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INAUGURATION

NEW HALL

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLYANIA,

March 18, 18f

PHILADELPHIA. 1884.

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INAUGURATION

NEW HALL

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLYANIA,

March 18, 1884.

PHILADELPHIA. 1884.

COLLINS PRINTIJJG HOUSE,
705 Jayne Street.

I

INAUGURATION OF THE NEW HALL OF THE HIS
TORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The new hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is
situated at the southwest corner of Thirteenth and Locust
Streets, Philadelphia.
The main portion of the building was erected by the late
John Hare Powel, in 1832, for a residence. It was purchased
in 1836 by Gen. Robert Patterson, who resided there until
his death in 1881. The house stands twenty feet back from
the building line on Locust Street. It is sixty feet front and
forty, deep, and, as originally planned, had wings of twenty
feet each on the east and west, giving it a frontage of one
hundred feet, extending westward from Thirteenth Street.
The grounds of the mansion were bounded on the west by
Juniper Street, and on the south by Wynkoop Street. In
November, 1882, a portion of this lot (95 feet on Locust
Street, by 120 on Thirteenth), including nearly all of that
occupied by the building and its wings, was offered to the
Society for $50,000. An examination of the property showed
that it was admirably suited to the wants of the Society. It
waa substantially built ; its proportions were grand ; and its
close proximity to the Philadelphia Library and the Library
of the College of Physicians rendered its situation (central
in all respects) a most desirable one for the objects of the
Society. The refusal of the property until the first of Feb
ruary was obtained, and an appeal was at once made to the
friends of the Society to enable it to make the purchase.
So favorably was this proposal received that the Council felt
justified in obtaining the refusal of thirty additional feet.
These, with the lot first offered, making one hundred and

2 Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society.
twenty-five feet on Locust Street, were finally secured. An
account of the subscriptions for the purchase of the property
and of the expenditure for alterations will be found in the
opening address of the President.
The general features of the mansion have been but little
changed. The western wing has been removed, and where
it stood, and on the adjoining ground, a spacious hall, 45 by
70 feet, has been erected for the meetings of the Society. The
wing on the east has been rendered thoroughly fireproof. Its
internal measurement is 16 by 37 feet. It is surrounded with
a gallery, and affords ample space for the most valuable por
tions of the Society's collections. The doorways between
the parlors on the first floor of the main building have
been enlarged, so as to make the rooms, which are used as
reading rooms, virtually one. The handsome marble mantel
pieces have been retained. The upper portion of the building
will be used for the storage of books and other articles of
interest. The first general meeting of the Society in the new hall
occurred on the evening of the 18th of March, 1884, a large
assemblage being present.
The President, Brinton Coxe, Esq., occupied the chair, and
made the fallowing address : —
Fellow Members of the Historical Society of Penn
sylvania : — ¦
I congratulate you upon this most auspicious occasion.
You have been invited here to-night to take possession of
your new home, and to inaugurate it as the Hall of the His
torical Society ot Pennsylvania. After fifty-nine years of
existence, you now meet under a roof which is your own.
You are now no longer tenants of another, but proprietors,
in your own right, of your own house, on your own soil.
The moral and material anxieties connected with a precari-

Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society. 3
ous tenure, which were always matters of permanent solici
tude, are now at an end.
The magnitude and excellence of these buildings speak
for themselves. It is superfluous for me to praise them.
Your own inspection suffices of itself to show how well our
new home is adapted to the growing needs of the Society
and its now enlarged mission. The laborious and able ser
vices of your Building Committee have organized a building,
or, rather, sji^stem of buildings, worthy of an Academy of
History. The old mansion has been rearranged as a library
and adapted to the wants of students and readers. On the
one side is this spacious assembly-room for your meetings and
for public lectures ; on the other is a fire-proof building for
our manuscripts and other historic treasures and for archives
which have been confided to our custody by public authority.
The hall of the Historical Society is now worthy of a repre
sentative public institution.
The funds at the disposition of the Society for the pur
chase of this property, for new buildings and alterations, and
for fixtures and furnishing have amounted to $88,466. Of
that amount $8381 have been derived from the first building
fund, and $14,115 from the second building fund. The
remainder, amounting to the large sum of $65,970, has been
derived from the generous subscriptions made during the last
sixteen months by the members and the friends of the Society,
who have thus seeured the spacious edifice which we now
inaugurate. The expenditures already made and still neces
sary to be made amount to $96,318. These expenditures
have thus exceeded the receipts"by the sum of $7852. There
is, therefore, a deficit for that amount.
I will not do more than call your attention to this deficit.
A great historian of antiquity teaches us that he who begins
an historic task should at the outset avoid complaints con
cerning past evils, and should dwell only on the good things
which fortune has granted, for it would be ill-omened to do
otherwise. Such a beginning, he seems to think, is the pro
per time to recall past blessings and benefactions only. I,
therefore, pass from our deficit to more appropriate topics.

4 Inauguration of the New Hall of ihe Historical Society.
Nearly sixty years since, this Society was planted like an
infant colony in a new continent. At first it grew feebly,
precariously, at times threatened with extinction. Years
elapsed before a slow steady growth was secured. Then
followed a healthy and more rapid growth. Here, on this
occasion of assured success and established prosperity, there
are present with us a very few survivors of the active few in
the restricted numbers of our ancient membership. They
have watched the society through the vicissitudes of a life
time. When it was helpless, they supported it by every
service and every sacrifice. When threatened with extinc
tion, they alone saved it. Through long years, they sum
mered it and wintered it. The delicate plant has now become
the strong healthy tree, under whose shade we are gathered
together. It is to-night, therefore, the first of our duties to
remember, with heartfelt gratitude, benefactors, whose care,
wisdom, and devotion have guided an association depending
upon a small number of supporters to the independent con
dition of a representative public institution.
Few, very few, of that devoted band are with us to-night
to survey with mingled feelings this scene amid the gratitude
of their fellow-members. But I cannot trust myself to dwell
upon this subject, lest I be guilty of indiscretion ; for one
of these survivors is that venerable member whose paternal
care of this Society, during long years, commands the filial
obedience of us all. That obedience compels me to refrain
from an expression of gratitude, which his delicacy of feeling
has ever shrunk from receiving. I must therefore say no
more. As has been stated, the generous subscriptions of our
members and friends, during the last sixteen months, have
amounted in round numbers to $66,000. This great sum not
merely constitutes an immense means of usefulness to the
Historical Society, but also is a proof of the respect which it
has earned in this community by years of tried service. It
is also a recognition of our position as a valued institution
necessary to the public welfare. We now know that our
Society has general recognition as a cherished guardian of

Inauguration of the Neio Hall of the Historical Society. 5
the history of the Commonwealth and the history of the
country. Here, in this our permanent home, by the common
consent, it will be our duty to afford the rising generations
the means of knowing the inheritance which has descended
upon them from the past, and of learning what lessons that
past teaches them for their future. Here all, young and old,
will find the means of investigating history, perpetuating
historic evidence, and preserving records of the past. In
some shape or other, all cities of men, both in modern as well
as ancient civilization, erect temples to history and to mem
ory. This edifice is such a monument in this community.
The Society dwelling therein is now regarded by their fellow
citizens as an institution, through which the community dis
charges imperative duties, which neither government nor
individuals can perform. .
Thus it is, that the mission of the Society has become en
larged and its duties have become greater. Centennial and
Bicentennial anniversaries have stimulated the public atten
tion to historic interests and the preservation of historic
evidence and records. The vigilance of historical societies is
felt with truth to be more than ever necessary. Manuscripts
and printed pieces are every day to be rescued from fire,
damp, negligence, and accident. The opportunities of acquir
ing for public use such as are in safety demand a constantly
increasing expenditure. Our task is one in which past suc
cess involves an increase instead of a diminution of future
duties. Tbe rich collections of manuscripts and books,
which our Society has accumulated in many years, brings
cares which increase as the collections themselves increase.
Their possession imposes the difficult task of making them
used and useful. The publication and editing of texts and
abstracts and of historical materials in every shape is now an
exacting duty. Students and investigators must not only be
made welcome under our roof, but every aid must also be af
forded them, which may increase the efficiency of individual
exertion. In every way the duties imposed upon such insti
tutions as ours are increasing in number and in magnitude.

