As a Society, we act to perpetuate the memory of the men who achieved independence and to commemorate the anniversaries of Washington's birthday and of significant events of the Revolutionary period. We also seek to preserve records and artifacts relating to that era and to reignite for us and for others the beacon of imagination, courage and foresight of the men who created this country. These are the purposes that inform our events and our special projects.

Since the last Annual Meeting, held on 8 April 1999, your Board of Managers has met to transact the Society's business each month except the months of July, August, and September.

The 111th Annual Church Service, commemorating the encampment of the Continental Army at Valley Forge and remembering those members of the Society who died during the preceding year, was held on Sunday afternoon, 16 May 1999, at First Presbyterian Church, Ardmore. The Society's newly-elected Chaplain, Reverend William Preston Proctor, told the story of his daughter's history project leading him to the discovery of his 18th century roots in Pennsylvania. After the services, about 135 members and guests enjoyed the reception, with buffet supper, held at the Merion Cricket Club. George Shaffer Wood, III, who serves as Chairman of the Valley Forge Commemoration and the several members of his committee deserve the Society's appreciation for planning this dignified and enjoyable event.

On Independence Day we celebrate — and on every day we should remember — that flags help define the world of our ancestors and continue to shape our own. The standard of the First Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment presented one of the most memorable images of the American Revolution. The flag contained a field of green with a crimson square, on which stands a hunter with a spear striking a lion. The motto of the Regiment, translated, was "I refuse to be subjugated." The standard of the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy was — and is — very famous. It was a flag containing a field of yellow on which appears a coiled rattlesnake and the motto, "Don't Tread on Me."

These were among those flags described during the 31st annual Independence Day observation and Bell Ringing Ceremony at Independence Hall. The Society reintroduced a former practice, the presentation of selected flags by members of the Color Guard and the reading of brief descriptions of the flags by the Master of Ceremonies. In 1999 this large and very public program began with music provided by the Mount Hermon Baptist Church Choir, from Danville, Virginia, and the American Originals, from Washington, D.C. Into Independence Square then marched the Second Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line and the Colonial Philadelphia Fife and Drum. They were followed by the Society's Color Guard, led by Captain Andrew Jackson Salisbury, II, which became the focal point of attention as it paraded the colors through the center of the crowd. Your Society's guest speaker, Ted Wolf, a member and chairman emeritus of the Board of Directors of the National Constitution Center, delivered a fine address on the United States Constitution, which he titled "We the People." At 2:00 p.m. sharp, youthful descendants of Benjamin Franklin and John Morton — two of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence — gently tapped the Liberty Bell. That symbolic ring again resonated across the United States as the Centennial Tower Bell at Independence Hall and bells at more than 10,000 other sites participated in a nationwide bell ringing.

General President Emeritus of the General Society of Sons of the Revolution, James Thorington, II, delivered remarks on the Declaration of Independence, and President Mark Frazier Lloyd addressed the audience on the historical significance of the Fourth of July. The pageantry concluded with "Amazing Grace" played by a sole bagpiper, an artillery salute by the Second Pennsylvania Regiment and taps, to honor those who gave their lives for the cause of American independence.

President Mark Frazier Lloyd oversaw the Let Freedom Ring portion of the event in coordination with Sunoco Welcome America. Your Society's partnership with Welcome America produced many benefits, from a much needed update of the Society's data base of names and addresses for recruiting bell-ringers, to broad publicity for the event and efficient event-day management. Chairman Joseph Charles Byrne and his committee organized an excellent luncheon before the event at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel. Attendance at the luncheon increased this year to 211 members and guests.

The American victory over the British at Saratoga brought our new nation into military alliance with France. The surrender by Cornwallis at Yorktown effectively ended the war. The Musket Ball, commemorating these two extraordinary triumphs, was held on Saturday, 23 October 1999, at the Philadelphia Country Club. Although a band of redcoats did appear, they had come to play music, and the world turned, if not upside down, at least to the sound of swing. 145 members and guests enjoyed the fine food and dancing to the music of the Moonlighters Orchestra. Howard Randall Morgan, Chairman of the Saratoga-Yorktown Anniversaries dinner dance and the members of his Committee deserve credit for their innovative planning of this event.

