Annual Meeting November, 1960

    THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held at its House, No. 87 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, on Thursday evening, 17 December 1960. At the dinner which preceded the meeting, the Reverend Richard D. Pierce said grace.

    The President, Mr. Richard Mott Gummere, called the meeting to order at half after eight o’clock. Mr. Robert Earle Moody read the Mayflower Compact.

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

    Messrs. Philip Hofer and Thomas James Wilson were elected Resident Members of the Society.

    The Annual Report of the Council was read by Mr. Walter Muir Whitehill.

    Report of the Council

    THE meetings of the Society have followed the customary pattern, with the Annual Meeting in November and Stated Meetings on 17 December 1959, at which Mr. Malcolm Freiberg was the speaker, on 18 February 1960 when Mr. Stephen T. Riley read a paper, and on 28 April 1960, when Mr. Dean A. Fales, Jr., spoke. In June a few members of the Society revisited Dr. James L. Huntington’s house in Hadley.

    The Society has continued its support of the New England Quarterly, and, toward the end of 1959, issued Volume 38 of its Publications, containing Transactions from 1947–1951. The printing bills for this volume have created a deficit in the accounts for the current year, but that is to be expected, for the cost of any volume has to be spread over more than the year of publication. Dr. Pierce is still at work on the First Church Records (volumes 39–41) and a number of articles are already in type for the next volume of Transactions.

    During the year the following gentlemen have been elected to membership:

    Resident:

    • John Petersen Elder
    • Frank Burt Freidel
    • Dean Abner Fales, Jr.
    • Charles Christopher Laing
    • Charles Edward Stearns
    • Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule, III
    • Richard Churchill Vose, Jr.
    • Richard Harding Randall, Jr.

    Corresponding:

    • Andrew Oliver

    Honorary:

    • John Adams

    The following members have died since the last Annual Meeting:

    Arthur Adams, Non-Resident, 1951, Resident, 1951, died 21 June 1960. Antiquary, herald, Episcopal priest, who after retiring from the faculty of Trinity College, Hartford, came to Boston to edit the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

    George Pomeroy Anderson, Resident, 1922, died 10 August 1960. An industrious but retiring scholar, whose contributions to the Society’s publications dealt with subjects as varied as royal governors, Sons of Liberty, and Stamp Act rioters.

    William Henry Best, Resident, 1955, died 28 October 1960. A distinguished Boston lawyer, who died before he had acquired the habit of attending meetings of the Society.

    John Farquhar Fulton, Corresponding, 1933, died June 1960. Physiologist, biographer, historian of medicine, bibliophile, gourmet, and good companion, who went from Harvard College to an Oxford fellowship, and thence to Yale.

    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 30 September 1960.

    Statement of Assets and Funds, 30 September 1960

    ASSETS

    Cash:

    Principal

    $28,258

    Income

    −7,418

    $20,840

    Savings Bank Deposit

    4,050

    Savings and Loan Association Deposits

    40,000

    Investments in Securities:

    Bonds (Market Value $267,654)

    276,566

    Stocks (Market Value $327,533)

    90,101

    Total Assets

    $431,557

    FUNDS

    Principal Funds

    $438,975

    Income (deficit)

    −7,418

    Total Funds

    $431,557

    Income Cash Receipts and Disbursements

    Balance of Income Cash, 30 September 1959

    −$1,668

    RECEIPTS:

    Dividends

    $10,758

    Interest

    13,719

    Annual Assessments

    930

    Sale of Publications

    905

    Miscellaneous Income

    15

    26,327

    Total Receipts of Income

    $24,659

    DISBURSEMENTS:

    Publications:

    New England Quarterly

    $3,500

    Volumes 39–41

    5,127

    Volume 38

    12,661

    Expenses of 87 Mount Vernon Street Property:

    Renovations, maintenance and furnishings

    1,569

    Heat and Light

    1,405

    Insurance

    454

    Telephone and Telegraph

    188

    Water

    28

    Editor’s Salary and Expenses

    1,532

    Secretarial Expense

    800

    Annual Dinner

    855

    Notices and Expenses of Meetings

    605

    Auditing and Accounting Services

    400

    Legal Services

    60

    Miscellaneous Supplies and Expenses

    212

    Gifts

    32

    Total Disbursements op Income

    $29,428

    −$4,769

    TRANSFERS TO PRINCIPAL FUNDS:

    Sarah Louise Edes Fund

    $2,336

    Albert Matthews Fund

    313

    2,649

    Income Cash Overdraft, 30 September 1960

    −$7,418

    Mr. William Bradford Osgood gave, for himself and Mr. Pier, the report of the Auditing Committee. The Recording Secretary used the word “gave” in respect to the report in spite of the fact that Mr. Osgood sang a large part of it. The tune was unfortunately not recorded, but Mr. Moody rescued the words from oblivion, confident that the security of the Society’s investments as attested by the professional auditors (Messrs. Arthur Young and Company) employed by our frivolous committee can successfully withstand Mr. Osgood’s shenanigans. The verses (minus tune) follow:

    The Carleton Richmond Blues

    Treasurer Carleton Richmond’s

    Looking like the wrath of God

    Have you seen his pale and sickly face

    Have you noticed his slow plod?

    Have you wondered what’s the matter

    With our dear old pal

    Are his gall stones bothering him

    Or is it low morale?

    Is it wine or women

    Or some awful sin

    That makes him look like something

    That the cat’s dragged in?

    Why don’t you ask him

    It might brighten up his day

    But I can make a damn good guess

    That this is what he’ll say:

    Chorus:

    Colonials I am suffering

    But it’s not with gout

    The income ain’t a’commin’ in

    As fast as it goes out.

    And the auditors are after me;

    I should have stayed in bed.

    You may think I’m in the pink;

    I’m really in the red.

    I hope you’ll back me up, boys,

    When I make this claim,

    That for all of the expenses

    I’m just not to blame.

    It’s your Bacchanalian orgies,

    It’s the wine and food you choose378

    It wouldn’t cost me near so much

    If you didn’t like to booze.

    Chorus:

    Colonials, I am suffering—etc.

    The way I watch investments

    I deserve a crown

    I consult with all the experts

    That we’ve got in town,

    But I’ve slipped on a banana peel

    As the auditors will show.

    United Fruit, I must admit,

    Has hit another low.

    Chorus:

    Colonials, I am suffering—etc.

    I hope that up in Heaven

    There’s a place for me;

    Far away from Auditors

    I’d like to be,

    Where there isn’t any Osgood

    And there isn’t any Pier.

    Their great delight is getting tight

    And wrecking my career.

    Chorus:

    Colonials, I am suffering—etc.

    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 Richard Mott Gummere
    • Vice-Presidents Samuel Eliot Morison
      • Clifford Kenyon Shipton
    • Recording Secretary Robert Earle Moody
    • Corresponding Secretary David Britton Little
    • Treasurer Carleton Rubira Richmond
    • Member of Council for Three Years Frederick Scouller Allis, Jr.

    At the conclusion of the business meeting, Mr. David McCord read a group of poems in various moods, including a couplet recalling the association with Concord of two writers of children’s books:

    Louisa M. Alcott and Lois Lenski,

    Little Women and Little Menski.

    The speaker of the evening was the Society’s Editor, Mr. Walter Muir Whitehill, who reported on the investigation of the research and publication functions of independent historical societies that he had been conducting throughout the country for the Council on Library Resources, Inc., under the sponsorship of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Virginia Historical Society.379