6 Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society,
Our country has, indeed, a history and they must help to
narrate it.
What a story the narrators have to tell ! But two centu
ries ao-o, but six or seven generations ago, this Commonwealth
was planted in a wilderness on the tide-waters of the
Atlantic, and now our country stretches from ocean to ocean.
The plough has ploughed its way from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. The founders of Pennsylvania thought that it might
make its progress without its dread historic companion. It
has been otherwise. The sword and the plough have
marched together. Corn has been sown and the harvest of
food has been reaped in every year. Dragon's teeth, too,
have been sown and every generation has seen the harvest of
armed men. The tragic tale of human nature at first seems
in America to be the old, old story ; but the history of the
New World is, nevertheless, a new history. Though that
history has been in part a tragedy, in the New World the
years of peace have been much greater in number than in the
Old World. The years of war have been fewer, much fewer,
here than there. How to reduce war to a minimum is the
greatest lesson which history can teach. The founders of
Pennsylvania thought that war could be abolished. They
erred, but their influence has been a weighty historical factor
in producing the grand result by which more peace and less
war has been secured in America than in Europe. The
warning of the Old World must have been studied in the
New. Such studies are those which it is the duty of every
Historical Society in the whole land to foster, to sustain, and
to guide.
Fellow-members, there remains but one thing for me to
say to you. I should be untrue to the place which I hold, if
I did not recall our lost hopes and frustrated expectations
that another voice would welcome you to this house. It
would be ingratitude, most inauspicious ingratitude, to for
get the name of John William Wallace at this inauguration.
His long devoted career of service and sacrifice to this Society,
in its adversity and its prosperity, as member, as official, and

Inauguration of the New Hall of ihe Historical Society, 7
as president, we all hoped, would have been crowned by his
presiding here to-night. But it was decreed otherwise !
Nevertheless, we know how he would have felt, had he been
here. His last visit to this house was one of inspection,
when everything was on the verge of completion. The
buildings and their capacities of usefulness gave him entire
satisfaction. The fact that the Society had now a permanent
domicile relieved his mind of the anxieties, which he had
felt for years, upon the complicated dangers of an inopportune
change of location. The extent and value of the Society's
property as increased by our recent subscriptions, the pres
tige and confidence which recent events had demonstrated
that it enjoyed in the community, and the value of our
library and collections made him feel confident that the basis
upon which the Society now rested, was thoroughly solid.
There was, above all, the elder's confiding trust that his
younger colleagues would perform their duty and continue
the good work, and that therefore the future of the Society
was secure.
Such were his last thoughts within these walls. I repeat
them to you now, for they are, indeed, good augury for the
new future, which we begin to-night !
President Coxe then introduced Professor John B. McMas-
ter, of the University of Pennsylvania, who spoke, in sub
stance, as follows: —
There is an old saying that a good thing needs no praising.
Admitting this to be true, my duty this evening is clearly
not to praise ; and this is most fortunate, for, were praising
once begun, it would be hard to determine where most should
be bestowed, on the building or on the liberality of the gentle
men who have so generously provided it. This much, how
ever, may at least be said : no Historical Society in the land
has yet come into a fairer estate. This too is a subject of
congratulation. It is a sign of life and progress. Not many
years since an Historical Society was commonly believed to
differ but little from a dime museum. People believed its

