We invite all to engage in this work, and the sheaves they bring from this promising field will greatly add to the historic wealth of the Church. STATISTICS. The following are our numbers with the necessary changes the year has brought : As found in our first printed "Proceedings," Add increase for the year, Deduct loss by death, Deduct loss by change of residence, 158 127 48 4 3 The following are the names added during the year 1881 not contained in the first printed "Proceedings": Corresponding Members. Rev. Bishop Edward Gayer Andrews, D.D., LL.D., Washington, D. C. Rev. James Porter, D.D., Brooklyn, N. Y. Rev. John Morrison Reid, D.D. New York, N. Y. John Elliott Stevens, New York, N. Y. Hon. Thomas Logan Tulloch, Washington, D. C. Rev. Bishop Henry White Warren, D.D., Atlanta, Ga. Rev. John Folsom Adams, Greenland, N. H. Rev. Osman Wesley Adams, Franklin, Mass. Rev. Joshua Richardson Bartlett, Barre, Vt. Rev. Samuel Beedle, Hull, Mass. Rev. Francis Durbin Blakeslee, A. M., East Greenwich, R. I. Rev. Eratus Burlingham, Coleraine, Mass. Rev. Seth Cooley Carey, Beverly, Mass. Prof. Alden Fitzroy Chase, A.M., Kent's Hill, Maine. Rev. Frederick Augustus Crafts, East Bridgewater, Mass. Rev. Edward Edson, A.M., Taunton, Mass. Rev. Charles Henry Ewer, Niantic, Conn. Rev. Charles Wesley Gallagher, A.M., Fall River, Mass. Robert Gould, East Cambridge, Mass. Rev. William Henry Hatch, Boston, Mass. Rev. William Toucy Hill, A.M., New Haven, Conn. John William Hoyt, A.M., Springfield, Mass. Rev. Charles Thurston Johnson, A.M., Newton Upper Falls, Mass. Rev. Sylvester Frazier Jones, A.M., Malden, Mass. Lewis Pratt Loring, Hull, Mass. Rev. John Wesley Merrill, D.D., Concord, N. H. Rev. Asahel Moore, Needham, Mass. James Needham, Jr., Boston, Mass. Rev. Charles Sumner Nutter, Hebronville, Mass. Rev. John Davies Pickles, A.B., Lawrence, Mass. Rev. William Rice, D.D., Springfield, Mass. Rev. William Jonathan Smith, Phenix, R. I. Rev. Benjamin Franklin Tefft, D.D., LL.D., East Poland, Me. Benjamin Franklin Thurston, Esq., Newport, R. I. Rev. Edward Warren Virgin, A.M., Neponset, Mass. Frank Bonney Webster, Boston, Mass. Rev. Hiram Denio Weston, Mattapan, Mass. Rev. William Wignall, Shrewsbury, Mass. Rev. Walter James Yates, East Greenwich, R. I. REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. Willard S. Allen, A.M., the Librarian, made the following annual report: In the month of March, last, the property of our Society consisting of books, pamphlets, manuscript letters, record books, pictures, relics, etc., which had been so widely separated, were brought together and deposited in the Room which had been provided by the munificence of the friends and members of our Society. While the room is not large, it will doubtless meet our wants for a year or two, but it is to be hoped that at no distant day we may have a fitting Library Hall for our present and prospective literary treasures, and that not a few of our wealthy and liberal-hearted members, will, with wise forethought, bestow a generous portion of their means upon our Society, where it may unceasingly perform its noble mission of preserving everything which will in any manner illustrate the history of Methodism. Immediately upon receiving the property of the Society, your librarian set about the task of arranging the books and pamphlets, and as fast as new gifts have been received during the year they have been assigned to their proper place. The Society's BookMark has been placed upon the inside cover of each volume in the library, together with the donor's name, place of residence, and date of gift, and during the coming year all the pamphlets in our collection should be stamped with our seal. We have made a beginning, during the year, of collecting a complete file of the Minutes of all the Annual Conferences of the M. E. Church, and the catalogues of all Colleges, Theological Seminaries and Academies that are under the patronage of our Church. Our success thus far has been truly encouraging, and we invoke the continued aid of our friends until this object is accomplished. The whole number of bound volumes belonging to the Society at the last Annual Meeting was, 48 Donations during the year, 382 Whole number of volumes at the present time, 430 Whole number of pamphlets at last Annual Meeting, 585 1697 Whole number at the present time, 2282 Whole number of volumes and pamphlets, 2712 We have in addition, a few duplicate books and several hundred pamphlets which we are in hopes to exchange for books and pamphlets which we need. Special mention can be made of but few of the valuable donations received during the last year. The largest number of books presented by one person was 51 volumes from Rev. Hubbard