Excerpt from A Short Account of the Massachusetts Historical Society: Together With the Act of Incorporation, Additional Acts and by-Laws, and a List of Officers and Members; January, 1791 June, 1918 In its earliest years the Society had no established place of meeting; but in 1794 it received from several gentlemen, not members, the gift of an upper room over the arch in the Tontine Crescent, on the southerly side of what is now known as Franklin Street, where it remained until its removal in 18 3 3 to the newly erected building of the Provident Institution for Savings, on Tremont Street adjacent to the King's Chapel Burial - ground, of which it then became part owner and afterward sole owner. In 1899 it removed to the building which it now owns and occupies at the corner of Boylston Street and the Fenway, on land reclaimed from the tide long after the formation of the Society. This building has already become inadequate. At the annual meeting in April, 1918, the Society held thirty permanent funds, of an aggregate amount of about $452, 000, of which about one -seventh had come from persons who were not members of the Society or from their legal representatives. One of those benefactors, Thomas Dowse, also gave during his own life his large and valuable private library; and the costof fitting up the room in which his books are kept and the Society holds its meetings was defrayed by the executors of his will. Rev. Robert C. Waterston, a member for nearly thirty-four years, gave the greater part of his library, and by his will left a sufficient sum for fitting up a room for its safe-keeping, which has been designated as the Waterston Room. The Ellis Hall commemorates the gift of the dwelling-house of the Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis, seventh President, which under the provisions of his will was sold, and the proceeds applied toward the erection of the building now occupied by the Society. In August, 1910, a bindery was begun by the Society for better dealing with its manuscripts, and many collections were repaired, mounted, and bound before labor conditions made a suspension of the bindery expedient in 1917. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.