $116,028.00)

    85,205.75

     

    Savings Bank Deposit

    3,244.70

    227,987.49

    Total Assets

     

    $229,451.29

    FUNDS

    Funds

     

    $212,482.33

    Unexpended Income

     

    16,968.96

    Total Funds

     

    $229,451.29

    Income Cash Receipts and Disbursements

    Balance, 14 November 1946

     

    $12,375.78

    RECEIPTS:

       

    Interest

    $2,901.26

     

    Dividends

    4,945.90

     

    Annual Assessments

    800.00

     

    Sales of Publications

    57.00

    8,704.16

    Total Receipts of Income

     

    $21,079.94

    DISBURSEMENTS:

       

    New England Quarterly

    $2,600.00

     

    Editor’s Salary

    1,375.00

     

    Secretarial Expense

    800.00

     

    Annual Dinner

    589.95

     

    Storage

    300.76

     

    Notices and Expenses of Meetings

    141.70

     

    Postage, Office Supplies and Miscellaneous

    92.32

     

    Auditing Services

    125.00

     

    Publications

    1,533.26

     

    Safe Deposit Box

    24.00

     

    General Expense

    175.10

     

    Interest on Henry H. Edes Memorial Fund added to Principal

    300.40

     

    Interest on Sarah Louisa Edes Fund added to Principal

    1,109.19

     

    Total Disbursements of Income

     

    9,166.68

    Balance of Income, 14 November 1947

     

    $11,913.26

    Report of the Auditing Committee

    The undersigned, a committee appointed to examine the accounts of the Treasurer for the year ended 14 November 1947, have attended to their duty by employing Messrs. Stewart, Watts and Bollong, Public Accountants and Auditors, who have made an audit of the accounts and examined the securities on deposit in Box 91 in the New England Trust Company.

    We herewith submit their report, which has been examined and accepted by the Committee.

    Willard G. Cogswell

    Arthur S. Pier

    Auditing Committee

    The several reports were accepted and referred to the Committee on Publication.

    On behalf of the committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year the following list was presented; and a ballot having been taken, these gentlemen were unanimously elected:

    • President Augustus Peabody Loring, Jr.
    • Vice-Presidents Hon. Fred Tarbell Field
      • Hon. Robert Walcott
    • Recording Secretary Robert Earle Moody
    • Corresponding Secretary Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
    • Treasurer James Melville Hunnewell
    • Registrar Robert Dickson Weston
    • Member of the Council for Three Years Arthur Stanwood Pier
    • Member of the Council for One Year Robert Ephraim Peabody

    After the meeting was dissolved, dinner was served. The guests of the Society were Admiral R. A. Spruance, Rear Admiral M. L. Deyo, Captain J. B. Heffernan, Captain H. B. Hudson, Lieutenant Commander Henry Salomon, Jr., Messrs. Samuel Chamberlain, Henry Forbush Howe, David McCord, Richard W. Leopold, Carleton R. Richmond, Dwight C. Shepler, Sidney T. Strickland, Vernon D. Tate and Thomas J. Wilson. The Reverend Henry Wilder Foote said grace.

    After dinner Mr. Samuel Eliot Morison read the Mayflower Compact, and Admiral R. A. Spruance, President of the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, addressed the Society and its guests.