NES President's ivory-topped gavel, inscribed "New England Society, D.F.A, President, 1879". D.F.A. were the initials of the 19th President, Daniel F. Appleton, who served from 1877-1879.
NES President's ivory-topped gavel, inscribed "New England Society, D.F.A, President, 1879". D.F.A. were the initials of the 19th President, Daniel F. Appleton, who served from 1877-1879.

The New England Society’s Archives include a wide range of materials dating back to the organization’s founding in 1805. Documents include Membership Rolls, internal organizational documents, Annual Reports, Annual Dinner Orations and press articles.

A selection of materials from the Archives has been posted as PDFs below. The New England Society provides this access to its archival materials for scholarship and research purposes only. Reproduction and distribution of these documents or any part thereof is prohibited without the written permission of the New England Society in the City of New York.

The New York Public Library and the New York Historical Society also have New England Society archival material in their collections.

NES recently undertook the difficult task of completing a survey of its archival holdings and historic materials, which included items in the NES office, the New York Public Library and the New York Historical Society. We are currently seeking assistance as we try to increase the amount of archival materials in the NES office. Learn more about this project and how you can help here.

For more information regarding the New England Society archives or to schedule an appointment, email a request to nes@nesnyc.org.

Archival Highlights

Orations and Addresses

A complete listing from Volume I and Volume II of The New England Society Orations, Addresses, Sermons, and Poems delivered before the New England Society in the City of New York, 1820-1885 is detailed below. Orations and addresses not available as PDFs from the Society can be accessed by linking to the two volumes through the Open Library.

Contents of Volume I:

  • Woolsey Rogers Hopkins: Beginnings of the New England Society of New York, 1884
  • Gardiner Spring, D.D., A Tribute to New England, 1820
  • Remarks on the Charges made by the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., against the Religion and Morals of the People of Boston and its Vicinity, 1821
  • John Broderick Romeyn, The Duty and Reward of Honouring God, 1821
  • Philip Melancthon Whelpley, "The Memory of the Just is Blessed", 1822
  • Samuel L. Knapp, Address, 1829
  • Leonard Bacon, Address, 1838
  • Robert C. Winthrop, Address, 1839
  • Charles Brickett Hadduck, The Elements of National Greatness, 1841
  • George B. Cheever, The Elements of National Greatness, 1842
  • Rufus Choate, The Age of the Pilgrims the Heroic Period of our History, 1843
  • Daniel Webster, The Landing at Plymouth, 1843
  • George Perkins Marsh, Address, 1844
  • Charles Wentworth Upham: The Spirit of the Day and its Lessons, 1846

Contents of Volume II:

  • Jonathan Prescott Hall, Discourse, 1847
  • Horace Bushnell, The Founders, Great in their Unconsciousness, 1849
  • Daniel Webster, The Constitution and the Union, 1850
  • George S. Hillard, The Past and the Future, 1851
  • William Adams, Address, 1852
  • Mark Hopkins, The Central Principle, 1853
  • William Maxwell Evarts, The Heritage of the Pilgrims, 1854
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Oration, 1855
  • John Pierpont, The Pilgrims of Plymouth, 1855
  • Richard Salter Storrs, The Puritan Scheme of National Growth, 1857
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oration and Response, 1870
  • George William Curtis, Oration, 1885

Documents are added to this section on a regular basis, so please check back.