JOSEPH GEORGE ROSENGARTEN. vii 



Mater paid tribute to the invaluable services rendered by her dis- 

 tinguished son to the nation, to research, as well as to the institution 

 itself, by conferring upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. 



Of his services to our American Fliilosophical Society I also 

 cannot speak at length without passing beyond the limits of an 

 obituary sketch. His interest in the affairs of the Society was un- 

 ceasing, from the time of his election in 1891. He served as a mem- 

 ber of the Library Committee from 1899 to his death and as Chair- 

 man of the Committee since 1909. It is worthy of note that this 

 position is the only one which he retained of the many which he once 

 held, and all of which he relinquished a few years ago by virtue of 

 advancing years which prompted him to transfer the burden to 

 younger men. He was Councillor of the society from 1901 till 1909, 

 and again from 191 1 to 1913; and he was honored by an election to 

 the Vice-Presidency in 1918. A perusal of the minutes will show 

 that no one exceeded him, and few equalled him, in punctilious at- 

 tendance at the meetings. He took a prominent part in the various 

 celebrations organized by the Society, notably in the bi-centennial of 

 Franklin's birth and he is represented in the Proceedings by many 

 papers, dealing with such various subjects as the French members 

 of the Society, the Franklin Papers in the possession of our Society, 

 the Earl of Crawford's manuscript likewise owned by our Society, 

 the Chateau de Rochambeau, the Paris Exposition of Books, etc. 

 Of special value is a paper on American History from German 

 Archives (published in the Proceedings for 1900), which gives a 

 survey of this very fruitful field of investigation. Air. Rosengarten 

 himself contributed to the publication of " German Archives " by 

 his translations of Popp's Diary and of Achenwall's Observations 

 on North America, both published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of 

 History and Biography (Vols. 26 and 27). Mr. Rosengarten's inti- 

 mate association with the Society led to his being chosen to read the 

 obituary notice of such distinguished members as Henry Coppee, 

 William H. Furness, Henry C. Lea, J. Sergeant Price, Peter F. 

 Rothermel, and Albert Henry Smyth. The last paper read by Air. 

 Rosengarten before the Society was an investigation and discussion 

 of a "Plan for an automatic collection and distribution of a state 

 tax for higher education." This was in 1913 and the article pub- 



