5 



Charter of the Albany Institute, 



An Act to incorporate the Albany Institute. Passed Febru- 

 ary 27, 1829. 



Whereas the Society for the Promotion of Useful Arts 

 and the Albany Lyceum of Natural History have agreed to 

 articles of association, for the purpose of forming an insti- 

 tution for the promotion of science and literature, to be call- 

 ed " The Albany Institute." Therefore, 



The people of the state of New- York, represented in senate 

 and assembly, do enact as follows :' 



All such persons as shall at the time of the passage of this 

 act be members of the said " Society for the Promotion of 

 Useful Arts," or of the " Albany Lyceum of Natural His- 

 tory," and such other persons as shall from time to time be- 

 come members of the same, or of the third department here- 

 in after mentioned, shall be and are hereby constituted a 

 body corporate and politic, by the name of " The Albany 

 Institute ;" and the annual income of the real and personal 

 estate which the said corporation is authorised to hold, shall 

 not exceed ten thousand dollars. 



The said corporation shall consist of three departments, 

 to wit : First, the department of physical sciences and the 

 arts : Second, the department of natural history, and, Third, 

 the department of history and general literature. " The so- 

 ciety for the promotion of useful arts," as at present consti- 

 tuted, shall be the first department — " The Albany lyceum 

 of natural history," as at present constituted, the second de- 

 partment ; and a society for the promotion of history and 

 general literature shall be formed as soon as may be, which 

 shall be the third department : but until such society shall be 

 formed and duly organized, the said corporation shall con- 

 sist and be formed of the aforesaid first and second depart- 



The officers of the said corporation shall be a president, 

 three vice-presidents, three corresponding and three recording 

 secretaries ; a treasurer, a librarian, and as many curators as 

 the second department may direct. The president and trea- 

 surer shall be annually elected ; and the presidents of the 

 departments shall be the vice-presidents ; and the corres- 

 ponding and recording secretaries of the departments shall 

 be the corresponding and recording secretaries of the insti- 

 tute ; the librarian of the first department shall be the libra- 

 rian, and the curators of the second department shall be the 



