Under the present law the State
Historical Society receives fifty copies of all state
publications, except supreme court reports. These, together
with our own publications, enable us to exchange with
neighboring states and the federal government, receiving in
this way more valuable material than we are able to care for
with our limited resources. During the year just passed we
have received from these sources hundreds of titles, the
largest shipments coming from Missouri--420 titles, and
Wisconsin--232 titles, and smaller numbers from other
states. We have not pushed this work of exchange, nor is it
wise to do so until funds are provided with which to employ
help to take care of these additions. During the year we have received
several large, framed portraits. Among them a pastel of
Governor Silas Garber, contributed by Mrs. Garber, and a
unique colored portrait of William F. Cody, donated by
Charles H. Morrill. We have the promise of many fine
additions to this collection as soon as we are in our new
building. A great many photographs of pioneers have been
received during the year, but these are too numerous to
mention in detail in this report. Your executive board has held ten
meetings during the year. Great personal sacrifices have
been made by some of the members of the board to be present
at these meetings, as under our present constitution it
requires the presence of five of the nine members to
constitute a quorum. This difficulty in securing a quorum is
an ever-present one, and some provision should be made to
rem- |
edy this defect in our organization. I therefore recommend that the board be enlarged to twelve members and that the state superintendent of public instruction be made an ex officio member; that two members at large be elected by the Society, and that the number necessary to constitute a quorum remain the same as at present. I recommend also that the constitution be so amended as to provide for a president of the Society, to be elected by the Society, and a chairman of the board, to be elected by the board, and that the duties and responsibilities of each be clearly defined. During the year we have located the
only surviving members of the first territorial House of
Representatives of Nebraska, in the person of David Marshall
Johnston, now residing at Otego, Jewel county, Kansas. The
first territorial legislature of Nebraska was composed of a
Council of thirteen members, and a House of twenty-six
members. Of these there are known to be surviving only two
members of the Council, and one member of the House; Samuel
E. Rogers of Omaha, and Hiram P. Bennett of Denver, of the
Council, and Mr. Johnston of the House. Mr. Johnston has
dictated his recollections of the early days of Nebraska to
a representative of this Society, and we have secured from
him many interesting details of this first legislative
session. He is now very old, and can in all probability live
but a short time and friends have appealed to your secretary
to take up with the proper authorities the matter of
securing for him, from the state, a small pension to aid in
his support during his declining days. This, we think, would
be establishing a bad precedent, and is a proposition that
the legislators would not be likely to look upon with favor,
but it does seem |
that some plan might be devised whereby the last days of this distinguished pioneer might be secured against want. During the year deaths of members of
the Society have been reported as follows:
MEMBERSHIP. The total number of names on the
membership roll on this date is 712, of whom 119 are
deceased. During the year just closed 200 members have been
added to the list. More than a half of the names on the
membership register of the Society have been placed there
during the last two years, and more than one fourth of the
total number have been added during the years just ended.
Every new member means a new and enthusiastic friend of the
work of building up the Society's collections and increasing
its usefulness to the state, A complete system of
registering the names of members, with date of payment of
fees and election, and a record of the publications they
have received, has been installed, and every living member
has been supplied with a numbered certificate of
membership. The system of financial records put
into effect last Year has been faithfully followed, and a
careful memo-- |
randum kept of every financial transaction. This has made it possible to conduct the business affairs of the Society in an orderly manner, without confusion or annoyance, and anyone interested can readily ascertain at any time the exact financial condition of the institution. The special appropriation of $25,000 for a building fund has not been drawn upon and remains intact in the hands of the state treasurer. The contracts to be let according to plans and specifications, and to be paid for out of this fund will practically exhaust it. Whatever remains on August 31, 1909, will lapse. Of the $15,000 appropriated by the legislature of 1907 for the maintenance of the Society during the biennium there has been expended $12,402.03, leaving a balance of $2,597.97. There is also $564.01 in the hands of the treasurer of the Society, making a total of $3,161.98 available for the expenses of the Society till April 1, 1909. CURRENT RECEIPTS AND EXPENSES, 1908.
Receipts, 1908.
Expenses, 1908.
