Memoir of Rev. Alexander Young, D. D., by Rev. Chandler Robbins, 241 Exemplification of the Judgment for vacating the Charter of the MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ACT OF INCORPORATION. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and An Act to incorporate a Society, by the name of THE MASSA- WHEREAS the collection and preservation of materials for a Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the And be it further enacted, That the said Society shall have And be it further enacted, That the said Society may, from And be it further enacted, That the members of said Society And be it further enacted, That either branch of the Legis- This Act passed Feb. 19, 1794. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. JANUARY MEETING, 1853. A Committee, consisting of Messrs. YOUNG, TICK- FEBRUARY MEETING, 1853. Ordered, That five hundred copies of the By- Attest, 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 Honorary, 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. ARTICLE 2. A book shall be kept by the Recording Secretary, in which any Resident Member of the Society may at any monthly meeting enter the name of any person, whom he may regard as suitable to be elected a Resident Member; it being understood, that each member is bound in honor not to make known abroad the name of any person so proposed, while the person proposed may continue to be a candidate. But no nomination of a Resident Member shall be made except by a report of the Standing Committee, and no nomination thus made shall be acted upon at the same meeting to which it is reported. ARTICLE 3. - Nominations of Corresponding Members may be made by any member of the Society, and shall be entered in the record of the meeting at which each may be made; but no member shall nominate more than one candidate at one and the same meeting, and no candidate shall be voted for at the same meeting at which he may have been nominated. ARTICLE 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 nine members present at the election, nor unless two thirds of all the members present shall have voted affirmatively. ARTICLE 5. Each Resident Member shall pay eight dollars at the time of his admission, and three dollars annually afterwards, into the Treasury of the Society, for its general purposes; b 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 thirty dollars in addition to what he may before have paid. ARTICLE 6. - If any person elected as a Resident Member shall neglect, for one year after being notified of his election, to pay his admission fee, 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. ARTICLE 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. ARTICLE 1. - There shall be a Regular Meeting of the Society at noon on the second Thursday of every month, at their rooms in Boston; and 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, then by the Standing Committee, or by any five members of the Society. ARTICLE 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. |