38 



Your Committee are obliged to express regrets that the Historical Col- 

 lections have not made so much progress during the past year as was hoped. 

 The October and December numbers of last year have not yet been pub- 

 lished, though they have been for a long time going through the press. It 

 has been deemed advisable to continue this publication in quarterly instead 

 of bi-monthly numbers, as heretofore. 



It is believed that an effort to enlarge the number of subscribers to this 

 periodical would be attended with success, if pushed forward with the assidu- 

 ity exhibited in the case of our Proceedings. The number of subscribers to 

 the Collections is now 112, which is 38 or 40 less than the number of sub- 

 scribers with which the work began, and yet it lias annually increased in im- 

 portance to the historian and genealogist. 



The Committee earnestly recommend the members of the Institute to 

 use their influence to obtain new subscribers to this publication, wliich has, 

 wherever it has fallen among students of our New England History and 

 Genealogy, been received with high encomiums as a work of great value and 

 interest. 



A change of editors has already been arranged for the ensuing year ; 

 and it has been further resolved to call upon several members of the Insti- 

 tute to furnish regularly a certain number of pages for each number, which 

 will ensure a more regular supply of copy for the editor, who, in preparing 

 and arranging his material for the printer, would find it a great assistance to 

 know some time beforehand, with sufficient certainty, precisely what and how 

 much material his forthcoming numbers will contain, and also enable him to 

 communicate with contributors respecting any obscure language or irregular 

 arrangement in the manuscript, before the printer begins to call for copy. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



For the Committee, 



A. C. GooDELL, Jr., 



Chairman. 



After the reading of the several reports, on motion of Mr. Kimball they 

 were referred to a special committee, to consider upon the suggestions therein 

 contained and prepare a condensed statement of the condition, doings and 

 wants of the Institute, and to present the same to the friends of the Institu- 

 tion with a view of obtaining such material aid as will enable it to fully de- 

 velop its plans in furtherance of the objects of its organization. 



Messrs. Rantoul, Brooks, Wheatland, Upham and Pickman were ap- 

 pointed a committee on nomination. 



The Committee retired and then reported the following names to the 

 meeting: Messrs. Francis Peabody, Charles A. Ropes, R. C. Manning, Wm. 

 Sutton, F. W. Putnam and S. P. Fowler, and they were duly elected as the 

 committee. 



On motion of Mr. Kimball it was also voted : that this committee be au- 

 thorized to fill vacancies and to add to their number. 



