I. Name. The name of this Society shall be The Nebraska State Historical Society.

   II. Object. The object of the Society shall be to promote accurate historical knowledge and research, to awaken public interest in and popularize historical study throughout the state. For these ends, in trust for the people of the state of Nebraska, it shall maintain a public library and museum. It shall collect, arrange, catalogue, and preserve therein manuscripts, books, pamphlets, maps, newspapers, pictures, relies, antiquities, products of art and industry, and other suitable material, - with special reference to illustrating the past and present resources and progress of Nebraska and western America. It shall, in particular, aim to preserve the memory and deeds of the early explorers and pioneers of this region; the traditions and relies of the Indian inhabitants; and the archeological remains of former peoples. It shall publish the results of its researches and spread this knowledge by printed reports, lecture courses, exhibits, and other suitable means.

   III, Location. The library, museum, and office of the secretary of this Society shall be located at Lincoln. Nebraska.

   IV. Membership. The Society shall consist of active, life, ex-officio, honorary, and corresponding members. These may be chosen at any regular meeting of the board of directors - except at the meeting next preceding the annual meeting of the. Society. - or by the Society at its annual meeting. Such choice shall be by ballot. A majority of all the directors shall be necessary to a choice or a majority of all the votes cast in case of election by the Society,

   Active members shall pay an admission fee of two dollars, but editors and publishers of newspapers and periodicals who have contributed the regular issues of the same to the Society's collections for the period of one year shall be considered active members during the continuance thereafter of such contributions, without payment of fee, upon signing blank membership form furnished by the secretary. All active members shall be citizens of Nebraska and shall quality by compliance with the foregoing provisions and filing with the secretary a signed application blank for membership which shall be furnished by him.
   Life membership may be secured by a donation of property to the value of fifty dollars to the Society. The secretary shall furnish each life member with an engraved certificate of the same suitable for framing.
   Honorary and corresponding members shall be such persons, distinguished for literary or scientific attainments, or for promotion of historical study, as may be chosen by the board of directors or the society at any regular meeting. They shall have all the privileges of the Society except voting and holding office, and shall be exempt from all fees and dues.
   Any member may be dropped from the rolls or expelled at any meeting of the Society by a two-thirds vote of those present, after not less than twenty days' notice of the charges against him and the time and place of trial by registered letter directed to him at his last known address.

   V. Officers. The officers of the Society shall be a president, two vice-presidents, a treasurer, and a secretary, who shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting, and hold their office until their respective successors are elected and qualified. 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 all 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 moneys 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 books and 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 president or a vice-president and countersigned by the secretary. 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 have the custody of the Society's property and the general supervision and the management of its work, subject to control by the board of directors. He shall keep the records of the meetings of the Society and conduct its correspondence. In connection with the president he shall make the report to the governor required by law and procure the publication of the same. 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 Society.
   The secretary and treasurer may each receive such salary as the Society shall by vote previously determine. No other officer shall receive any remuneration for his services, but may be allowed his actual expenses in performing the duties of his office.
   Any officer may be removed at any meeting 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

   VI. Board of Directors. 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 shall be ex-officio members of the Society. Together with the elective officers of the Society they shall constitute the board of directors.
   The board of directors is made the governing body of the society, with power to manage, administer, and control the disposition of its moneys, property, effects and affairs, subject to this constitution and by-laws annexed. They may adopt such rules as they see fit, not contrary to this constitution and by-laws, for the administration of the Society's affairs.
   Regular meetings of the board of directors shall be held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in January and quarterly thereafter during the year. At such meetings they shall receive reports from the ,secretary and other officers, act on applications for membership, and transact such other business as shall seem for the Society's best interests. Special meetings of the board may be called by the secretary upon five days' notice to each member, specifying the object of such special meeting. Five shall constitute a quorum of the board. The order of business at a meeting of the board of directors shall be the same as that of the Society Is meeting. The board shall report through the secretary to the Society at its meetings.

   VII. Seal. The Society shall have a corporate seal. of such design as it may adopt.

   VIII. Meetings. The regular meetings of the Society shall be the annual meetings which shall be held in the city of Lincoln on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in January.
   Special meetings may be called under the direction of the president, for the transaction of such business as may be specified in the notice thereof, and no other business can be finally disposed of at such meetings.
   Notice of all meetings of the Society shall be sent by mail by the secretary to all active members at least ten days before the date of such meeting.
   Ten active members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

   IX. Amendments. This constitution may be amended at any annual meeting by a two-thirds vote of those present; Provided, That the proposed amendment shall have been submitted in writing and entered on the minutes at a previous meeting at least three months beforehand. The by-laws which may be made by the Society may be amended or suspended at any regular meeting, or special meeting for that purpose, by a two-thirds vote; Provided, That the regular order of business may be varied at any meeting by a majority vote.