Eastman of Jacksonville, Vt. The largest number of pamphlets from one person was 380 from the librarian, Mr. Willard S. Allen. Through the munificence of Hon. Jacob Sleeper, a Life Member and Director of our Society, the Rev. William McDonald has bought in London, England, for the Society, a complete set of the Arminian and Wesleyan Magazine extending from 1778 to 1880, a work of inestimable value to the student of Methodist church history; and we are happy to announce that these books are on their way to this country, and in a few weeks will be on our shelves in the library. May this gift of Brother Sleeper's stimulate others to fill vacant alcoves in our library. Mr. William S. Dodge's donation of 34 volumes was a selection from the library of his father, the late Thomas Dodge of Portland, Maine, among which were the Sermons of Rev. John Wesley, nine volumes; Fletcher's Checks, five volumes; Religious Cabinet, first volume; Methodist Magazine for the years 1818, 1819, and 1820; A Journey from Egypt to Jerusalem by Rev. E. R. Sabin; two volumes of Zion's Herald, bound, besides many other books. From Bishop R. S. Foster, 17 volumes of the British Wesleyan Conference Minutes from 1744 to 1870, bound in calf. Mrs. M. W. Richardson of Amherst, N. H., donated "A Life of Christ " by Paul Wright. The date when it was printed is unknown, but it was undoubtedly printed sometime in the seventeenth century. Rev. R. W. Allen has donated twenty-nine portraits of the early Methodist ministers, some of them being very rare. Our Historiographer has given us a large number of very important pamphlets, besides many of the early Conference Minutes. Mr. John Hough, of Malden, Mass., presented the Society with a copy of the Bible, printed in 1696. It contains the family record of several families. Rev. Howard C. Dunham, of Winthrop, Mass., has contributed to our collection eight autograph letters, a piece of the tombstone of the Rev. Lorenzo Dow, and a relic of the great fire in Boston, Nov. 9, 1872. Rev. David Sherman has presented the first two volumes of the New England Methodist, bound; Life and Letters of Rev. Stephen Olin, D.D., 2 volumes; Con gregationalism as Seen in its Literature, by Dr. Henry M. Dexter. Rev. William McDonald has donated an engraving of Hogarth's "Thought for the Medley; " Life of Christ, a poem, 2 volumes, by Rev. Samuel Wesley. Rev. William D. Bridge, of New Haven, Conn., has sent us a very large collection of manuscripts, programmes and pamphlets. Our President sent us, framed, an engraving of "The Burial of Mrs. Susannah Wesley." Mrs. Almira L. Case, of West Thompson, Conn., has donated from the library of her late husband, the Rev. John W. Case of the New England Southern Conference, the General Minutes of the M. E. Church, bound, from 1773 to 1855; Life of Melville B. Cox; Trial of Rev. E. K. Avery, Hallet's edition; besides many pamphlets. The Trustees of the Chestnut Street M. E. Church, Providence, R. I., have deposited with our Society the New York Christian Advocate, bound, from 1827 to 1856. Rev. Lewis B. Bates, of East Boston, has rescued many valuable pamphlets from the paper mills and presented them to our Society, together with a very good likeness of his father, the Rev. Lewis Bates. Rev. Bradford K. Peirce, D.D. has donated a "Photograph of the Letter of the Rev. John Wesley, setting apart the Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke as a Superintendent over the people in the Southern Provinces of North America." Rev. Ezra Withy of New London, Conn., has donated an autograph letter of President Thomas Jefferson; autograph letter of Rev. Jesse Lee, dated at Boston, Jan. 3, 1791; three very early class papers; copies of the General Minutes, &c. Rev. Nelson Goodrich, of Gale's Ferry, Conn., has presented us from the library of Mr. Vine Stoddard, father of the late Rev. Isaac Stoddard of the New England Southern Conference, a subscription copy of that very rare book, "History of the Methodists" by Jesse Lee; several copies of the old Methodist Magazine from the library of the late Judge Ralph Hurlburt, of Gale's Ferry, Conn., who was a local preacher in the M. E. Church for nearly fifty years in Eastern Connecticut; and from the library of his father, Mr. Edward Goodrich, who was for many years a prominent layman in our church in South Glastenbury, Conn. Rev. Nathan D. George, of Oakdale, Mass., has within a few days placed on the shelves in our library copies of all the books and pamphlets of which he is the author; a practice which we commend to all the members of our Society who have attained to the realm of authorship. To Rev. Hubbard Eastman of the Vermont Conference, we are indebted for a very valuable donation |