United States, especially between the Colony and State of New-York and the surrounding Colonies and States?

12. Is it in your power to furnish any information concerning the Indian tribes which formerly inhabited your district, or which may now occupy any por tion of it; concerning their numbers and condition when first visited by the whites; their trade, disputes, wars, and treaties, either among themselves or with the white people; their character, customs, and general history, together with their present numbers and state?

13. What were the Indian names of the mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, springs, caverns, or other remarkable places in your neighbourhood? And what do well informed people suppose to be the import of those names?

14. Are you in the possession of any records which will tend to elucidate the ecclesiastical history of any portion of our country? Can you give any information concerning the erection of churches, and the establishment of congregations in your district of every different denomination, from the earliest periods of settlement; the names of all the ministers who have had pastoral charges, the dates of their settlement and removal, whether by death or otherwise; the changes, either progressive or retrogade, which congregations have undergone with respect to numbers, property, &c. ecclesiastical disputes, or any remarkable persons or events which pertain to ecclesiastical history?

15. When were Schools and other seminaries of learning first instituted in your town? What have been their numbers at different periods since that time? Can any information be had concerning their funds, number of scholars, and general character at different times from the first settlement to the present day?

16. When was the first Printing-press established in your town, and by whom? When was the first

book, pamphlet, or newspaper printed? Who was the first bookseller in your town? And what have

been the number of printing presses and book stores, at different periods, to the present time?

17. Have you any public Libraries? If any, when were they first instituted, by whom, and what is the number of volumes in each?

18. Can you furnish any information concerning the progress of luxury? Do you possess any records or anecdotes respecting the introduction of the most conspicuous articles of elegant indulgence, such as wheel-carriages, &c. &c.?

19. Can you give any information which will throw light on the state of morals in our country, at different periods, such as the comparative frequency of drunkenness, gaming, duelling, suicide, conjugal infidelity, prostitution, &c. &c.?

20. What remarkable laws, customs, or usages, either local or general, at early periods of our colonial establishments, have come within your knowledge?

21. Can you furnish descriptions, drawings, or other communications concerning mines, mineral springs, ancient fortificatians, caverns, mountains, rivers, lakes, or any other natural curiosities, together with minute information concerning the dates of their discovery, or of other remarkable events respecting them, and in general every fact which throw light on their origin and history?

may

22. What information can you give concerning the dates and progress of the various improvements which have taken place in the departments of politics, commerce, manufactures, agriculture, literature, or humanity?

23. Do you possess any records concerning seasons remarkable for the extremes either of heat or cold, scarcity or plenty, sickness or health? Can you communicate bills of mortality, histories of epidemic diseases, &c.?

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Passed February 10th, 1809.

WHEREAS the persons hereinafter named and others, have formed themselves into an association, under the name of "The New-York Historical Society," for the purpose of discovering, procuring and preserving whatever may relate to the natural, civil, literary and ecclesiastical history of the United States in general, and of this State in particular, and have presented a petition to the legislature to be incorporated, that thereby such, the purpose and design of the said Society may be the more effectually subserved and promoted.-Therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of NewYork, represented in senate and assembly, That Egbert Benson, Brock holst Livingston, Benjamin Moore, Samuel Miller, William Johnson, Samuel L. Mitchell, David Hosack, John M. Mason, De Witt Clinton, John M'Kesson, Anthony Bleecker, Charles Wilkes, John Pintard and John Forbes, and their associates who now are, and such other persons as shall hereafter become members of the said Society, shall be, and are hereby ordained, constituted and declared a body corporate and politic, in fact and name, by the name of The New-York Historical Society," and that by such name they and their successors for ever hereafter shall and may have succession, and by the same name be capable in law to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity, in all manner of actions, suits, complaints and matters whatsoever; and that they and their successors may have a common seal, and the same break, alter, change and renew at their pleasure, and by the

same shall be for ever hereafter capable in the law to purchase, take, hold, receive and enjoy, to them and their successors, any lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels or estate, real or personal, of whatever nature or quality, in fee-simple, for life or lives, or for years, or in any other manner whatsoever: Provided always, That the yearly income or value of the said real or personal estate do not at any time exceed the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, current money of the state of New-York.

2. And it is hereby further enacted, That they and their successors, by the same name, shall have power and authority to give, grant, bargain, sell, demise, release and convey to others the whole or any part of such real or personal estate, on such terms and in such manner and form as the said society may deem eligible to subserve and promote such the purpose and design of the said Society; and that they and their successors shall have power from time to time to abolish any of the offices or appointments hereinafter mentioned, and create others in their room, with such powers and duties as they may think fit to confer and prescribe, and shall have power from time to time to make, constitute, ordain and establish such constitution, by-laws, ordinances and regulations as they shall judge proper for the election of officers, the election and admission of new members, for the government and regulation of the officers and members, for fixing the times and places of the meetings of the said corporation, and for conducting, regulating and managing all the affairs and business of the said corporation, and the same from time to time to alter, change, repeal, revoke and annul at their pleasure; and that the constitution and by-laws, rules and regulations of the said Society heretofore made and adopted, and now existing, shall and may remain in force, until altered or repealed by the said corporation: Provided, That such by-laws, constitution and regulations, made or to be made by the said corpo

ration, shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of the United States, or of this State.

3. And be it further enacted, That the officers of the said Society, until otherwise ordained by the said corporation, shall consist of one President, two Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, a Librarian, and Standing Committee of seven Members, and that until the next annual meeting of the said Society, and until others shall be chosen in their places, the present officers and committees last appointed by the said Society shall be and continue respectively the officers of the said corporation.

4. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be and is hereby declared to be a public act, and shall be construed most favourably to subserve and promote such the purpose and design of the said Society, and that no misnomer of the said corporation, in any deed, will, testament, gift, grant, demise, or other instrument of contract or conveyance, shall vitiate or defeat the same: Provided, the said corporation shall be sufficiently described to show the intention of the parties.

5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be and remain in full force for the term of fifteen years: Provided nevertheless, That in case the aforesaid Society shall at any time appropriate their or any part of their funds to any purpose or purposes other than those contemplated by this act, and shall be thereof convicted by due course of law, that thenceforth the said corporation shall cease and determine, and the estate real and personal whereof it may be seised and possessed shall vest in the people of this state.