8 Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society,
quarters to be' a dingy room in an attic, and its treasures
bullets from Bunker Hill and guns from Yorktown, arrow
heads from Tippecanoe, books nobody ever read, and portraits,
as like as two peas, of gentlemen in small clothes with red
curtains tastefully draped behind them, and cannons and
flags beyond. That there was anything lively and human
about such societies was doubted. But this, most happily,
is so no longer. They can and they do perform a work which
every one of us is concerned in having done well. Nothing
is more certain than the fact, that the times in which we live
will have for those who are to come after us an interest sur
passing anything which we feel for those who have gone
before. To know something of the daily life of a great
people who, in one generation, overspread a vast continent,
drew to their shores millions of foreigners, fought a civil
war and paid for it, produced the most marvellous inventions
and discoveries, carried on business ventures upon a gigantic
scale, and made enormous fortunes the order of the day, will,
by our descendants, be thought matters worthy of note.
How correct a judgment they form of us will depend solely
on the material we transmit to them. Sources of history
good a century ago no longer exist or are of little use. The
age of the political pamphlet is gone. Whoever in 1984
derives his notions of our morality from a newspaper, of
our manners from a novel, of our politics from the pages of
the Congressional Record, and, with such material, recon
structs the world of to-day will produce something more
atrocious than the patched up statues of Cesnola. To gather
material for an honest history of the present, such as will
show up fairly both sides of every controversy in politics,
every discussion in morals, every great movement in social
science, the condition of the laborer, the state of the arts,
the life and manners of the time, is a yn-oper labor for every
Historical Society in the land. Each one should be a store
house for that carefully-sifted material by which alone poster
ity can see us as we are. A century hence this will be precisely
the most difficult kind of knowledge to acquire. Newspapers
will not furnish it, for they are not reliable. Letters will

Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society, 9
not contain it, for they are too hastily written to be of much
value, and too numerous to be preserved.
But there is yet another work peculiarly fitting for the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania to do. The close of the
next presidential term will be the one-hundredth anniversary
of the beginning of Federal Constitutional Government in
America. The event will no doubt be fittingly celebrated
in a public way. There will surely be, in ev^ry city in the
land, parades and fireworks in the streets, and, in Philadel
phia, perhaps, speeches in Independence Hall. All tbis is
good in its way, but something better may be done. The
importance of the Constitution is scarcely appreciated. It
became the supreme law of the land on March 4, 1789. On
July 14, 1789, the Bastile fell. The Federal Government
was hardly established before the influence of the French
Eevolution began to be felt in the United States, and that
influence was tremendous. It changed the dress, it modified
the speech, it powerfully affected the prosperity and political
future of the nation. Men became so intensely republican
that they could not shape their mouths to say Sir or Mr., but
called their friends citizen and their wives citess. They left
off wigs, wore the " Brutus crop," put on the Liberty cap,
sang Qa ira, danced the Carmagnole, ate Civic Feasts, formed
Democratic Clubs, gave the fraternal hug, and sought admis
sion to the Society of the Jacobins at Paris. The great
shame of the Federal Republicans of that day is not that they
maligned Washington as no other man ever has been maligned
since. The Federalists would have done the same had Wash
ington opposed them. It is to their shame, however, that at
a time when the Revolutionary Tribunal was turning Paris
into a pen of slaughter, when the gutters ran blood into the
Seine, when Lyons was made a waste place, when kites feasted
on the corpses that whitened the banks of the Loire, when
drowning boats, and " Republican marriages," and "national
baths" had become the pastime of the French people, the
Republicans of America could see nothing infamous in all
these things. The party which then sprang up held high an
extreme doctrine of republicanism. Liberty was to them

