Minute book, 1769-1779

Oversize minute book (April 12, 1769 - March 31, 1779) detailing weekly, quarterly and annual meetings of the Society. Minutes record attendance and election of officers and members, deaths and funerals of members, fines for non-attendance, indecent behavior and language and other infractions, requests for admission and for relief, rulings on admissions and relief, changes of bylaws and fees, with quarterly reports of separate accounts of town and country members starting in 1774 (p. 250). Minutes generally include the place of the meeting and the fees charged. The incorporation of the Society is mentioned (April 19, 1769, August 29, 1770), as is a "pedestal" (lectern?) for the Society (August 15, 1770, September 26, 1770, p. 218); giving left-over food from banquets to the work house (July 12, 1769) and the "gaol" (October 11, 1769); land acquired in Hampstead for a hospital (June 12, 26; August 28, October 16, 30, 1771, pp. 149, 150); lettering the ballot box (November 13, 1771); creating a fair copy of the Society's minutes (pp. 139, 178, 198, 199, 254, 258); revising and printing the rules of the Society; giving printed copies to clergymen in town (pp. 151, 153); the Society's engraving plate from England (pp. 214, 215, 235); "wands" for funerals (p. 229); the Society's anthem set to music by Mr. Hartley (p. 274); an articulated commitment to a hospital (pp. 281, 283, 287) and the Council of Safety's and Provisional Congress's aim to build such a structure (pp. 309, 310, 311); an address to John Rutledge, "chief" of South Carolina (p. 327); losses in the fire of 1778 (pp. 394, 407); silver plate ordered for the Society's secretary (pp. 409, 412); the decision to have members take the oaths necessary "to the security of this State" (p. 433); and the impact of war on various members "fighting the enemy," etc.