ANNUAL MEETING}. 57 



crude ideas did not crystallize into any permanent form 

 until tlu- December following, when on Saturday the 14th 

 of that month a meeting was held and a committee chosen 

 to prepare by-laws and report at a future meeting. At the 

 adjourned meeting the by-laws were accepted and the fol- 

 lowing officers were elected : — 



President, Andrew Nichols; 1st Vice President, Wil- 

 liam Oakes ; 2nd Vice President, Gardner B. Perry ; Sec'y 

 andTreas., John M. Ives; Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, 

 John L. Russell ; Curators, William Oakes, John Clarke 

 Lee, Charles Grafton Page, Thomas Spencer. 



In response to a circular, a gathering of the friends 

 from various parts of the county attended a meeting at 

 Topsfield on the sixteenth day of April, 1834. The meet- 

 ing was held at the old Stage House and the organization 

 completed, as Mr. Samuel P. Fowler stated, over a clump 

 of Blood Root (Sanguinaria canadensis) in full flower, 

 which some one had found during the forenoon ramble and 

 placed upon the table. 



Soon after this meeting, rooms were engaged over the 

 Essex Fire and Marine Insurance company on Essex facing 

 Central street ;, the same that had been used for the books of 

 the Salem Athenauim some ten or fifteen years previously. 

 At the same time, Vice President William Oakes of 

 Ipswich, an original subscriber to Audubon's "Birds of 

 America,"' loaned to the society some of them to be placed 

 on exhibition. These plates, having been distributed to 

 the subscribers only a short time before, excited a consid- 

 erable interesl ; a good introduction to the society's work. 

 At the close of these reminiscences 



The Report of the Secretary was read, accepted and or- 

 dered to be placed on file. 



The Report of the Treasurer, approved by tin' auditor, 

 was read and accepted and ordered to be placed on file. 