Washington's Birthday Party was held on Saturday, 19 February 2000, at the Union League. The evening's printed program featured a brief account by the Society's Historian, John Marshall Groff, of President Washington's "White House" in Germantown, where he made his residence in parts of both 1793 and 1794. Prevented by a previous engagement from attending the function, U.S. Senator Arlen Spector delivered his regrets and wrote President Lloyd thanking the Society and its Color Guard for their support of the National Constitution Center. Former Mayor Edward G. Rendell appeared briefly and made similar, generous remarks from the podium, acknowledging the Society's support of the National Constitution Center and thanking the Society for its part in emphasizing Philadelphia's role in history. Anthony Morris, VII, Chairman of the Washington's Birthday Party Committee, invested extra effort this year in promoting the event and was rewarded with an increase in attendance to more than 240 members and guests. He left the Union League that evening with accolades in his ears. It was an altogether agreeable evening, with excellent food and service, and very pleasing music by Jack Keller and his orchestra.

The New Citizens Reception Committee continued to enjoy strong leadership from its Chairman, Stephen Paul Hoyt. The committee hosted three receptions for newly naturalized Americans at the United States District Court in Philadelphia. On 30 June 1999, the Committee hosted a reception for 99 new citizens, natives of thirty-two foreign countries, as Judge John Padova presided. On 21 July 1999, the Committee helped to welcome about 97 new citizens, as Judge Eduardo C. Robreno, himself a naturalized citizen, presided over the naturalization ceremony. Then, on 23 October 1999, the Committee held a third reception. On this occasion, Judge Lewis H. Pollak presided over the naturalization ceremony for 104 new citizens, men and women who came to the United States from twenty-four different countries. The stories that new citizens have to tell of their efforts to obtain United States citizenship surprise, interest and inspire. Every member of this Society should attempt to attend at least one of these ceremonies.

Your Society's Color Guard, under the leadership of Captain Andrew Jackson Salisbury, II, paraded the colors at the Annual Meeting, the Valley Forge Commemoration and Church Service, the Independence Day celebration, the Musket Ball and Washington's Birthday Party. The Color Guard contributed color and dignity to every event in which it participated.

This Society continues to play a significant role in the General Society. President Lloyd is a member of the General Society's Executive Committee and on behalf of that Committee completed a report on the problems that had faced the California Society. President Emeritus Donald Weston Darby, Jr., chaired an ad hoc committee reviewing proposed changes to the General Society's Constitution and Bylaws. President Emeritus Walter Jeffrey Maiden is a Regional Vice President of the General Society. During this past year General President Thomas Clifton Etter, Jr. appointed Harland Wetmore Johnson to the post of Assistant General Treasurer and Jefferson Monroe Moak to the post of General Registrar.

The Younger Members Committee, chaired by Francis Joseph Bowden, III, sponsored a tailgate party at the Radnor Hunt Club on 15 May 1999 and co-sponsored, with the Colonial Dames of America, Chapter II, a Candlelight Christmas Party at Lemon Hill Mansion on 19 December. The Committee also continued to foster attendance by younger members at Society events by subsidizing the standard subscription cost.

The Membership Committee, chaired by Harvard Castle Wood, III, and the Admissions Committee, chaired by Richard Renato Paul Di Stefano, continued their campaign to simplify the admissions process for new members and to increase communication with newly admitted members. The result of their work is impressive. The average time between the proposal of a new member and admission was shortened to six months. The number of new members admitted this year was 31, up sharply from recent years.

Total membership in our Society, including 23 Junior Life Members, stands at 1,088, the same number as that reported at the Annual Meeting a year ago.

Over the past year your Society's participation in special projects and public programs not only met, but exceeded its goals. In the period since the last Annual Meeting of the Society the Board of Managers authorized expenditures for the following programs:

The Society and its Color Guard contributed a total of $89,300 to these seven projects and programs, with an additional $4,000 in matching funds being contributed by the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania. In partnership with the National Constitution Center, the Society also continued to distribute vest-pocket size booklets of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

