zine size intact for binding. I would recommend a return to the annual bound volume of the JOURNAL and the use of Society bulletins at quarterly intervals covering events of interest to the Society instead of the present QUARTERLY as far as the means of the Society will allow. The Field Day of the Society was held in August last at Hull, Massachusetts, near Boston where a portrait tablet of our poet, John Boyle O'Reilly, suitably inscribed and subscribed for by the Massachusetts chapter, was unveiled by the poet's eldest daughter on the lawn of the poet's house. It was a memorable occasion and a very successful demonstration of the Society's vigor and devotion. The Society has no debts. Outside of its Permanent Fund, it faces the new year with a neat surplus. I am sure that Mr. Alfred M. Barrett's tenure of the office of Treasurer deserves high commendation not merely in guarding our funds, but as I have indicated, doing good work in the collection of dues. In all this and at every step of the Society's work it is the splendid, assiduous service of Mr. Edward H. Daly, our Secretary-General, that has made most of it possible. The work is growing continually, and I know I voice his great devotion and unselfishness in saying that he takes his greatest reward in the advance of the Society and the increase of its membership. In connection with the work before our Society, I heartily recommend that through our nation-wide membership steps be taken at once to organize separate sub-committees in every state as far as practicable to record the names and services in the Army and Navy of all citizens of Irish birth or descent enlisted or drafted within their respective states or districts as well as the civilians undertaking civic activities connected with the war, with our Historiographer, Mr. Michael J. O'Brien, as chairman of the main committee for the purpose, and authorizing him to select from the membership such committee members as shall be best fitted for the purpose. It will constitute a great and unimpeachable record. The work of the American Irish Historical Society will be of more and more moment to the Irish race in America. Let us work, whether in office or in the ranks, to put it where it should be-with a vastly extended membership and in a proper home of its own. For their general support of my work by all officers and members I tender my hearty thanks. January 5, 1918. JOSEPH I. C. CLARKE, MR. CLARKE: Now, gentlemen, one thing escaped me when the Executive Council was in session, and that is that in the funds of the Society the collection of back dues netted $1,500, and otherwise our Society has prospered, as the report of the Treasurer-General will show. I would like to reconvene the Executive Council to put before it this resolution, which, I may say, is entirely in accord with the Treasurer-General's advice, that the sum of $2,000 be transferred from the funds of the Society to the Permanent Fund of the Society, and acting as the Executive Council, if some one will make a motion to that effect I shall be very glad to entertain it and add it to the minutes. MISS LEVINS: I so move you. MR. O'BRIEN: I second the motion. MR. DALY: As I understand it, the motion is that $2,000 will be transferred from the General Fund to the Permanent Fund? MR. CLARKE: Yes. I might say that part of the money has been, and another thousand will be, invested in Liberty Bonds. So we are doing a patriotic service and at the same time doing something that is conducive to the benefit of the Society. It has been regularly moved and seconded that $2,000 be transferred from the General Fund to the Permanent Fund. All in favor signify by saying "Aye." (Motion carried.) MR. O'BRIEN: I move that the recommendation of the President-General in his annual report, with regard to our return to the annual publication rather than the quarterly, be accepted by the Society and that at the same time the Society continue to publish a bulletin of the news of the Society quarterly-an annual volume and a quarterly bulletin. MR. DALY: May I suggest that the Committee on Publications be instructed to publish the volume annually? MR. O'BRIEN: Yes. MR. CLARKE: Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. All in favor signify by saying "Aye." (Motion carried.) MR. CLARKE: There is one other matter, and I think if you will approve my suggestion of the appointment of a committee with regard to service of Irishmen in the war that you should pass a resolution to that effect, and then we will have the board clear. MR. DALY: I move that the Chair appoint a committee to organize subcommittees for the purpose of collecting statistics and information about the part taken by the thousands of Irishmen in this country in the great war. CAPTAIN O'BRIEN: You mean the present war? CAPTAIN O'BRIEN: I second the motion. MR. CLARKE: And I will with your leave add to the motion that our Historiographer, Mr. Michael J. O'Brien, be named as chairman of that committee, with power to select the members of the main committee from the membership, as best fitted to the purpose. Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. All in favor will signify by saying "Aye." (Motion carried.) MR. DALY: Perhaps this is an appropriate time to move that the Society continue for the year 1918 an allowance for the expenses of the Historiographer, Mr. Michael J. O'Brien, of $500, and I so move you. CAPTAIN O'BRIEN: I second the motion. MR. CLARKE: All in favor of that motion signify by saying "Aye." (Motion carried.) MR. CLARKE: I assure you, gentlemen, that in Mr. O'Brien we have an official who is not only an enthusiastic scholar but a gentleman whom we should be proud of in every way. (Applause.) Now, we will return to the annual meeting. The next order of business is the report of the Secretary-General. MR. DALY: (Reading.) REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL. To the Executive Council of the American Irish Historical Society: 1. Records and Property of the Society. The desirability of making available for the use of our members, its library consisting of several hundred volumes hitherto kept in storage at the Manhattan Storage & Warehouse Company, New York City, has been one of the principal reasons for the accomplishment of the Foundation Committee's purpose to establish a fund to maintain suitable headquarters for the Society. The report of that Committee will show that its object is almost realized. The administration of the Society can also be directed from such headquarters with economy of expense. The Society continues to collect newspaper items through a Press Clipping Bureau, which will be of importance in preserving contemporary records of descendants of Irishmen in this country. About 212 clippings have been received, filed and indexed during 1917. 2. Gifts to the Society. The following books and pamphlets have been received by the Society during the past year and its thanks acknowledged to the donors: American Art Association. Catalogue of "Historical Libraries of Noteworthy Americana," including those of the late Dr. O. O. Roberts of Northampton, Mass., and Leonard Benedicks, Esq., of New York. Catalogue of “Rare New Jersey Historical Items," from the library of the late Hon. Garret D. W. Vroom of Trenton, N. J. Catalogue of "Colonial and Revolutionary Books and Broadsides." Catalogue of "President Madison's Correspondence from American Statesmen and Patriots," from the collection of the late Frederick B. McGuire. Boston Book Co. "Annual Magazine Subject-Index," 1916. Edited by Frederick Winthrop Faxon, A. B. Bay State Savings Bank, Worcester, Mass. Bulletin. California Historical Survey Commission. Preliminary Report, February, 1917. Cambridge Historical Society. Publications, X. Proceedings, January 26, 1915, to October 26, 1915. Catholic University of America. Catholic Historical Review, Vol. III, No. 1, April, 1917. Cornell University. Cornell University Official Publication, Vol. VII, No. 17-A. "Librarian's Report, 1915-16." Free Public Library, Jersey City. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of Board of Trustees, for the year ending November 30, 1915. Kansas State Historical Society. Twentieth Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society, for the period July 1, 1914, to June 30, 1916. Library of Congress. Booklet of "The United States at War. Organizations and Literature. I." Calendar of the Papers of Franklin Pierce, Leech, 1917. Coit, Stanton. "Is Civilization a Disease?" Minnesota Historical Society. "Minnesota History Bulletin," Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3, and Supplement to same, "Nineteenth Biennial Report. McAlder, George, M. D. "Gathered Waiflets." "Lectures on Irish History," arranged by Thomas A. McAvoy. "A Study of the Origin of the Surname McAleer and a Contribution to McAleer Genealogy." "A Study of the Etymology of the Indian Place Name, Missisquoi." Newport Historical Society. Bulletin, "More Light on the Old Mill at Newport," by F. H. Shelton, January, 1917. Bulletin, "The Value of Collections of Articles of Historic Interest," July, 1917. Bulletin of the Newport Historical Society, April. "The First European Visitors to Narragansett Bay." New York State Historical Association. Vol. XV, 1916. Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting with List of Members. O'Brien, Michael J. "Early Irish Schoolmasters in New England." (Reprint from The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. III, 1917, pp. 52–71.) Paris Chamber of Commerce. Bulletin of information, "Facts about the War. General Nivelle." "Democracy and the War." "The French Mission to the U. S." Sons of the Revolution in State of California. "The Liberty Bell," Vol. III, Nos. 1 and 2. Roster of the Society, Sons of the Revolution in the State of California (25th year), January, 1917. State Historical Society of Missouri. Missouri Historical Review, Vol. XI, Nos. 1-4; Vol. XII, No. 1. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Proceedings of the Society at Its Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting, October 19, 1916. Texas State Historical Association. Quarterly, Vol. IX, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXI, Nos. 1–2. University of the State of New York. Ecclesiastical Records, State of New York, Vol. VII. Index. L'Universite Laval. Annuaire 1917-1918. Miscellaneous pamphlets relating to the great war. Washington University, St. Louis. Washington University Studies, Vol. IV, Part II, No. 2, April, 1917. |