Minute book, 1841-1854

Oversize volume (January 6, 1841 - March 1, 1854) detailing weekly and annual meetings, listing officers and members who attended, applied for membership, or relief, were fined, elected to office, died, etc. With periodic recapitulations of Society's finances, lists of widows on the Society's bounty, noting their condition and annual appropriations, and frequent references to requests for loans and mortgages. There are many references to the Society's school, a recapitulation of its history and changes to its functions (pp. 206-207), detailed report on students (p. 332) and discussion (pp. 10, 12-13) of Eliza Murden leaving the employ of the Society to start her own school on more sectarian lines, aligned with the Episcopal Church, but with her defense of having been open to all religions including "the remnant of Israel," in her teaching, with a later note of her death (p. 158). Minutes include a printed 1847 broadside regarding the Bank of Camden (p. 173), memorial tribute to Society secretary Thomas Steedman (d. 1853), mentions of the Society's banner (pp. 26, 278), purchase of silver spoons from Hayden and Gregg (pp. 126-127), and the Society's belief that an action of the State Legislature regarding state banks was unconstitutional (pp. 2-3). Each entry notes the location of the meeting (changed from Rame's to the Masonic Hall) and the fees for the evening. An index is in the front of the volume.