10 Inauguration of the New Hall of ihe Historical Society.
license. A strong national government was to them bu\<
another name for monarchy. Now, to put forth a correct
showing of each side of the controversy, which during these
years of French influence was waged over the Constitution,
would be a great contribution to that history of the Con
stitution which is yet to be written. It belongs peculiarly
to this Society. In this city the document was framed. In
this city the first contest over it began, and here for ten
years the Federal Government sat. To reprint the debates
in the State Convention called to consider the ratification of
the Constitution, to reprint the squibs, the essaj's, the pam
phlets, the comments that filled the journals and gazettes,
in a word, to show what the people thought of the Constitu
tion from 1787 to 180L', would be a most wise and useful work.
The Society has done much for the past. At length some
justice has been rendered William Penn. Could Mr. Macaulay
come back and read the books on these shelves, he would be
compelled to rewrite his estimate of Penn. Let something
also be done for the present.
Mr. Charles G. Leland moved that the thanks of the
Society be tendered to Professor McMaster for his able and
instructive address, with a request for a copy of the same for
the use of the Society.
The motion was seconded by Mr. Hampton L. Carson in
the following words : —
Mr. President; It gives me much pleasure to second the
Resolutions just offered. We are indebted to Professor Mc
Master not only for the matter and manner of his address of
this evening, containing many thoughtful suggestions, but
particularly for the value of his example as an author in
directing attention to the most important event in our polit
ical history as a people. I mean the formation of our
National Government.
It is true that there are other epochs more stirring in inci
dent, or more captivating to the fancy, but none more rich in

Inauguration of the New Hall of ihe Historical Society, 11
results which have blessed and benefited mankind. All that
preceded the building of our Constitution would have been
lost or squandered, and all that has followed it would have
been materially diflerent in character, had not the fruits of our
Revolutionary struggles been preserved for all time in the
Constitution of the United States. It was upon this great
structure that the political architects of the day lavished
their intellectual wealth, and hence to the philosophic stu
dent of our institutions, both here and elsewhere, there can be
no period more curious, or which will better repay his in
vestigations. It is the contribution of America to the Science
of Politics. It is her attempt to solve that vexed problem,
which, from times long before the days of Plato, has- agitated
man. It is not the blind partiality of national prejudice to speak
of our heroes in terms of admiration, nor is it melfe enthu
siasm to speak of their work in words of praise. The men
of our Revolution will compare favorably with those of any
race or age whom history has recognized as great. Their
characters were noble, their temper was tried by the severest
tests, and their experience covered every field of human ac
tivity. As soldiers, they were distinguished ; no generals ever
surpassed Washington and Greene in sagacity or in the
power of wresting victory from defeat. As orators, they
were illustrious ; few men ever equalled the fire of Henry
or the classic elegance of Lee. As writers, they were pre
eminent; in nineteen hundred years but one Thomas Jeffer
son has arisen to pen such a document as the Declaration of
Independence. Not Swift and Addison produced such pro
found results as pamphleteers as Paine and Franklin. As
statesmen, they rank among the foremost of the world; Ham
ilton and Madison and Jay, in the power of constructive
intellect, will yield to none in either ancient or modern
Europe. The Constitution of the United States was the masterpiece
of master minds. It is, fitly speaking, their crown and glory.
It contains the best thoughts of statesmen trained in the best
schools ; it embodies the political experience of the English

12 Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society.
race, and ranks with Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights
as a bulwark of Human Freedom. The great work of fram
ing its provisions was done in this city, and the time is now
close at hand when the Centennial Jubilee of the Constitu
tion will be celebrated. Surely there can be no higher patri
otic duty for any of us to perform than to study with
reverence the deeds of that day. The appropriate work of
this Society will be to illustrate the labors of the Federal
Convention, to point out the part played by Pennsylvania in
the great drama, to throw light upon all doubtful questions,
to awaken individual interest, to stimulate individual inquiry,
to assist individual effort and aid public exertion, to enter
into correspondence with similar associations in sister States,
and enforce upon the attention of the National Government
the importance and necessity of collecting, preserving, and
publishing all that relates to the origin of our Republic. We
are not only to be congratulated, but we can fairly congratu
late ourselves that, owing to the energy and prudent manage
ment of our officers and the zeal of their co-operators, we
enter, to-night, under the happiest auspices, upon a new
career of usefulness and honor.
" To form and uphold a state, it is not enough that our
judgments believe it to be useful, the better part of our affec
tions must feel it to be lovely. It is not enough that our
arithmetic should be able to compute its value and find it
high, our hearts must hold it priceless, above all things rich
or rare, dearer than health or beauty, brighter than all the
order of the stars."
In the spirit of these words of Rufus Choate let us dedi
cate ourselves to the work before us.
The motion was then adopted.
After this Mr. Lloyd P. Smith spoke as follows: —
Mr. President: Thirty years ago I read a book entitled,
"The Blackwater Chronicle; a narrative of an expedition
into the land of Canaan in Randolph County, Ya., a country

Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society, 13
flowing with wild animals, by flve adventurous gentlemen,
without any aid of government," I am somehow reminded of
that curious title-page when I think of this goodly building,
this priceless collection of the records of our State and of the
United States — it has been made without any aid of govern
ment. Not so with the newer and (shall I say) more enlight
ened States of the West, whose Historical Societies — and ad
mirable some of them are — have ever been supported wholly
or in part by government. The State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, for example, buys whatever its Library Commit
tee thinks proper, and the State foots the bill. Of course it
has a good library. Pennsylvania, as a State, does not rec
ognize its Historical Society, and Philadelphia as a corpora
tion has never taxed its citizens one dollar to build it up.
What we are as a Society we owe to the unselfish enthusi
asm, the unpaid toil of the late Mr. Watson the annalist, the
late Mr. Hazard the historian, the late Mr. Armstrong the
antiquarian, the late Mr. Wallace the man of letters — too
soon taken from us — and others whose names I need not now
recall ; we owe it to the unostentations devotion of Mr. Jordan,
the conscientious zeal and learning of Mr. Stone, the tact and
perseverance of Mr. Ward, the unparalleled industry of Mr.
Hildeburn, the liberal gifts of money or time and thought of
many others. " A poor thing, your worship, but mine own."
No, not a poor thing, Mr. President, but a thing to be justly
proud of; and, as a Philadelphian, I, for one, am proud of
it, exceeding proud. It is, in the treasures it has got to
gether, in the learning and courtesy of its officers, a real em
bodiment of sweetness and light, and unborti generations
shall honor the memory of every man who had a hand in
building up here in Philadelphia one of the really great
historical collections of the country.
In this building, admirably adapted to ita purpose, the
Society turns over a new leaf, it enters on a career of ex
panded usefulness. The edifice is not only larger and better
adapted to the needs of the Society than the old one, but the
situation is better, and I congratulate the Library Company
whom I have the honor to serve, I congratulate the students of

14 Inauguration of the New Hall of ihe Historical Society.
Philadelphia and elsewhere on the fact that the Philadelphia
Library, the Historical Society, and the College of Physicians
— the best medical library, with one exception, in the country
— are now all within a stone's throw of each other. The Law
Library will doubtless soon move to Broad Street, and then
four of the most important libraries of Philadelphia, each one
supplementing the others, will be close together. These
institutions, Mr. President, are not rivals, and still less ene
mies; they are allies. They fight together against the kingdom
of darkness and ignorance and obscurantism ; they form square
against the modern Goths and Vandals ; their quadrilateral
constitutes one mighty citadel of thought.
Fellow members of the Historical Society ! I congratulate
you also on the admirable choice you have made of a Presi
dent for the Society. A student and a collector all his life,
he has not only the necessary scholarship, but he has the
leisure and the inclination to serve your interests and the
interests of historical science. Books, gentlemen, do not grow
upon the shelves of a library ; they must be got together as
Opie mixed his paints — "with brains, sir" — the truth being
that the bibliographical knowledge needed for a wise selec
tion of books is one of the rarest accomplishments in the
world. Your President has it and so has your Librarian.
Long may they live to shed honor on our Society and to
make Philadelphia illustrious among the cities of the world.
The President then stated that when the Society was about
to move into its new home a hope was expressed that the
collection of portraits of its former presiding officers might
be made complete, and that, when this came to the knowledge
of the family of the late George W. Norris, M.D., his surviving
son and daughter with great liberality and consideration at
once offered to have a portrait painted of their late father.
This was accordingly done by a well-known artist, Mr.
Matthew Wilson, of Lake George, New York, and the por
trait, which was displayed upon an easel by the side of the