In partnership with the National Park Service, the Society continues to show its Valley Forge encampment film at the Visitors' Center in Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Finally, publishing of the Society's membership activities and public programs on the Internet has grown significantly in 1999, both in content and usage. The Society has published 1,210 pages of information on its web site this past year (30.8 megabytes of online data), the great majority of which is available to the public as a resource on the history of the American Revolution and the Society's public programs. During 1999 the Society published a "virtual" walking tour of Revolutionary War battlefields in the Delaware Valley; curatorial descriptions and color photographs of its decorative arts and historical collections, which are on exhibit in half a dozen museums and historic sites throughout the Delaware Valley; a second edition of the Centennial Register, adding to the rolls of members and ancestors published a decade ago those men admitted to membership from January 1989 through June 1999 and the ancestors from whom they demonstrated eligibility; and brief descriptions and color photographs of the flags in the custody of the Color Guard. In addition, the Society has subscribed to a service which registered its web site with more than 1,500 Internet search engines and will keep our registration current so long as we subscribe.

The result has been a huge surge in the use of the web site. According to statistics supplied by Libertynet, our web host, visitors to our web site read only about 18 pages a day in April 1998. A year later, in April 1999, usage had increased sevenfold, to 122 pages a day. By January of this year, an average of 71 users visited the site every day of the month. Once at our site these visitors stayed and read over our pages at an average of ten minutes and thirty seconds per session. The average user in an average session read five pages of information before ending his visit. Stated in summary form, in January 2000, 2,200 users spent 384 hours, reading 10,500 pages of information on our web site.

The Board of Managers strongly believes that the World Wide Web offers the Society opportunities for advancing its goals never before available to us. After three years of developing our web site, the statistics are beginning to bear us out. No other State Society of the Sons of the Revolution has invested so successfully in a web site, not even the California Society, which was the first to publish on the web. It is the Board's view that the web site constitutes an increasingly important public program of the Society. The Board demonstrated its commitment to the program in 1999 by authorizing expenditures totaling $11,164 in web site development.

In sum, through a combination of sole sponsorship and matching sponsorships, the Society leveraged a total of $104,464 in public programs and special projects in the period since our the 1999 Annual Meeting. This is the largest total in recent memory.

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, " ... a word is the skin of a living thought." Certainly, in the words, ideas and ideals that inspired our forefathers and shone through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution there is a wealth of vital material to spawn legions of worthy programs and projects for your Society to pursue. The Board values members' input. What else should we be doing? What new projects should we be considering? Gentlemen, this is your Society, year 2000 and forward.

In closing, I want to thank those who assisted in the gathering of the information for this report, especially President Lloyd, Vice President Frick and our Executive Secretary, Martha Taylor.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Theodore Clattenburg, Jr.

Secretary

 

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I am pleased to be able to continue the tradition of reporting that the Society’s financial affairs are in good order. You should each have a summary of the numbers I will present tonight. These numbers are from our auditor, Zelenkofske, Axelrod & Co. Although the audit is not complete, I do not expect substantial changes to these numbers.

In Fiscal Year 1999, there was a combined fund net surplus of more than $2,190,000, resulting in a year-end combined fund balance of almost $9,560,000, an increase of more than 30% for the year. I have had the honor of serving as your Treasurer for the last three years and I am pleased to report that during that period our assets have grown by over 87%.

Total combined revenues from interest, dividends, mutual fund capital gains, membership fees, Rorer Trust income and merchandise sales was in excess of $855,000, an increase of 39% over 1999. Net realized and unrealized gains in the various funds were greater than $1,575,000 this year, which represented an increase of almost 75% from 1998.

I would also like to mention that for the second year in a row the income of the General and permanent Funds exceeded the expenses.

Though the above numbers sound as though we are being very cautious with our spending, it is important to remember that in approximately 20 years one of our significant sources of income will come to an end. This is why the society needs to continue to build assets in order to perpetuate the memory of the men who achieved our independence and preserve records of that period, in the years to come.

At the close of my third and final year as your Treasurer, I would also like to mention the teamwork that goes into managing the financial affairs of the Society. In addition to the committee chairmen who are each responsible for adhering to their budgets, there is the Budget Committee chaired by Vice President Benjamin Charles Frick and the Finance Committee chaired by Vice President Harland Wetmore Johnson. These gentlemen have provided excellent advice on the management of the portfolio and the appropriate level of expenditure. Thanks are also due to our Executive Secretary, Martha Taylor and to two other individuals responsible for funds about which I report tonight: William Steven Mark, Quartermaster of the Color Guard, and John Ward Willson Loose, Treasurer of the Lancaster County Chapter. I extend my thanks to all of these people for the many hours they have devoted to the Society. At this time, I would be pleased to respond to any questions regarding the finances of the Society.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Ward

Treasurer

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Seventy-three years ago the Lancaster Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution was formed. Since that date in 1925 we have had a total of thirty-one Regents, counting yours truly, and each year has been highlighted with new challenges and opportunities. During my "Tour of Duty" my officers and executive committee members have dedicated their help and assistance to that end.

