ANNUAL MEETING, NOVEMBER, 1925

    The Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Algonquin Club, No. 217 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, on Saturday, November 21, 1925, at half-past six o’clock in the evening, the President, Fred Norris Robinson, Ph.D., in the chair.

    The Records of the last Stated Meeting were read and approved.

    The Corresponding Secretary reported the death at New Haven, Connecticut, on May 26, 1925, of George Burton Adams, a Corresponding Member.

    The Annual Report of the Council was presented on behalf of the Rev. Dr. Charles Edwards Park.

    REPORT OF THE COUNCIL

    There is a word of command in the British Navy which comes to mind in connection with the life of many of our institutions. The word is “carry on.” It means, of course, keep on with your work, continue what you are doing.

    Some of our institutions are like lighthouses. They do not change. They neither grow nor dwindle. They simply carry on. And also, like the lighthouse, their mere carrying on is of undeniable value to life in general.

    The Colonial Society is that kind of institution. It carries on. Its career is uneventful. Five stated meetings are held each year, at which communications of genuine worth are presented. To say that these meetings are well attended would be to strain the truth. On each November twenty-first comes the dinner, when, like hardy annuals, a large proportion of members exercise their prerogative of membership and blossom into actuality. These things are mentioned in no spirit of criticism. Your Council feels that even on these terms the Colonial Society justifies itself. It carries on. In an age of haste and competition there is a certain refreshment in belonging to a society that has no axe to grind, that presents no exactions, makes no demands, insists on no conditions, but that does its work, and runs itself so far as a society can, and takes for granted the loyalty and interest of its members.

    Mrs. Oliver Cromwell used to torment her husband by asking him if he loved her. One day she received a curt reply: “Thou art dearer to me than aught else on earth. Let that suffice.” If you wish, the Colonial Society is quite willing to “let that suffice.” If on the other hand you prefer to see a change in the even tenor of our way, an acceleration in our gait, there is absolutely nothing to prevent. It lies entirely with you.

    The Editor reports that three volumes are now going through the press. The Introduction to the Harvard College Records has been completed, and is cast, the index will shortly be in the hands of the printers, and Volumes XV and XVI may be expected in the spring. Volume XXVI contains the current transactions of the Society and has advanced to page 210.

    In April, Mrs. Gilman Prichard, better known to some of us perhaps as Mrs. Frederick Lewis Gay, gave the Society the sum of $2000 to be used for printing the Harvard College Records. Apropos the following resolutions were adopted:

    That the members of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts desire to express their gratitude to Mrs. Frederick Lewis Gay for her generous gift of $2000 towards the cost of publishing the Records of Harvard College — a project in which their late associate, Frederick Lewis Gay, felt a lively interest and to which he made liberal contribution.

    That the Records, when issued, bear upon the title-page an appropriate inscription to the effect that they are published by the Society as a memorial to Mr. Gay.

    That these resolutions be spread upon the records of the Society and that a copy be sent to Mrs. Gay.

    Owing to his removal from the Commonwealth the resident membership of Frederick Jackson Turner was automatically terminated.

    During the year there have been two elections:

    Resident Member:

    • Charles Sprague Sargent;

    Corresponding Member:

    • Frederick Jackson Turner.

    Three of our members have died:

    Arthur Lord, one of the most prominent of the Harvard alumni, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and for forty years active in many forms of public service in Plymouth and Boston and Massachusetts.

    He had the moral instinct of the true historian, which looks forward with hope as well as backward with pride. His love of the past was quickened by the purpose to build the good of the past into a foundation for a better future. He was trusted and respected by all. Those whom he admitted to his friendship found that he gave and commanded the deepest and truest affection.

    John Singer Sargent, painter, whose canvases have permanently enriched the culture of both the Old and the New World. He saw the Divine in terms of beauty, and gave himself to the creation of beauty with that mysterious happiness, that passionate absorption, that generosity of self-devotion that always accompany true genius.

    George Burton Adams, a scholar by temperament and training. He brought to the study of history an enthusiasm that was contagious, and found in it a romance that amply repaid his labor. He was a model to all would-be historians, in that he never depicted a period without first understanding its context and deeper significance; and never criticized an episode without that sympathy which can alone make criticism valuable.

    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 November 16, 1925.

    CASH ACCOUNT

    receipts

    Balance, November 16, 1924, Principal cash

    $774.97

    Income cash

    645.58

    $1,420.55

    Receipts of Principal:

    Mortgages, discharged

    $7,250.00

    Frederick Lewis Gay Memorial Fund

    2,000.00

    Interest on Warren Institution for Savings account

    86.43

    Interest on Provident Institution for Savings account

    1.26

    Horace Everett Ware Fund, Income added to Principal

    226.63

    Subscriptions to Editor’s Salary Fund

    450.00

    Contributions

    5.00

    Admission Fees

    10.00

    Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. $5,000 7% Bonds, called at 107½

    5,375.00

    Income transferred to Principal

    535.00

    Total receipts of Principal

    $15,939.32

    Receipts of Income:

