43 



also those who took leading positions in commercial and 

 other enterprises that tend to the prosperity of a commu- 

 nity. At this time the Salem Athenaumi had collected 

 many valuable works, and the East India Marine Society 

 a museum of natural history and ethnology — the latter 

 especially rich in those specimens that illustrate the 

 habits and customs of the people of India and the Pacific 

 Isles. These institutions had acquired a merited celeb- 

 rity, and were attracting the attention of scholars, tour- 

 ists, and the general public. The ample material for the 

 organization of an active society of history was waitiug 

 for some exciting cause to put in motion the crystallizing 

 process. 



Soon after the death of the Rev. Dr. Bentley, which 

 occurred in December, 1819, much regret was expressed 

 that the valuable and large mass of historic material, 

 books, etc., which he had collected during a successful 

 ministry of nearly forty years, should be removed from 

 Salem. There being then no place of deposit, of course 

 the tendency was to go elsewhere. To prevent a similar 

 occurrence in the future, at the suggestion of Hon. J. G. 

 King and George A. Ward, a meeting was convened on 

 the afternoon of Saturday, April 21, 1821, just fifty years 

 since, Judge Story presiding. This meeting organized 

 under the name of the Essex Historical Society, and ap- 

 pointed a committee to prepare rules and orders, also a 

 petition to be presented to the Legislature for an act of 

 incorporation. The act was obtained in the June fol- 

 lowing, and on the 27th of that month the first corporate 

 meeting was held, and an organization was effected with 

 the venerable Dr.- E. A. Holyoke as President, who 

 continued its presiding officer until his decease in April, 

 1829, at the advanced age of 100 years and 7 months. 

 In 1847 the union with the Natural History Society was 