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Departmental Distribution of Expenses
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vouchers are not receipted by the payee, but I have recommended that claimants paid by state warrants be hereafter required to make their claims in duplicate and to receipt both the original and duplicate, and this will be done. I find the books of accounts admirably planned and neatly and accurately kept. The books show at all times the expenses of the year properly classified and the amount in the hands of the treasurer of the Society and the unexpended balance of state appropriations.  Respectfully
submitted,H.
S. WIGGINS, Public
Accountant.NOTE.--The item "Historical Society, $2,596.94," includes charges not properly chargeable to some particular department of the Historical Society. The item "Legislative Reference Bureau, $1,933.42," includes salaries of A. E. Sheldon, director of the department, his assistant, and his stenographer, although their time has not been exclusively devoted to that department. The item "Library, $1,009.46," includes the salary of the librarian. The item "Miscellaneous expenses, $564.81," includes $500 appropriated by the board of directors and paid to the secretary, who draws no salary, in recognition of his services to the Society from April 1, 1907, to January 1, 1908. The report of the treasurer, S. L. Geisthardt, was then presented and upon a motion by Mr. Geisthardt was referred to Horace S. Wiggins for auditing. FOR YEAR ENDING JANUARY 1, 1909. To the Officers and Members of the Nebraska State
Historical Society:
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I submit herewith bank book duly
balanced, and vouchers, and check to the order of the
Society for the balance on hand. S. L. GEISTHARDT, TREASURER
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Mr. H. S. Wiggins, appointed by the president to audit the accounts of the treasurer, made the following report: LINCOLN,
NEBR., Jan. 13, 1909.Hon. Robert Harvey, SIR: Vice President Nebraska State Historical Society. I beg to advise that the report of your treasurer, Mr. Geisthardt, of his transactions for the year ending Dec. 31, 1908, which was submitted to me for audit, has been examined and found correct, and the balance shown on hand corresponds with the bank statement of December 31, 1908. Respectfully
submitted,H.
S. WIGGINS, Public
Accountant. Your committee on obituaries offers the
following report: Edward Marshall Coffin, Omaha, Therefore be it |
sturdy pioneers who blazed the way through severest privation into an unpromising wilderness, thus enabling those of us who followed to profit richly by their risk and bold experiment and to fall heirs to a goodly land. The Society holds in grateful appreciation the heroic endurance and persistent faith on which they laid the firm foundation of our commonwealth. Your committee moves the adoption of the resolution, that it be spread upon the records of the Society and that a copy be sent to the respective families of the deceased members named herein. ANDREW
J. SAWYER,HENRY E. PALMER, CHARLES WAKE The report was adopted. To the Honorable, the Board of Directors of the
Nebraska State Historical Society: |
A vacancy in any office may be filled by the board of directors for the unexpired term. The president shall preside at the meetings of the Society, and in general shall perform the duties usually incident to the office. The vice presidents in the order of their election shall have the rights and duties of the president in his absence. The treasurer shall collect and have charge of the funds of the Society; he shall keep the funds of the Society in its name in some safe banking house in the city of Lincoln; he shall keep a detailed account of receipts and expenditures; keep his accounts open for inspection by the board of directors; make a full report to the Society at its annual meeting and at all times when required, and pay no moneys except on warrants drawn by the chairman of the board of directors and countersigned by the superintendent. He shall give a bond for the faithful performance of his duties in the sum of two thousand dollars, and such additional sum as the Society may require, and file the same with the secretary. The secretary shall keep the records of the meetings of the Society and the board of directors, and conduct the correspondence of the board. In connection with the president he shall make the report to the governor required by law; he shall make a full report of his doings at the annual meeting of the Society and at the quarterly meetings of the board of directors, and perform such other duties as may be required by the board. The secretary and treasurer may each receive such salary as the board of directors may determine. No other member of the board shall receive any remuneration for his services; but he may be allowed his actual expenses in performing the duties of his office. Any officer elected by the Society may be removed at any meeting of the Society by a two-thirds vote of those present. Officers pro tempore may be chosen by the Society at any meeting in the absence of the regular officers. (b) That article VI of the constitution be amended to read as follows: VI. BOARD OF DIRECTORS. The board of directors shall consist of the governor of the state, the chancellor of the state university, the head of the department of American history in the state university, and the president of the Nebraska State Press Association, ex officio, and five members elected by the Society at its annual meeting. The board of directors shall be the governing body of the Society with power to manage, administer and control the dis- |
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