Excerpt from The Historical Society of Pennsylvania The names of the members present at the inaugura tion meeting were Roberts Vaux, Stephen Duncan, Thomas I. Wharton, William Rawle, Jr., Dr. Benjamin H. Coates, Dr. Caspar Wistar, and George Washington Smith. It was well understood that the late eminent William Rawle, senior, and John F. Watson, though personally absent, were to be considered as present; and they are therefore in the category of foundation mem bers. Several other gentlemen gave their attendance at the preliminary conferences, and, it is believed, at some of the regular meetings, the minutes of which are not preserved. At the first annual election, held February 28, 1825, the Society, which had hitherto appointed Roberts Vaux as chairman, filled the place of President with the late William Rawle senior; and the Vice Presidents were Roberts Vaux and Thomas Duncan; the Corresponding Secretary, Daniel B. Smith, and the Recording Secretary, Cr. Washington Smith. On the 18th of May, the Council, under the constitution, held its first meeting. In this body, besides the names already given, we find those of Dr. Thomas C. James, William Rawle, junior, Thomas H. White, Dr. Samuel Jackson, (professor, ) William Mason Walmsley, and Gerard Ralston. On the 3d of October, 1825, ten committees were appointed, containing many names, to report, with deliberation, on as many subdivisions into which an examination of the historical records of Pennsylvania were supposed to be naturally divided. Some of these committees reported; but a larger number omitted to do so, although the inquiries thus set on foot gave rise to some subsequent papers. In December, 1825, the publication of the Memoirs was commenced. Most of these were newly compiled essays, with some orations, all intended to introduce the respective subjects; but the volumes included a few original documents. They were continued till 1840, in four volumes. In 1845 - 1848, a volume was issued under the title of Bulletin; and, after the formation of the Publication Fund, the Memoirs were resumed, with an enlarged page and in a finer style, by fifth, sixth and seventh volumes, as far as 1860. 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.