75 



Of the total uumber of Pamphlets aud Serials 2,406 were Pamphlets 

 and 1,606 Serials. 



The Donations to the Library for the year have been received from 

 two hundred and three different individuals and twenty-four different 

 societies and public bodies. 



The Exchanges have been received from one hundred and forty-six 

 different societies, of which sixty-seven are foreign societies. Many 

 of these exchanges are of great value and could not be obtained in 

 any other way than in return for our own publications. 



Besides the additions to the Library, the Editors of the American 

 Naturalist have received in exchange and placed on deposit, in the 

 Beading Room of the Institute during the past year, eleven bound 

 volumes and two hundred and sixty-five serial publications. 



By means of exchange, also, our sets of the folio annual edition o 

 Laws of Massachusetts has been rendered complete from the com- 

 mencement, in 177.0, to the octavo edition of 1806, with the exception 

 only of eight pages, which we hope soon to receive, and thus complete 

 our sei-ies of Laws of Mass., from 1775 to the present time. These 

 folio editions of the Laws are extremely rare, aud only two other 

 complete sets are known to exist anywhere. Large additions have 

 also been made to our series of Massachusetts Resolves and of the 

 Journals of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. 



W. P. Upham, Curator of Manuscripts, read the following report 

 on the present condition of that section of the department of History. 



The character and importance of the various legal papers, charters, 

 commissions, autographs, records of societies, and other manuscripts 

 deposited in the Institute, and the duty devolving upon us of properly 

 preserving them, was fully set forth in a former report (see Annual 

 Meeting, 1865). During the past year some additions have been 

 made to our collection, and I am pleased to be able to state that much 

 has been accomplished towards bringing this section into a condition 

 that will be creditable to the Society, and will give confidence to 

 those who deposit here such perishable records of the past that they 

 will be properly cared for and preserved for future use. Being 

 convinced that, at a moderate expense, our manuscripts could 

 be arranged in order, and made more secure from accident and injury, 

 and at the same time more available for antiquarian and historical 

 research, a few of the friends of the Institute have been called upon, 

 who have generously responded and furnished the means for carrying 

 out this object. I wish here to acknowledge the receipt of the aggre- 

 gate sum of five hundred and five dollars ($505.00) subscribed for this 

 purpose by the following gentlemen : John Bertram, George Peabody, 

 Joseph S. Cabot, James Upton, Richard S. Rogers, Henry Gardner, 



