American Antiquarian Society. 137 



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

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

 contributed by numerous publications to disseminate useful knowl- 

 edge, crowned his labors by founding this important institution. 



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 parUcularly mentioned, that the general gov- 

 ernment of the United States and the local governments of nine 

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

 beginning, and of the journals of their legislatures in both 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 antiquary, that this collection 

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

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

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

 cient fortifications, mounds and other antiquities 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 the 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 institution, and very properly indicated the advantages 

 presented by a small inland town, as being comparatively secure from 

 invasion and from fire. In August, 1820, this 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. The building is of brick, and is large, convenient and 

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

 most beautiful inland towns, adorned by many houses of gentlemen of 

 wealth and distinction and honored by the residence of the present gov- 

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

 ting taste and comfort, and rural beauty is every where conspicuous. J 



* For a notice of this volume, see the North American Review, April, 1821, and 

 this Journal, Vol. III. t The Hon. Levi Lincoln. 



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

 at the head of the grand Narragansett Bay, one of the finest bays in North America. 



Vol. XVIIL— No. 1. 18 