Following in the footsteps of Past Regent John Stager Shirk has not been an easy task, since he hosted, on behalf of the Pennsylvania Society, a very successful 108th Annual Board Meeting of the General Society.

The past year has seen many successful Lancaster Chapter events. In the Fall of 1999 and the Spring of 2000 we were very active participants in the swearing-in ceremonies of new citizens in Lancaster County. Seventy-three men and women were greeted by Douglas Gibson at the Fall ceremony and 137 men and women were greeted by Stephen Paul Hoyt at the Spring ceremony. These new citizens were presented packets that included a copy of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, an American Flag, a pamphlet entitled "What Happened at Valley Forge," and an American flag pin. Our presenters and our Chapter were recognized from the bench at the start of each ceremony.

Independence Day 1999 saw eighteen of our members attending the "Let Freedom Ring" ceremony in Independence National Historical Park. Jim Martin chaired this event and arranged for the bus transportation courtesy of the Pennsylvania Society. I was honored to be invited to be the usher for one of the children who was picked to tap the Liberty Bell in symbolic re-enactment of its ringing. Needless to say, this was a big thrill as we entered the Liberty Bell pavilion and I became an active participant.

Lancaster’s own Capitol Day was celebrated on September 27th. This is the anniversary of the day in 1777 when Lancaster was the capital of the our country. In 1999 the event was held on the campus of Franklin and Marshall College. Ron Carpenter introduced our current Mayor, Charlie Smithgall, who in turn introduced a former mayor, retired Major General Dick Scott. His very interesting history of Lancaster’s mayors was well attended by twenty-eight members and friends. This event was covered by WGAL-TV and the local newspapers.

Our Fall meeting was held on October 19, 1999 and was organized by Ben Witmer. Former Regent Paul Ripple gave an inspirational talk about the part Lancaster played in the Revolutionary War. Thirty-eight members and guests attended. Paul dressed in Revolutionary soldier uniform to present an extra touch of authenticity.

One final activity during this past year has been the embryonic educational program which is the brainchild of Rob McIlvaine. Different historical materials are being made available to the supervising personnel of several central Pennsylvania schools. It is our hope that the students will become more aware of the Revolutionary War and its importance to our becoming the United States of America. It is too early to evaluate our success in this venture. We have, however, high hopes for its acceptance.

The culmination of the Lancaster Chapter’s activities is occurring today. Twelve of our members have traveled by bus to attend this 112th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution.

I speak for our total membership when I say here’s a BIG THANK YOU to Mark Lloyd and his officers and managers for their support of our chapter.

 

Respectfully submitted,

John Harlan Moore, Sr

Regent

Lancaster County Chapter

 

 

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Three years ago I stood before you and described a youthful set of Officers and Managers, intent on introducing our Society to a new century and a new world order of Internet communication and education. I also told you, however, that I would seek to carry out that plan while simultaneously "respecting and retaining the best of our traditions." Tonight, I will seek to report how the Officers and Managers responded to this challenge and in broad terms, how we have performed over the past three years.

Our first commitment, of course, was to conservative fiscal management. Without it all our other efforts are greatly diminished. In 1997 the Society’s budget called for total expenditures of $209,400. It being a Triennial year, with significant expense incurred through our attendance at the General Society’s meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, actual expenditures totaled $232,743, 11% over budget. In 1998 the Board budgeted total expenditures of $216,900 and incurred total expense of $211,210, 2.6% under budget. In 1999 expenditures were budgeted at $223,300 and total expense was $212,898, 4.7% under budget. It may be seen that we have engaged first and foremost in the practice of prudent cost control. The budgeting process has taken on greater significance and adherence to spending limits is a requirement in every aspect of the Board’s management.

