The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-22

The Minnesota Historical society,
which has its home in the basement OF
the state capitol building at st. Paul, IS
the oldest of all the state institutions. 1t
was born in 1S49-the same year that
Minnesota became territory.
Fifty-two years ago little frontier log
tavern stood upon what was then known
as Bench street in the Village of st.
Paul This village consisted of few
homes and a church and one or two pub
lie buildings. 1t stood upon the north
bank of the Mississippi river just above
the bend and was even then notedfor its
beautiful hills and bluffs. The origin OF
the society was very simple.
Mr.. Charles K. Smith had been sent
from Ohio to take the Office of secretary
of the new territory. He had been con-
nected in Ohio with the historical So
ciety of that state, and was one of its
most active members. Before he had
been long in the new territory, he saw
the need of an organization that would
collect maps and records of the early
days of what he even then saw was to
become a vast empire-the great North
west-and that would also preserve them
until the end of time.
AS territorial secretary, Mr. Smith had
his Office in a room of Mr.. Robert Ken
nedy's log tavern on Bench street. Here
one rainy September day, he drew up an
act to incorporate the Historical Society
of Minnesota. A remarkable thing about
this act was that none of the eighteen
men he named as incorporators was con-
suited. Mr.. Smith said that as no re-
sponsibilities could apparently be incur
red. he did not suppose anyone would
mind being included in the incorpora-
ton. Gov. Ramsey approved this act on
the Goth day of October, 1S49. The even
Ing of Nov. Is was a cold one. and Mr.
l.. ID
log tavern until several of those men
named in his act arrived. Some of those
present were William Henry Forbes of
the American Fur company; Charles
kilgore Smith, L. A. Babcock, David
Olmsted, ]. c. Ramsey, Martin Mcleod
and Henry L. Moss. In the presence or
these gentlemen, the society was formal
ly organized. The meeting came to an
end with the election of officers Gov.
Alexander Ramsey was made presidN4t;
David Olmsted and Martin Mcleod, vice
presidents; William H. Forbes, treas
urer and c. K. Smith, secretary. At this
meeting a committee was appointed,
consisting of Judges Goodrich and
Cooper, H. L. Moss, DR.. T. R. Potts and
D. B. LOOMS. to draft a constitution and
bylaws. This committee was to make
a report at the next meeting, which was
fixed for the secord Monday in jan
uary 1850 which was the first annual
meeting ever held by the Minnesota
Historical society. Since that date over
fifty annual meetings have been held.
Such was the birth of the society that
now numbers many members, has a IL
brary of 66,752 titles, 4,516 volumes OF
bound newspapers, and occupies fore
most place among the historical societies
of the country.
ACTIVE WORK BEGUN.
The first active work o fthe society was
begun by DR.. Edward D. Neill, who de-
livered a series of historical addresses, of
which The French Voyageurs to Min
nesota During the Seventeenth Century
was the first. These addresses were pub
lished by the society and sent to other
state historical societies and they suf-
feed to place the Minnesota society upon
a plane with those of the older states.
With these papers of DR.. Neiu the period
of tradition passed away and that of
actually commenced, and it can be said
of DR.. Nein that his pen traced the facts
of our state history from the first day
it became a territory until few years
ago.
AS the time approached for the first
annual meeting, notice that it would be
held in the office of Mr.. c. K. Smith was
printed in the Chronicle and Register, a,
paper then published in st. Paul. But
when the meeting was called it was found
that only eight members were in at
tendance, and not one of the officers ex-
cept Mr.. Smith, the secretary, was pres
ent. In spite of the small attendance,
however, the meeting was called to order
and presided over by Judge David Cooper.
Mr. Babcock, who was chairman of the
committee that had been appointed to
draw up a constitution and bylaws, hand
ed in his report and it was discussed by
those present. Mr.. Wilkinson made a
motion that the bylaws read one
by one and this was done by the secre-
tary. Each article was discussed and
adopted or amended and then adopted, as
the case might be.
1t was at this meeting that the name
of nearly every white man in the terri
tory, in all 122, was appended to the by
laws as resident members. Before they
were allowed to take part in any bust
ness of the society they were to pay an
initiation fee of 81 and sign the constitu-
ton This having been done the first
annual meeting of the society came to
an end.
The second annual meeting was held
in the Methodist Episcopal church in
January, 1851. This meeting was pre-
sided over by Gov. Ramsey and was on
quite grand scale. The Hon. Martin
Mcleod read a letter on THE Destiny of
the Indian Tribes from the Rev. S. r.
Riggs. and Mr.. George L. Becker read
a paper on the History and Physical
Geography of Minnesota by Henry r.
Schoolcraft A few days later the society
offered to aid in publishing aA'Dakota
Lexicon" to be compiled by Rev. Mr..
Riggs, of the Dakota mission. This work
is large volume of 1888 pages and is a