   1. The treasurer shall give bond in the sum of two thousand dollars with sureties to be approved by the board of directors, and the same shall be filed with the secretary. He shall receive for his services the sum of twenty-five dollars per annum, payable on the first of January for the year preceding.

   2. The secretary shall act as librarian of the Society. He shall use his best efforts to promote the growth of the library and museum and preserve a complete record of the articles received by the Society. Only members of this Society shall be entitled to draw books from the library; no manuscripts or articles from the museum will be withdrawn from the custody of the secretary; he shall preserve all correspondence received in proper files, and keep copies of all letters written by him.
   He shall receive for his services the sum of five hundred dollars per annum, payable in quarterly installments on the first day of April, July, October, and January for the quarter preceding,

   Provided, That in case the legislative appropriation shall, in the judgment of the board of directors, warrant, they may authorize the secretary to employ an assistant to act as librarian and to do the general work of the Society under his supervision, at such salary as they may determine, not to exceed $1,400; and in that event the salary shall be $100.

   3. The president-elect shall appoint at each annual meeting the following standing committees, composed of three members each:
   A committee on publication, of which the secretary shall be ex officio chairman, to select and prepare all matters for publication, and to supervise the printing thereof.
   A committee on library and museum, to assist the secretary's collections, and with him have general superintendence thereof.
   A committee on obituaries, whose duty it shall be to prepare memoirs of deceased members, and to collect materials for the same.
   A committee on program, of which the secretary shall be ex-officio chairman; to arrange for suitable literary and other exercises at the various meetings of the Society.

   4. The regular meetings of the Society shall be held in the city of Lincoln, at such hour and place as shall be designated by the secretary.

   5. The order of business at meetings shall be:
      (1) Roll call, or other proceedings to ascertain the names and number of the members present.
      (2) Reading of minutes.
      (3) Reports of officers.
      (4) Reports of standing committees.
      (5) Reports of special committees.
      (6) Communications and petition.
      (7) Election of members.
      (9) miscellaneous business.
      (10) Adjournment.

   6. Robert's Rules of Order shall be authority on parliamentary procedure at the meetings of the Society.

Transactions and Reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

   Vol. 1, 1885. 8vo. clo., 233 pp., $1.25; paper in 4 pts., $0.75.

Proceedings of the Society from January, 1879, to January, 1883; Historical Recollections of Otoe and Washington Counties; Autobiography of Rev. Wm. Hamilton, Indian Missionary; Short History of the Omaha Indians; Death of Francis Burt, First Governor; First White Child Born in Nebraska; Female Suffragist Movement in Nebraska; Two Historical Letters from Father De Smet; Fifty-six pages of Biographies; Discovery of Nebraska; Annual Address by President Furnas, 1880; Place of History in Modern Education; Rush for Gold at Pikes Peak; Philosophy of Emigration; Constitution, By-laws, and Roster of the Society.

    Vol. II, 1887. 8vo. clo., 383 pp., $1.25; paper in 4 pts., $0.75.

Relation of History to the Study and Practice of Law; Sketches of Territorial History; Wild-Cat Banks; Politics; Pioneer Journalism; How the Kansas-Nebraska Boundary Line was Established; Slavery in Nebraska; John Brown in Richardson County; A Visit to Nebraska in 1662; Forty Years Among the Indians in Nebraska; Military History of Nebraska; The Powder River Expedition, 1865; Histories of Cass, Dodge, Washington, and Sarpy

Counties; Early History of Fremont, Nebraska; Discovery of Gold in Colorado; Establishment of an Arboreal Bureau; Twenty-six pages of Biographies; Official Reports of Officers of the Society.

  Vol. III, 1892. 8vo. clo., 242 pp., very rare, $3.00.

American State Legislatures; Salem Witchcraft; History of Education in Omaha; The Beginning of the City of Lincoln and of Lancaster County; Early Times and Pioneers; Ft. Pierre Expedition, and the Military Camp on the Big Sioux River, 1885; Reminiscences of a Teacher Among the Nebraska Indians, 1843-55; Sioux Indian War of 1890-91; Brief History of Higher Education in Nebraska and an Account of the University of Nebraska; Pawnee Indian War of 1859; Reminiscences of Early Days in Nebraska; Official Proceedings of the Society.

  Vol. IV, 1892. 8vo. clo., 336 pp., $3.00.

