IV 



Filed with the County Clerk of Richmond Co., N. Y., on Friday, 

 January 30th, 1885. 



ARTHUR ROLLICK, Ph. B. 

 SAMUEL HENSHAW. 



Filed with the Secretary of State of New York State, on Thursday, 

 February 19th, 1885. 



ALFRED LUDLOW CARROLL, M. D 



During- the next few years the meeting's were poorly attended, and the 

 membership steadily declined until it reached its low water mark of 36 

 in 1892. These were anxious times for those who had the success and 

 welfare of the Association at heart. The administrative and scientific 

 work devolved upon a constantly lessening- number of active workers, 

 and while the collections and library continued to increase in bulk and 

 value, the income of the Association and the interest in its efforts and 

 aims were constantly waning. Probably the g-reatest source of anxiety 

 was the uncertainty in reg-ard to the permanency of the quarters in 

 the Villag^e Hall. A new board of Village Trustees might order the 

 Association to vacate any year, and with the limited means at com- 

 mand it would have been impossible to house or even to store the col- 

 lections and library for any length of time. A movement was therefore 

 started in 1889 to raise a building fund, and subscriptions amounting to 

 $1,600.00 were pledged, but shortly afterwards the Association was 

 advised that quarters would be provided for its museum and library 

 in the then newly projected Staten Island Academy building, and the 

 movement was abandoned. 



The annual meeting of November 12th, 1892, inaugurated a new 

 epoch in the history of the Association. At that meeting Mr. Walter 

 C. Kerr was elected president, and his energy and clear insight into 

 conditions soon made themselves felt. The membership began to in- 

 crease at once. At the end of the next three years it was larger than at 

 any previous period in the history of the Association; and it has steadily 

 increased ever since, largely by the addition of members who, while not 

 taking an active part in scientific work, are pleased to support the As- 

 sociation as representing a valuable factor in the intellectual activity of 

 the community. 



In 1896 co-operation was effected on the most generous of terms 

 with the trustees of the Staten Island Academy, and the museum and 

 library of the Association were transferred and housed in permanent 

 quarters in the Academy building. Perhaps nothing that has occurred 

 has so clearly indicated the advisability of providing for further expan- 

 sion as the growth of the collections since they were placed where they 



