THE SOCIETY’S FIELD IN CALIFORNIA. BY JAMES CONNOLLY, CORONADO, CAL. The American-Irish Historical Society is national, broad and comprehensive. To those familiar with the way in which our race has been misrepresented or omitted in some histories of California, nothing more is needed than the mere fact of the existence of such a society as ours as an inducement to their taking an interest in it. But there are the great majorities on the other hand who have little time to look into such matters in out of the way places, before whom I wish to place the more important purposes and scope of the Society. Probably no great incentive to the study of the latter phases of this Society is needed than the fact that during its short existence it has been extended to over thirty states of the Union and to the District of Columbia. Most or all of the men who first conceived the need and then issued the call for its organization are of national reputation in the several walks of life. The first meeting was held at the Revere House, Boston, Jan. 20, 1897. Rear Admiral Richard Worsam Meade was then elected the first president-general. With seven generations of American ancestry back of him, and brother of the hero of Gettysburg, it would have been hard to find a more representative man of the race for that office than he. In thus honoring him the Society was doubly honoring itself. The race that gave the new United States navy Commodore Jack Barry, might as well supply a rear admiral for president of this Society in 1897. The strides forward during the intervening century have been certainly great. And to-day the race stands as firmly and fearlessly as it did then, for freedom. Theodore Roosevelt, governor of the Empire state, who is so distinguished in literature, war and statecraft that it would be hard to tell in which he most excels, is among the members. The mere mention of these names that have come so conspicuously before the world is not calculated to signify that there are not many others of almost or quite equal note. Scholars, statesmen and soldiers are numerous among the Society’s officers and members. But in such a brotherhood as ours there are no caste barriers. In the common endeavor for the common good of seeing that American history is truly written, we meet and act upon common ground. “Fidelity, truth, honor, are the watchwords,” says the preamble to the constitution, “and under their noble influence should our work be done.” Of the nine distinct objects and purposes set forth in Article II of the constitution, two may be quoted as embodying the more essential features of our work: “(2) To investigate specially the immigration of the people of Ireland to this country, determine its numbers, examine the sources, learn the places of its settlement, and estimate its influence on contemporary events in war, legislation, religion, education and other departments of human activity.”