Contributions by J. Sterling Motion; Old Ft. Atkinson, 1818; Map of Ft. Atkinson; Indian Troubles and the Battle of Wounded Knee; History of the Fontenelle Family of St. Louis; First Postmaster of, Omaha; Arbor Day; Supreme Judges of Nebraska; Omaha Public Library; County Names; Personal Sketch and Extracts from the Diary of Rev. Moses Merrill, Missionary to the Otoe Indians, 1832-40; Pioneers of Dixon County; History of Butler County; Fifty-six pages of Biographies; Constitution and By-laws of the Society.

  Vol. V, 1893. 8vo. clo., 295 pp., very rare, $5.00.

Records and their Conservation; Lincoln Public Library; The Arikara Conquest of 1823; Admission of Nebraska as a State; Nebraska Silver Anniversary, Lincoln, 1892; Meeting of Native Nebraskans; Old Settlers' Meeting and Organization; Early Life in Nebraska; Political and Constitutional Development of Nebraska; Settlement of Kearney County; Official Proceedings and Roster of the Society.

Proceedings and Collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
   Second series, vol. 1, 1894-95. 8vo. clo., 264 pp., $1.25.

Life of Governor Burt; Early Nebraska Currency; Municipal Government in Nebraska; Soldiers' Free Homestead Colony; Ghost Songs of the Dakotas; Early Nebraska Courts; Freighting Across the Plains; Financial Fallacies, a Sketch of Wild-Cat Banks in Nebraska; Biographical Notes, Personal Reminiscences; Official Proceedings and Roster of the Society.

   Second series, vol. II, 1898. 8vo. clo., 307 pp., $1.25.

The Poncas; Sketch of Bellevue, Nebraska; Travelers in Nebraska to 1866; Underground Railroad in Nebraska; Social and Economic Progress in Nebraska; First Territorial Legislature and Sketches of its Members; Nebraska Women in 1855; Death of Sitting Bull; Official Proceedings of the Society; Papers and Proceedings of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences.

   Second series, vol. III:--The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory and the Journals of William Walker.
      Special Publication of the Society, by Win, E. Connelley.
   8vo. clo., 423 pp., $3.00.

The Wyandottes; The Walker Family; The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory. Documents relating to the Provi-

sional Government and Original Constitution; A Sketch of Abelard Guthrie, First Delegate to Congress; The Journals of William Walker; Eleven Rare and Valuable Portraits.

   Second series, vol. IV:--Forty Years of Nebraska, by Thomas Weston Tipton, U. S. Senator for Nebraska from 1867-75. Special      Publication of the Society, 1902.
   8vo. clo., 570 pp., $2.00.

Biographical Sketches and Official Records of Territory and State Governors of Nebraska; Territorial Delegates to Congress, U. S. Senators, and Representatives with many Portraits

   Second series, vol. V, 1902. 8vo. clo., 381 pp., $1.50.

Territorial Journalism; Reminiscences of Territorial Days; Biographies of Judge Elmer S. Dandy, Thus. W. Tipton, Algernon Sydney Paddock, and others; The Nebraska Constitution; An Episode of the Wyoming Cattle War; Recollections of Omaha in 1855-61; Death of Logan Fontenelle; Farmers' Alliance in Nebraska; Indian Massacre, 1866; Pawnee War of 1859; Plains War in 1865; Underground Railroad in Nebraska; Along the Overland Trail; Early Freighting and Staging Operations; Proceedings of the Society and List of Members.

Nebraska Constitutional Conventions. A special Publication of the Nebraska State Historical Society, being vol. XI of its publications.

   Second series, vol. VI, 1906. 8vo. clo., 582 pp., $1.50.

Official Report and the Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1871.

   Second series, vol. VII, 1907. 8vo. clo., 628 pp., $1.50.

Official Report and the debates and proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1871.
(There are two more volumes of the Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Conventions of Nebraska now in course of preparation.

Proceedings and Collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
   Second series, vol. X, 1907. 8vo. clo., 422 pp., $1.50.

Mormon Settlements in the Missouri Valley; Railroad Migration into Northern Nebraska; Nebraska Politics and Nebraska Railroads; Reminiscences of Territorial Days; Campaign Against Crazy Horse; Early Days in Decatur, Nebraska; History of the Lincoln Salt Basin; Judicial Grafts; Visit of General Thayer to the Pawnee Village in 1855; Early Days on the Little Blue; Biographical Sketches of Pioneers; Railroad Taxation in Nebraska; Work of Union Pacific Railroad; Early Dreams of Coal in Nebraska; Unveiling of Monument to Gen. John M. Thayer; Official Proceedings, 1901 to 1908; Reports of Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, and Archeologist for 1997; Museum Catalogue; List of newspapers received by the Society; Legislative Acts Affecting the Society; Appropriations, 1883-1907; Constitution of the Society; Publications of the Society.

© 2000, 2001 Pam Rietsch, T&C Miller