    Interest

    $7,434.98

    Annual Assessments

    600.00

    Sales of the Society’s Publications

    162.30

    Sale of paper

    43.47

    Total receipts of Income

    8,240.75

    24,180.07

    Total

    $25,600.62

    disbursements

    Disbursements of Principal:

    $4,500 England, Walton Company, Inc., First Mortgage 6% Bonds, due 1942

    $4,432.50

    2,000 Kingdom of Belgium, 6% Sinking Fund Extension Loan, due 1955

    1,750.00

    3,000 New River Company, First Mortgage 5% Bonds, due 1934

    2,782.50

    4,000 United States Cold Storage Company, First Mortgage 6% Bonds, due 1945

    4,000.00

    Editor’s salary, paid from Salary Fund

    1,000.00

    Interest on Warren Institution for Savings account, added to Principal

    86.43

    Interest on Provident Institution for Savings account, added to Principal

    1.26

    Total disbursements of Principal

    $14,052.69

    Disbursements of Income:

    University Press

    $1,272.99

    A. W. Elson & Company

    90.00

    Folsom Engraving Company

    9.80

    Boston Storage Warehouse Company

    54.00

    Union Safe Deposit Vaults

    20.00

    Stewart, Watts & Bollong, accounting services

    250.00

    American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fuel, lights, and janitor service

    20.00

    State Street Trust Company, interest on loan

    182.50

    Interest accrued on bonds purchased

    200.51

    Annual dinner

    492.50

    Clerk hire

    100.00

    Thomas S. Longridge, insurance

    249.00

    Mary H. Rollins, Index to Volume 15

    42.97

    Warren H. Manning Company Offices, Inc., work pertaining to Volume 15

    24.04

    Nina E. Browne, Consolidated Index

    100.00

    Miscellaneous

    62.20

    Interest on Horace E. Ware Fund added to Principal

    226.63

    Amount of Income transferred to Principal

    535.00

    3,932.14

    $17,984.83

    Balance, November 16, 1925, Principal cash

    $2,661.60

    Income cash

    4,954.19

    7,615.79

    Total

    $25,600.62

    The funds of the Society are invested as follows:

    $20,300.00

    in first mortgages payable in gold coin on improved property in Greater Boston

    102,342.50

    in bonds elsewhere described in this report having a face value of $112,500.00

    29.43

    on deposit in the Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston

    1,985.88

    on deposit in the Warren Institution for Savings

    $124,657.81

    The investments of the Society yield an average annual income of approximately 6.02%.

    A Trial Balance of the accounts as of November 16, 1925, is hereto annexed and made a part of this report.

    William C. Endicott

    Treasurer

    Boston, 16 November, 1925

    TRIAL BALANCE

    debits

    Cash, Principal

    $2,661.60

    Income

    4,954.19

    $7,615.79

    Henry Herbert Edes Memorial Fund

    3193.94

    Provident Institution for Savings

    29.43

    Warren Institution for Savings

    1,985.88

    Mortgages

    20,300.00

    Bonds:

    $5,000

    Cedars Rapids Manufacturing & Power Company, First Mortgage Sinking Fund Gold 5’s, due 1953

    $4,450.00

    5,000

    Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock Yards Company, Mortgage and Collateral Trust Refunding Gold 5’s, due 1940

    3,762.50

    5,000

    Cleveland Union Terminal Company, First Mortgage Sinking Fund Gold 5½’s, Series A, due 1972

    4,980.00

    5,000

    Detroit Edison Company, First and Refunding Mortgage Gold 5’s, Series A, due 1940

    4,397.50

    5,000

    Detroit Edison Company, First Mortgage Refunding 6’s, Series B, due 1940

    4,400.00

    4,500

    England, Walton & Company, Inc., First Mortgage Sinking Fund Gold 6’s, due 1942

    4,432.50

    2,000

    Kingdom of Belgium, First 6’s Sinking Fund Extension Loan, due 1955

    1,750.00

    5,000

    Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company, First Mortgage Refunding 6’s, Series A, due 1946

    5,000.00

    5,000

    New England Telephone & Telegraph Company, First Mortgage Gold 5’s, Series A, due 1952

    4,875.00

    12,000

    New River Company, First Mortgage and Collateral Trust 5’s, due 1934

    11,130.00

    5,000

    New York Edison Company, First Lien and Refunding Mortgage Gold 6½’s, Series A, due 1941

    5,000.00

    5,000

    Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company, First and Refunding Mortgage 4’s, Series A, due 1961

    4,105.00

    5,000

    Pennsylvania Railroad, Equipment Trust of 1920 6’s, due 1935

    5,000.00

    5,000

    Philadelphia Company, First Refunding and Collateral Trust Mortgage 6’s, Series A, due 1944

    4,350.00

    5,000

    Union Pacific Railroad, Series A, Equipment Trust 7’s, due 1932

    $5,000.00

    5,000

    United Electric Securities Company, Collateral Trust Sinking Fund 5’s, due 1935–1942

    3,750.00

    4,000

    United States Cold Storage Company, First Mortgage Real Estate, Chicago, Illinois, Gold 6’s, due 1945