Conversely, the Board has committed itself to increasing the Society’s expenditures on public programs, both as a percentage of total, annual budget and in absolute dollars. In 1996 the Society spent $25,663 in public programs, or 14.3% of its total expenditures; in 1997, $29,172, or 12.5% ; in 1998, $32,658, or 15.5%; and in 1999, $54,596, or 25.6%. The Board has adopted a budget for the year 2000 that maintains this commitment: $45,500 of $253,500 or 17.9% of the total. These dollars do not, of course, include matching funds from the Color Guard or the Society of the Cincinnati. As you have heard in the Report of the Secretary, the Color Guard has been a full partner of the Society in our public programs and has taken the lead in supporting the work of the National Constitution Center and its printing and distribution of vest-pocket size booklets of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. The Society of the Cincinnati has matched the Sons support of the McNeil Center for nearly a decade. I think we may fairly conclude that the Society’s commitment to its charter purposes, its public service, is as strong today as at any time in the past.

I think we may agree that the Board is to be commended for increasing its support of public programs even as it has imposed upon itself consecutively more conservative operating budgets. But it has accomplished more. A three-year overview of the Society’s investment portfolio (not including the portfolio of the Color Guard) shows that during this period its funds averaged an annual total return of 32.5% and the portfolio’s total market value grew from $1,693,057 on 1 April 1997 to $3,801,033 on 1 April 2000. I think it is fair to describe the three-year increase of 130% as nothing less than amazing, surely as impressive as any other in the long history of our Society. None of us can take credit, of course, for the extraordinary economic boom our nation has experienced over the last decade, but I think we can say that the Society has invested its assets shrewdly and enjoyed the full benefit of the broad market movement to high-tech stocks. The events of the past two weeks suggest that we may just now be entering often-predicted major correction; on the other hand, it may be little more than short-lived volatility. In either case, the Society’s portfolio has performed so extraordinarily well over the past three years that its value will remain well ahead of even the most optimistic of our projections for the future.

The Board’s three-year achievement in the fiscal management of your Society is truly impressive. The imposition of tight controls on spending has steadily reduced the Society’s spending rate under its total return investment philosophy. Spending that stood at an even 5% in 1997, decreased significantly to 1.8% in 1998 and stayed at 1.8% in 1999. Even in the Triennial year of 2000 the budget requires a total return spending rate of just 3.9%. Those of you who serve on the board of other non-profits know that 5% is considered a prudent rate of total return spending. This means, of course, that my successor will be able to launch program initiatives of his own and remain within the 5% rule of thumb. I hope this is as pleasing to the membership as it is to me. The Society’s fiscal house is in very good order.

For those of you particularly interested in financial matters, I should also mention that the Society has recently adopted an investment management policy which conforms with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s 1998 codification of total return investing for non-profits.

The second observation I would make this evening builds on the comments I made earlier concerning the Color Guard and the Society of the Cincinnati. By seeking out other institutions and organizations whose interests and activities match our own, we can leverage much greater effectiveness in our programs and a much higher profile for the good works of the Society. Over the past three years, this has been accomplished by developing and maintaining productive partnerships with the National Constitution Center, Welcome America, and the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania. For forty years we have printed and distributed free of charge printed booklets of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. By the mid 1990s, however, it was increasingly doubtful that our traditional means of distributing 100,000 booklets was achieving the desired results. In 1998 we developed a partnership with the National Constitution Center which reinstated the assurance of statewide circulation and in 2000 we renewed that agreement. For thirty years we have conducted a patriotic ceremony on Independence Square and steadily grown that event until its very success was overwhelming our tiny office. In 1999 we entered into a formal sponsorship agreement with Welcome America, one of several tourism agencies developed by the Rendell administration. In so doing we reassumed our rightful place among those who celebrate Independence Day in Philadelphia and we benefit enormously, not only from the event planner and coordinator assigned to our ceremony, but also from the nationwide publicity of Welcome America’s public relations professional staff. And we have continued, of course, our support, in partnership with the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, a dissertation fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Through that fellowship we demonstrate our faith in the future of scholarship at America’s institutions of higher education. As you have heard, we also keep our hand in the cause of historic preservation, museum education, and publication of books on the American Revolution, both those intended for reference or scholarly use and those aimed at a broader public audience.

