55 



by the members in the early history of the Society, 

 have devoted considerable time to researches, in the 

 hope of shedding additional light to that thrown by 

 the labours of Mr. Du Ponceau and Mr. Fisher, in 

 clearing up the doubtful points in our Annals. They 

 have had a number of meetings, appointed Sub-Com- 

 mittees to confer with surviving members of several 

 families, in the hope of obtaining valuable papers, 

 and examined the Franklin Manuscripts in the pos- 

 session of the Society. Though they have met with 

 disappointments in several quarters, still they trust 

 that their labours have not been without fruit, at 

 least in the acquisition of some facts and authorities, 

 not heretofore known, or made available. 



In tracing the early history of the Society, the 

 point of great difficulty is to determine the origin 

 of the "American Society. " It is an undisputed 

 fact that this Society had been called "The Junto. " 

 It was the recognized name of the association, as 

 appears from the Minutes in our possession, until 

 the 13th of Dec. 1766, when it was changed to "The 

 American Society for promoting and propagating 

 Useful Knowledge, held in Philadelphia. ' ' Now the 

 minutes of this body are not known to exist at an 

 earlier date than Sept. 22nd, 1758; and hence the 

 question arises, is the Junto of which we have 

 minutes, and which was afterwards called the "Amer- 

 ican Society," a continuation of the Junto, estab- 

 lished by Franklin in 17271 In examining this ques- 



