of those present to adopt an amendment. Meetings of the directors shall be called by the clerk, on order of the president, or request of two directors, by written notice deposited in the post-office at least three days before the time of meeting.

Voted to proceed to the election of officers by ballot. Officers were elected as follows:

President, HENRY MORRIS.

Vice-Presidents, AUGUSTUS L. SOULE, WILLIAM L. SMITH, SAMUEL BOWLES. Clerk and Treasurer, WILLIAM RICE.

Executive Committee, SAMUEL G. BUCKINGHAM, HOMER MERRIAM, EDWARD A. REED, JOSEPH C. PYNCHON, HENRY S. LEE, CHARLES MARSH. The Clerk was sworn to the faithful discharge of his duties.

Adjourned.

OCTOBER 2, 1876.-FIRST QUARTERLY MEETING.

The President delivered the following

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.

The Valley of the Connecticut presents a field for historic research equaled by few, surpassed by none. True we have no Revolutionary battle-fields, consecrated in the great struggle for independence. The armies of England never penetrated so far into the interior. The only British soldiers who came here, came as prisoners, and some of these took so kindly to our valley, that they settled among us as citizens, married wives, established homes and raised families. Some of their descendants are with us at this day, filling positions of responsibility and usefulness. But while we have in the valley no battle-grounds famous in Revolutionary annals, we are rich in memorials of earlier trials. We can point to many a spot where the war-whoop of the savage has echoed in peaceful villages and startled the settler by his fireside, or at his labor in the field, to seek protection for his wife and children. The tomahawk and the torch were active instruments in those days, in the work of destruction. Here, too, is soil that has witnessed the fierce and protracted conflict with the savage foe, and been wet with the mingled blood of white men and red men. The horrors of that early warfare have had no parallel in later times, unless it be in the atrocities recently perpetrated in the old world, upon a professedly Christian people.

These early wars have been, to a large extent, chronicled by writers whose works have been published. I apprehend, however, that there are many interesting details to be gathered, and localities marked, which have never yet been preserved in a form that will secure their transmission to those who shall come after us.

Aside from the annals of Indian warfare, this valley has been the scene of many important events that merit a fuller record than they have yet received. How little is known of the part taken in the old French war by the people residing in this valley.

Yet it is a fact, that in the single year 1745, eighteen of our young men of Springfield met death during the siege and at the capture of the fortress of Louisburg. How many incidents connecting this valley with the American Revolution have failed of any permanent record. And yet, it is safe to say that there is not a town in this part of the State that did not send its sons into our armies to fight the battles for independence, numbers of whom perished on the field, or fell victims to the diseases and hardships of camp life. Is it too late to rescue the names of these heroic men from oblivion? And then that trouble, known as Shays's rebellion, that followed so soon after the war of the Revolution, are there not some traditions to be gathered concerning it, which have found no record in the pages of Minot or any other annalist?

It is not, however, in wars and tumults alone that the true antiquarian will seek subjects for his diligent study. The multifarious transactions of civil life in which the men who have passed away from among us took part-transactions which in their time attracted general attention and interest, nay, the very men themselves the actors in these transactions, who, in the two centuries before the present, and some even in this present century, planned and organized our civil institutions, inaugurated and conducted the various enterprises of their time, and gave shape and tone to its social life-is there not much to be collected and preserved concerning them, that those who come after us may not be left in profound ignorance that such men have lived and acted their part here ?

It is one of the marked peculiarities of this centennial era, that it has drawn the attention of our countrymen so much to the past and has awakened so strong a desire to preserve the fragmentary memorials that yet remain. Everywhere is manifested an anxiety to secure the local annals. Writers are busy in investigating records and documents that have been neglected and forgotten for years. Many town histories have been published; others are in course of preparation. Historical discourses have been delivered by clergymen in their various parishes. The addresses before the various professional and

social organizations existing among us have largely taken on a historical type, and the public mind generally is becoming more inquisitive, and so better informed about the past.

It was in a sympathy with this sentiment that this society had its origin. Deeply impressed with the importance of preserving our local annals, and appreciating in some degree the value of the field for investigation afforded by the valley of the Connecticut, a few gentlemen associated themselves as the Connecticut Valley Historical Society, and organized as a corporation under the laws of this commonwealth.

A good degree of interest has been manifested in the object, which, considering the general depression in almost every kind of business at present prevailing, is an encouraging omen of success in our enterprise. Whether this success shall be achieved depends, mainly, upon the spirit with which the members of the society engage in the work contemplated by our constitution.

One very important part of this work is the collection and preservation of ancient records and documents, of every kind, that may in any way illustrate ancient transactions and the habits of life and modes of business that characterized years long past. Many an important historical fact has been derived from some old letter that has been preserved among the family treasures, or from some entry made in some court record, or in the diary of some individual made for a very different purpose. For instance, it has been regarded as an interesting fact, in connection with the early history of Springfield, that the pioneers who first came to this valley purposed to locate their settlement on the west side of the river, and actually built their first house there. The evidence of that fact rests almost entirely, as I suppose, upon the entry made in the old Pynchon record of a lawsuit about the building of that house. There are many similar cases. I have no doubt that if all the old account books, newspapers and documents of various kinds, which had lain dormant in the garrets of old houses for many years before our late civil war, but which were hunted up and sold for paper stock when paper stock was high, were now in existence and could be subjected to a careful scrutiny by persons skilled in antiquarian lore, very

many valuable facts illustrating the past history of our land and the characters of the men and women, who were conspicuous actors on the stage of life, before the beginning of the present century, would be brought to light. Much, very much that would have been valuable has been lost in this way within the last fifteen years. Much, however, yet remains and may be saved. Let us endeavor to gather from their dark and dusty depositories these relics of the past, and place them in the archives of this society, where they will be carefully preserved and made available to future historians who shall undertake the office of recording in a permanent form the transactions of a past age.

In this enterprise we invite the co-operation and solicit the aid of all gentlemen residing in the Connecticut valley, who feel an interest in the object. We should gladly welcome them to our membership. Nor do we confine this invitation to one sex. Remembering what has been wrought by woman in this department of research, we extend to the ladies of this valley a cordial invitation to encourage and assist us in this enterprise. Are there not women scattered up and down the old county of Hampshire, who will do for the towns where they reside what has been done by Miss Caulkins for the city of Norwich, and by Miss Jones for the town of Stockbridge, in writing out the annals of their towns? Nor is there anything in our organization that excludes from our society those who have not the privilege of living in the valley of the Connecticut.

While we regard this as our peculiar field, we are happy to receive into our number the dwellers in the regions on either side of this valley. Wherever there is an individual who sympathizes with our purposes and desires to aid us in historical research, we shall gladly welcome him as a co-laborer.