One aspect of broadening our horizons, of course, has been the Pennsylvania Society’s growing support of and leadership in the General Society. Over the past decade two of our members — Joseph Louis Loughran and James Thorington, II — have served as General President of the General Society. Three Captains of our Color Guard — Graham Jeremy Cummin, George Ireland Wright, III, and Andrew Jackson Salisbury, II — have firmly established the Pennsylvania Color Guard as a virtual synonym for excellence. It has been my privilege to serve as General Registrar and over the past three years as a member of the Executive Committee of the General Society. Jefferson Monroe Moak, II, my partner in the Pennsylvania Society’s Centennial Register, is currently serving as General Registrar; Vice President Harland Wetmore Johnson is Assistant General Treasurer; and Richard Farmer Hess, who is with us this evening, is Chairman of the Publications Committee. The Pennsylvania Society hosted the Triennial Meeting in 1988; the Lancaster County Chapter greatly strengthened not only its own reputation but also that of the Pennsylvania Society by its hugely successful management of the Board of Managers Meeting two years ago. The Triennial will return to Philadelphia in 2003. The General Society will be looking to us for leadership again at that time.

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the General Society, held on Monday of this week, I was very pleased to learn that the contributions of the Pennsylvania Society, its Color Guard, and 60 members acting individually to the General Society’s 1999-2000 Giving Program now total more than $40,000. The Society and the Color Guard jointly contributed $25,000; a President Emeritus contributed $10,000; Winchell Smith Carroll and Bertram Lippincott O’Neill each contributed $1,000 and 57 others (as of 23 March 2000) contributed a total of $3,420. 11 individual donors are here tonight. Will they please rise as I call their names: Winchell Smith Carroll; Donald Weston Darby, Jr.; Richard Chadwick Edstrom; Richard Farmer Hess; Harland Wetmore Johnson; Leroy Moody Lewis, III; John Harlan Moore; Anthony Morris, VII; Craig Wright Muckle, Jr.; John Thomas Showler; James Thorington, II; and Randolph Dickinson Zelov.

There is important symmetry and symbolism in the Society’s $40,000 figure. The General Society’s Giving Program has received gifts and pledges totaling more than $180,000. $100,000 of that amount is a pledge by General President Etter contingent upon a minimum of a one-to-one match by all other donors. The Pennsylvania Society’s $40,000 therefore represents one half of all matching funds raised to date. The number of Pennsylvanians who have voluntarily responded and dollar figure we have collectively contributed is a magnificent statement of partnership and leadership. Our Society, both statewide and nationally, is much the better for it.

By far our most important advance, however, has been the fulfillment of my promise. The Society has made a whole-hearted entry into the world of high technology communications. Three years ago I may have surprised many of you with my advocacy of this new educational tool. I do not believe there is any longer a single person in the audience who doubts the significance and power of the Internet. If first the radio, then television, and finally the VCR steadily pushed the people of our great nation away from the printed word, away from intellectual engagement generally and the value of a liberal arts education specifically, then the introduction first, of the PC and its word processing software, then e-mail, and now the world wide web are moving us back in the direction of a culture which values the transmission of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next and the advancement of knowledge for the next generation to use.

Everything our Society can do to participate in this, the great movement of our time, will reward us many times over in the future. I am proud to say that after two years of development, it is not immodest to say that no hereditary society has a greater presence, better publicized presence on the Internet than our own, with the sole exception of the national Mayflower Society. The site now contains virtually all the information we have traditionally printed in the Proceedings, including a calendar of events; lists of Officers, Managers, and Committees; members of the Color Guard; not only a list of the flags in the custody of the Color Guard, but also a section of color photographs of each flag. The site includes reports of Officers at the Annual Meeting; lists of new members; the complete Centennial Register, updated through July of 1999; a history of the Society; its Object, its current Constitution and Bylaws; and lists of past Officers and Managers. Minutes of the meetings of the Board are posted to a password-protected area on the site so that the Officers and Managers may read not only the current minutes, but also those of past meetings. The site also contains membership information, including the qualifications for membership, membership fees and dues; even contact information and a proposal form which may be printed at your home computer, completed, and mailed into the office of the Society.

The Society’s web site has published the catalogs of the historical markers and monuments of the Society; the historical collections of the Society and the Color Guard, a catalog which includes color photographs of each object; and its many historic preservation projects. It includes accounts of the New Citizens Receptions and the Society’s support for scholarships and grants. It publicizes the public programs of the Society, particularly Let Freedom Ring!

