of Maryland had adopted that wise precaution long ago. Many precious documents would have been saved which are now irrecoverably lost. This measure, of course, is not necessary where the capitol of the State has fireproof vaults in which such treasures may be safely kept, or where other measures of security are adopted, which is not the case in some State Houses we know.

Some State societies have called the attention of their Legislatures to the propriety of publishing the colonial and other early records, to which they have liberally responded, and a few of them have even gone so far as to send competent agents to Europe to secure copies of old papers or catalogues of them from the record offices. Private munificence, in several instances, has rendered the same service, of which we have a notable example in our own collection in Baltimore, as a gift from George Peabody, to whom we are indebted for other similar favors.

State societies have been established in more than half of the States, and they are designated State societies as different from local societies, either because they derive support from the State, or from the prominence which they give to the history of the State in their collections and printed contributions. Their place of meeting, their libraries and collections, and the principal seat of their operations are usually at the capital of the State or in the largest city, and hence they are distinguished as State societies.

There are some, also, which limit their collections to the records of the church denominations of their preference. Some of them have formed denominational libraries, and collections of ecclesiastical relics, manuscripts, pictures, Church journals, synodical proceedings, photographs of their clergy, histories of individual congregations or parishes, busts of some of their distinguished ministers, catechisms, hymn books, catalogues of their schools and colleges, reports of their benevolent and missionary societies, all the writings of their authors in this country, and even the old furniture of the fathers of their Churches. Two of the most notable of these denominational historical societies, embracing all and even more of the specific subjects enumerated, which come within my personal knowledge, are those of the Moravians at Nazareth, and of the Lutherans at Gettysburg. There are some other Church historical societies, but they are almost exclusively confined to the collection of books and manuscripts.

How are historical societies in general supported? Some have

endowments or other property from which they draw interest or rent such as those of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and a few others. A few, such as Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and probably others, have special annual grants from their State Legislatures; a few are provided with apartments in the State capitol rent free, which is to that extent an appropriation, but the majority, I presume, are mainly supported by the membership fee, with occasional special contributions.

It is natural to presume that American energy would produce important and valuable results from such institutions. We, as a people, have never yet failed to bring something good out of material capable of being manipulated. The labors which most of these associations have performed are simply marvelous, and the good they have achieved is worthy of all admiration. Not only have many of them acquired by purchase, or donation, or bequest, splendid edifices, or, at least, most spacious and commodious buildings, in which they have gathered libraries, pamphlets, manuscripts, records, historical relics, museums of State antiquities and other treasures of priceless value, and have saved from destruction historical monographs, biographies and genealogies. They have enriched the literature of history with hundreds of volumes of useful books, containing many rare documents, of which but few knew anything before, but which are now open to all investigators, and many a precious book, which the poor student could not purchase, is now freely laid on the library table whenever he wishes to consult it. They have ransacked old depositories, and have rescued from dust and dampness and destruction many State and family records; they have unearthed many buried treasures of more value than heraldic escutcheons or baronial insignia. They have awakened an interest in historical research before unknown, or at least not concentrated and systematic; they have stimulated the zeal and encouraged the efforts of many a solitary student or obscure investigator; they have fostered the establishment of local and county societies in villages where intelligent persons cannot attend the meetings of the State societies.

But we dare not omit mentioning another result not less important, and that is, the formation of ladies' societies with the same general purpose in view. There are now eight or ten societies of Colonial Dames in this country, and although their researches are

PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXII. 143. K. PRINTED DEC. 1, 1893.

confined to the colonial period alone, yet they have done good service. They have not yet published the result of their studies, yet papers have been read, and it is presumed that the public will soon have the benefit of them. These patriotic American women are not out of place when hunting up the musty documents of early American history; their nimble fingers can gather the loose or tangled threads of ante-Revolutionary fragments, and weave them into beautiful historic tapestry.

But it is not only general American history that engages the diligent study of many of these investigators, but there is another branch which, of later years, has gained many ardent votaries, and that is, family history or genealogy. Old parish records, lists of emigrants, rolls of regiments, rosters of officers, old city directories and almanacs, and every conceivable ancient document that can throw a gleam of light on a family name, a disputed date, a place of residence, a clue to title or rank, is examined with painstaking assiduity. Those of us who have the management of historical libraries receive numerous letters making inquiries into family history. People from far and near want to know all about some relative concerning whom they know little themselves, but presuming that we know all about them, or can easily learn it. The investigation of some cases would require hours of patient labor, and to all excepting such all possible aid should be given.

I have playfully advised some of our resident investigators not to go too far back lest they might encounter ancestors whom they would not like to recognize, and in reply to that a bright lady from a neighboring county observed that she found the farther back she went the better her ancestors became, which pleased her vastly, for she thought some of those not far behind her were no better than they should have been. There are very few who go so far as it is said Dr. Johnson once did, although the same assertion is credited to some others; when he was asked about his ancestors he gruffly replied: "That all he knew about them was, that some of them were hung, and the rest should have been." But it is true that no one not engaged in a historical library can have any conception of the number and character of the people who are inquiring into the history of their forefathers. One fact will show the interest which this subject has awakened. Before the year 1845 the whole number of genealogical societies in New England alone was not over thirty, and twenty years after that there were 400, and since that the number