The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. IX, 1910Various
History
The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. IX, 1910
Various
American-Irish Historical Society -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- United States -- Periodicals; Irish Americans -- Periodicals
The Society is very much in need of endowments and donations. A fund
should be established, the income of which would be sufficient not only
to maintain a proper building of modest proportions, in which the
archives of the Society could be kept and the general headquarters
maintained, but to compensate historians and writers for work and
research on lines that would be dictated by a committee having that
branch of our work in charge, as well as to furnish competitive prizes
for historical essays.
If a substantial fund for these purposes were at hand we might reduce
the dues from five dollars per annum to three dollars, leaving the life
membership fee as at present, and place on sale copies of our
publications under the direction of a librarian, who would have charge,
with his other duties, of this branch.
All of the leading historical societies have substantial sums in their
treasury, contributed by interested members. Yet the American-Irish
Historical Society, nine-tenths of whose members are men of more or less
wealth, has never, as far as I can see from an examination of the
Society’s records, received a single dollar for these purposes, and the
Society has done its work on its own meagre revenue, with no assistance
save the dues of its members.
Contemplating the liberal endowment of other historical and antiquarian
associations, the American-Irish Historical Society may justly be proud
of its record; but this will not be a sufficient answer to the next
thousand members that join our ranks. We must have suitable
headquarters, a suitable library and a proper place for our archives;
establish an exchange list with other libraries and institutions, and
solicit additions not only of books, prints and engravings, but other
articles that are of historic interest; and all these should be under
the management of a librarian or custodian, by whom the large
correspondence now entailed on the Secretary-General should be conducted
and fostered.
It will take money to do these things, but not as large an amount as, at
first blush, one would think. The Society having been incorporated in
Rhode Island, its headquarters must necessarily be there, and it is
fitting that the centre of the work of this Society should be somewhere
in New England. Massachusetts and Rhode Island have many historical and
antiquarian societies, and nowhere in the whole United States is the
spirit of historical research and pride of ancestry more strongly
developed than in these two states.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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