    4,000.00

    20,000

    Western Telephone & Telegraph Company, Collateral Trust Gold 5’s, due 1932

    16,960.00

    5,000

    Wickwire-Spencer Steel Company, First Mortgage Sinking Fund Prior Lien Collateral and Refunding Gold 7’s, due 1935

    5,000.00

    $102,342.50

    $112,500

    $135,467.54

    credits

    State Street Trust Company

    $4,000.00

    Income

    4,954.19

    Funds:

    Publication Fund, established in 1893 by gift of $100 from Quincy Adams Shaw: composed of sundry small gifts and portions of the Income which were added from year to year. Income only to be used for Publications

    $10,000.00

    General Fund, established in 1893: composed of Admission Fees and Commutations added to Principal. Income only to be used for Current Expenses

    22,279.68

    Benjamin Apthorp Gould Memorial Fund, established in 1897 and 1898 by subscriptions in his memory. Income only to be used

    10,000.00

    Edward Wheelwright Fund, established in 1900 under his will without restrictions as to use

    20,000.00

    Robert Charles Billings Fund, established in 1903 under his will. Income only to be used for Publications

    10,000.00

    Editor’s Salary Fund, established in 1904. Made up of annual subscriptions from certain members for the purpose specified

    50.00

    Robert Noxon Toppan Fund, established in 1904 by a gift in his memory from his widow. Income only to be used

    5,000.00

    Robert Charles Winthrop, Jr., Fund, established in 1905 under his will. Increased by $2,000 in 1924 under will of Elizabeth Winthrop. Income only to be used

    5,000.00

    Andrew McFarland Davis Fund, established in 1908 by a gift from him to be added to the permanent publication funds. Income only to be used

    $2,000.00

    William Watson Fund, established in 1916 under his will without restriction as to use

    1,000.00

    Horace Everett Ware Fund, established in 1916 by a gift of $500 from him. Increased under his will by sundry installments of cash since 1919. To be accumulated and used for Massachusetts Bay Colony monument or other memorial

    4,003.85

    George Vasmer Leverett Fund, established in 1920 under his will. Income only to be used for publications

    30,000.00

    Henry Herbert Edes Bequest, established in 1923 under his will. To accumulate until it reaches the sum of $3,000, when it shall be called the Martha Rebecca Hunt Fund. Income only to be used for special purposes

    1,985.88

    Henry Herbert Edes Memorial Fund, established in 1923 by subscriptions

    3,193.94

    Frederick Lewis Gay Memorial Fund, established in 1925 by a gift from his widow. Permanent name and purpose of fund to be decided upon later

    2,000.00

    $126,513.35

    $135,467.54

    REPORT OF THE AUDITING COMMITTEE

    The undersigned, a Committee appointed to examine the Accounts of the Treasurer for the year ending 16 November, 1925, have attended to their duty, and report that they find the Accounts correctly kept and properly vouched, and that proper evidence of the investments and of the balance of cash on hand has been shown to them.

    This Report is based on the examination of Stewart, Watts & Bollong, Public Accountants and Auditors.

    Frank B. Bemis

    Stephen W. Phillips

    Auditing Committee

    Boston, 21 November, 1925

    The several Reports were accepted and referred to the Committee of 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

    • SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON

    VICE-PRESIDENTS

    • ARTHUR PRENTICE RUGG
    • GEORGE FOOT MOORE

    RECORDING SECRETARY

    • ARTHUR STANWOOD PIER

    CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

    • CHARLES EDWARDS PARK

    TREASURER

    • WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD ENDICOTT

    REGISTRAR

    • ALFRED JOHNSON

    MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR THREE YEARS

    • ALBERT MATTHEWS

    Mr. George L. Kittredge offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

    The members of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, learning with regret that it is the purpose of Fred Norris Robinson to retire from the presidency, wish to put on record their deep sense of his devotion to the best interests of the Society, and their appreciation of the personal and intellectual qualities that have made his administration noteworthy.

    To direct the fortunes of any association of New Englanders for nine years without clash or friction may well be reckoned no inconsiderable achievement. To our president, however, this has been merely the natural expression of a firm and equable temperament, guided by a wise and judicial mind, by a keen sense of whatever is excellent in scholarly endeavor, by an instinctive — or at all events an habitual — understanding of human nature, and by a sympathetic interest in its varied and sometimes incalculable manifestations.

    As we look back on his long term of faithful service, we congratulate ourselves on our far-sightedness in electing this admirable scholar and skilful administrator as our president, and on our good fortune in persuading him to remain so long at the helm. He leaves to his successor a prosperous society, working together in full harmony and with a clear and definite idea of its function in the republic of letters. We look back with gratitude, and we face the future with hope and confidence.

    After the meeting was dissolved, dinner was served. The guests of the Society were Messrs. Ingersoll Bowditch, Henry Rushton Fairclough, Allen French, Harry Manley Goodwin, Charles Burton Gulick, Arthur Edwin Kennelly, William John Lawrence, and Alfred North Whitehead. Ex-President Robinson presided.