) 



Aiiiencan Antuiuarlan Soclcly. 137 



President, Isaiah Thomas Esq. who has been called the father of 

 American typography, and who having for more than half a century 

 i contributed by numerous publications to disseminate useful knowl- 



edge, crowned his labors by founding this important iusdluUon. 



In March, 1819, the society published an address to rouse the 

 zeal of its members; at the subsequent anniversary, in October, a 

 committee reported, that its interests were advancing with encour- 

 aging rapidity; and it was particularly mendoned, that die general gov- 

 ./ ernnient of the United States and the local governments of nine 



states, had presented to the society copies of their laws from iho 

 beginning, and of the journals of their legislatures in bodi branches. 

 How far this wise measure has advanced towards maturity, we are 

 not informed, but it is clearly very desirable, for the sake of the his- 

 torian, the jurist, the statesman and the andquary, that this collection 

 should be rendered complete. The first volume* of the Transac- 

 dons of the Society appeared in 1820, and excited much interest, 

 especially by the account and drawings which it contained of die an- 

 cient fortificadons, mounds and other andquiues of the long extinct 

 race that once inhabited the western parts of the United States. This 

 volume contained also a vocabulary of the Shawanoese, and of the 

 poetry and music of die Osages ; and an account of the Caraibs, the 



aborigines of the Antilles. 



President Thomas, at the first anniversary, strongly recommended 

 the erection of a suitable building, as being indispensable to the pros- 

 perity of the insdtutlon, and very properly indicated the advantages 

 presented by ^ small inland town, as being comparadvely secure from 

 invasion and from fire. In August, 1820, Uiis munificent gentleman 

 presented the society with a noble hall, erected at his own expense. 

 On this occasion, an appropriate address was delivered, by Mr. Isaac 

 Goodwin. Tlie building is of brick, and is large, convenient and 

 pleasantly situated in the environs of Worcester, which is one of our 

 most beaudful inland towns, adorned by many houses of gendemen of 

 weahh and distinction and honored by die residence of die present gov^ 

 ernorf of the state. Its environs are picturesque with villas, Indica- 

 dng taste and comfort, and rural beamy is e^ry where conspicuous.| 



* For a notice of this volume, see the North American Review, April, 1S21, and 

 this Journal, Vol. Ill, } The Hon. Levi Lincoln. 



t A canal now connects Worcester with Piovidcnce, at the distance of thirty miles, 

 at the head of the grand Narraganselt Bayv one of (he finest bays in North Amerira. 



Vol. XVllL— No. 1, IS 