Inauguration of ihe New Hall of ihe Historical Society. 15
President, was then tendered as a gift to the Society in a
letter from William F. Norris, M.D., which was read by
the Secretary.
Henry Flanders, Esq., expressed the gratification which the
members of the Society and the friends of Doctor Norris must
feel that the Society had come into possession of the portrait,
and offered the following resolution: —
Resolved, That the thanks of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania be and they are hereby tendered to Dr. William
F. Norris aud Mrs. Mary F. Parsons for the excellent por
trait of their late father. Dr. George W. Norris, formerly
President of the Society, and for the kindness which prompted
them in adding it to the Society's collection of portraits of
its former presiding officers.
The resolution was seconded by Dr. William Hunt, who
said that the Historical Society would most gratefully accept
the gift. No portrait is more fitting to be in its possession.
It is that of a man who took a deep interest in all things
pertaining to the welfare of the Society. It is that of one
whose family had taken a most prominent part in the history
of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia from the earliest colonial
days to the present time. More than all, it is that of a man
of truth, of one who was an honor alike to his city, his pro
fession, and his name.
The resolution was then adopted.
The meeting then adjourned.

THE NEW HALL

OF

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

On the first of February, 1883, the Society purchased the
house and lot of ground No. 1800 Locust Street, erected by
John Hare Powel, in 1833, and from 1835 until recently
occupied by Gen. Robert Patterson. The means for this
purchase were obtained as follows •.-~
In 1855 a subscription was begun for a Building Fund for the
Society. This, with additions from time to time, and with accrued
interest, was kept well invested, and in 1883, yielded the sum of
$22,496 65
Late in 1882 a subscription in aid of the purchase was
begun among members and others, and is yet continued.
The following is the result at this time, May, 1884.

1 subscription

of

$2000

00 . . .

$2,000 00

20

ii

It

1000

00 . . .

20,000

00

33

t(

tl

500

00 . . .

16,500

00

4

ii

ii

300

00 . . .

1,200

00

25

a

ii

250

00 . . .

6,250

00

13

t(

ii

200

00 . . .

2,600

00

115

a

((

100

00 . .

11,500

00

65

u

ii

50

00 . .

8,250

00

1

ii

li

66

14 . .

66

14

1

it

ii

48

20 . .

48

20

1

ii

u

40

00 . .

40

00

1

it

H

30

00 . .

30

00

86

((

n

25

00 . .

2,150

00

25

it

a

20

00 . .

500

00

2

a

ii

15

00 . .

30

00

38

"

ii

10

00 . .

380

00

1

u

a

6

00 . .

6

00

5

u

a

5

00 . .

2.3

00 fifi 575 34

437

$89,071 99
18
There has been paid for the real estate  $62,500 00
" " taxes, policy of insurance . . . 935 00
" " new buildings, alterations, etc. . 32,033 71
Estimate for new work yet to be done  2,000 00
$97,468 71
Amount received  89,071 99
Amount yet required . •  $8,396 72
The " estimate for new work yet to be done" is for the
construction of suitable and secure cases for the display of
rare books and manuscripts. These are of an extent and
character well calculated to reflect credit upon the people of
Pennsylvania, through whose liberality they have been
obtained. This liberality can best be recognized by such a
display. A portion of the projected work is for the rooms
on the upper floors of the house. This, however, will re
quire but a few hundred dollars.
The accounts of the Building Committee, of which the
above is an abstract, have been audited by Messrs. William
P. Cressou, John B. Gest, and Brinton Coxe.