BY-LAWS.

CHAPTER I.

OF MEMBERS.

ARTICLE 1.-The Regular or Resident Members of the Society shall be elected from among the citizens of this Commonwealth, and shall cease to be members whenever they cease to be citizens. The Associate or Corresponding Members shall be elected from among those persons who are not citizens of this Commonwealth, and shall cease to be members if at any time they become citizens. Honorary members may be elected at large.

ART. 2.-A book shall be kept by the Recording Secretary, in which any Resident Member of the Society may enter the name of any person whom he may regard as suitable to be nominated as a Resident, Corresponding, or Honorary Member; it being understood that each member is bound in honor not to make known abroad the name of any person so proposed. But no nomination of any member shall be made except by a report of the Standing Committee at a stated meeting, nor be acted upon at the same meeting to which it is reported; nor shall more than two candidates for membership, of the same class, be reported at any one meeting.

ART. 3.—Nominations of Corresponding or Honorary Members shall be accompanied by a brief statement, in writing, of the place of residence and qualifications of the person nominated.

ART. 4.—All members shall be elected by ballot; and, in balloting for members, the law and custom of our forefathers shall be observed, by taking the question with Indian corn and beans; the corn expressing yeas, and the beans nays. But no person shall be deemed chosen, unless there be twenty members present at the election, nor unless three-fourths of all the members present shall have voted affirmatively.

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gift, grant, devise, or otherwise, and the same, or any part thereof, to alien and convey: Provided, That the annual income of any real estate, by said Society holden, shall never exceed the sum of five hundred pounds; and that the personal estate thereof, besides books, papers, and articles in the Museum of said Society, shall never exceed the value of two thousand pounds.

And be it further enacted, That the members of said Society shall never be more than sixty (except honorary members, residing without the limits of this Commonwealth), and that James Sullivan, Esq., be, and hereby is, authorized and empowered to notify and warn the first meeting of said Society; and that the same Society, when met, shall agree upon a method for calling future meetings, and may have power to adjourn from time to time, as may be found necessary. And be it further enacted, That either branch of the Legislature shall and may have free access to the Library and Museum of said Society.

[This Act passed Feb. 19, 1794.]

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-five.

An Act in addition to an Act to incorporate the MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :

SECT. 1.-The Massachusetts Historical Society is hereby authorized to hold real and personal estate, in addition to its Library, to an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars.

SECT. 2.-This Act shall take effect from and after its passage.

[This Act passed May 19, 1855.]

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-seven.

An Act in relation to the MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows

SECT. 1.-Nothing in the Act of Incorporation of the Massachusetts Historical Society shall prevent said Society from electing Associate or Corresponding Members residing without the limits of this Commonwealth, or Honorary Members residing either within or without said limits, or from having as many as one hundred Resident Members, at their discretion.

SECT. 2.-This Act shall take effect from and after its acceptance by said Society.

[This Act passed April 1, 1857.]

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ARTICLE 1.—The Regular or Resident Members of the Society shall be elected from among the citizens of this Commonwealth, and shall cease to be members whenever they cease to be citizens. The Associate or Corresponding Members shall be elected from among those persons who are not citizens of this Commonwealth, and shall cease to be members if at any time they become citizens. Honorary members may be elected at large.

ART. 2.-A book shall be kept by the Recording Secretary, in which any Resident Member of the Society may enter the name of any person whom he may regard as suitable to be nominated as a Resident, Corresponding, or Honorary Member; it being understood that each member is bound in honor not to make known abroad the name of any person so proposed. But no nomination of any member shall be made except by a report of the Standing Committee at a stated meeting, nor be acted upon at the same meeting to which it is reported; nor shall more than two candidates for membership, of the same class, be reported at any one meeting.

ART. 3.-Nominations of Corresponding or Honorary Members shall be accompanied by a brief statement, in writing, of the place of residence and qualifications of the person nominated.

ART. 4.—All members shall be elected by ballot; and, in balloting Hist for members, the law and custom of our forefathers shall be observed, onby taking the question with Indian corn and beans; the corn expressing yeas, and the beans nays. But no person shall be deemed chosen, unless there be twenty members present at the election, nor unless three-fourths of all the members present shall have voted affirmatively.

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ART. 5.-Each Resident Member shall pay ten dollars at the time of his admission, and five dollars annually afterwards, into the treasury of the Society, for its general purposes; but any member shall be exempted from the annual payment, if, at any time after six months from his admission, he shall pay into the treasury sixty dollars in addition to what he may before have paid.

ART. 6. If any person elected as a Resident Member shall neglect, for one year after being notified of his election, to pay his admissionfee, his election shall be void; and, if any Resident Member shall neglect to pay his annual assessment for three years after it shall have become due and have been demanded, he shall cease to be a member. Each person who shall be elected a member shall, when notified of it, be furnished by the Corresponding Secretary with an attested copy of this Article and the preceding one; and the Treasurer shall, as cases may occur, report to the Society those persons who have neglected to pay their admission-fee or their annual assessments, as above required.

ART. 7.-Diplomas signed by the President, and countersigned by the two Secretaries, shall be issued to all persons who have become members of the Society.

CHAPTER II.

OF MEETINGS.

ART. 1.-There shall be a Regular Meeting of the Society at noon, on the second Thursday of every month, at their rooms in Boston; provided, however, that the Standing Committee shall have authority to postpone any such monthly meeting for not exceeding two weeks, or to direct it to be held at other rooms, whenever a day of public observance shall happen on the second Thursday of any month; or whenever a different time or place shall, for any cause, be obviously for the convenience of the members. Special meetings shall be called by either of the Secretaries, whenever requested so to do by the President, or, in case of his absence or inability, by one of the Vice-Presidents or by the Standing Committee.

ART. 2.-At all meetings, the President shall take the chair in five minutes after the time appointed in the notification; and the record of

the preceding meeting shall then be at once read. After which, at all Special Meetings, the special business for which the meeting was called shall be transacted; and, at all Regular Meetings, the order of business shall be as follows:

The Librarian shall make a detailed report of whatever may have been received by him since the last meeting.

The Cabinet-keeper shall make a similar report.

The Corresponding Secretary shall read any communications he may

have received.

The unfinished business and the assignments of the last meeting shall be announced by the Recording Secretary to the President, and taken up in their order.

The Standing Committee shall be called on to report its doings since the last meeting.

The other subsisting committees that may not have reported shall be called on for reports.

The members who have any business to propose shall be desired by the President to propose it.

The members generally shall then be invited, so far as time may permit, to make any oral communications on any subject having relation to the objects of the Society; and, for the orderly accomplishment of this purpose, the Society shall be divided into three sections as nearly equal in numbers as may be, each of which sections, in regular sequence, shall be notified by the Recording Secretary, that the Society, at the next following meeting, will desire to receive from it such communications as are above suggested; and the officer presiding at the next meeting shall call upon each of the members of such section, in his turn, to offer any such communication or propose any such subject; after which, the communication so made, or the subject so proposed, may be discussed by the Society generally. Provided, however, that, if the member proposing such subject prefer to do it in writing, the Recording Secretary shall enter it in the Records of the Society; and it may be discussed either at the time when it is proposed, or at any subsequent meeting.

ART. 3.-Fifteen members shall be a quorum for all purposes except the election of members, as hereinbefore provided; and excepting, also, alterations of the By-laws, which shall not be made unless twenty persons are present, nor unless the subject has either been dis