Finally, the web site includes a host of related resources on the American Revolution, including a "virtual" walking tour of Revolutionary War sites open to the public in the Delaware Valley, New Jersey, and the New York City area and links to web sites which share the Society’s patriotic and historical interests.

Earlier the Secretary reported that an average of 71 users visited the Society’s web site every day and once there spend an average of ten and one-half minutes per session. Put another way, what that means is that even as we meet for an hour this afternoon, three users have visited our site and spent half an hour making use of it as an educational resource. If this seems incredible, I would urge you not to direct your questions to me. Go home and ask your son or daughter or for those of you who are lucky enough to have them, ask a grandchild. They will answer your questions better and more convincingly than I, and they, gentlemen, are the future of our Society. We must be able to be visible to them in their world, communicate with them on their terms, and make a successful case for their interest and involvement in our purposes and our work.

I make this last point, because there is one aspect of our Society’s life which I find unsettling. We are not winning in our efforts to replenish our membership with new and younger members. This is not for lack of effort. Both my immediate predecessor and I allocated substantial budget authority for membership recruitment and retention. Our energy and focus has had solid results. Over the past decade, the Society has admitted 228 new members, an average of 23 every year. Even so, we are losing ground. Not rapidly, but steadily. Twelve years ago, when we published the first edition of the Centennial Register, our membership stood at 1,262. Today, as you have heard, we number about 200 fewer. We must remain vigilant on the issue of membership, both in terms of proposing new members and actively supporting them through the application process, and in terms of keeping our Society programs and profile before the public.

I thank you, gentlemen for the privilege of serving you these past three years. They have been satisfying years for me; I can only hope that they will be judged in the future as productive years for our great Society.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Frazier Lloyd

President

 

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Gentlemen: I thank the Nominations Committee and President Emeritus Donald Weston Darby, Jr. It is with a deep sense of humility, enormous pride and firm commitment that I accept the presidency of this Society, this living and on-going chapter of American history which is an organization whose present and past members have selflessly served six generations of Americans both individually and through the enriching programs of the Society. Let me first acknowledge the creative and extraordinary leadership, exemplary service and accomplishments of President Emeritus Mark Lloyd and the Board of Managers. They have served this organization so faithfully, and this is their day for praise. They have shown that, as important as the past is, there is little purpose to an organization with no sense of the future. It has been their dedication, stewardship and perception of the imminent needs of the Society which have secured the future of our Society. Your new Officers and Managers share these values, and now tread in the footsteps of wise leaders. We have the luxury of following the clear standards they have set for commitment and excellence in service to you. Each new generation of our Society’s leadership can see more clearly and act more boldly because of the efforts undertaken by prior leadership. We may now move forward, and break new trails for the next leg of our Society’s journey. We can make history, even as we are part of history.

With appreciation for this enormous opportunity, I accept the full obligations of the challenge of leadership. I know there were difficult choices for the Nominations Committee and as your new President I pledge a tenure of rapt attention (I will listen); rigorous work; and devoted commitment to the principles upon which this great Society was founded.

In considering which direction the new Board might take, I have been careful to consider not only my own opinions; on the contrary, I have also secured the wise counsel of the past Officers, and many of the experienced and talented men who have well served the Society in the past. While our board must clearly nurture and sustain a host of continuing issues and programs of the Society, five unique and timely opportunities seem ripe for special exploration over the coming years:

First, we will strive to enliven and reach even deeper into our organizational membership, to kindle and nurture an enhanced and active participation by a greater number of our members — especially our younger members who are our future. As George Washington stated so poignantly, "organizations that listen only to the senior generation grow stodgy."

Second, we will focus on a continued examination of the Society’s programs and initiatives to insure that each not only achieves its fundamental purpose, but also does so in accordance with our traditions, including the satisfaction and pride in those who participate.

Third, I will solidify, expand and reinforce the supports for the proficient committee structure that has worked so well during the past years; especially, the committee on information technology, which has fully matured and should no longer be considered only an initiative. It is an invaluable resource to the Society’s members, and an accomplished outreach mechanism to citizens and visitors at large.

Fourth, we will continue to support and encourage the unique and splendid beneficence of our Color Guard and their proud calling to further American Revolutionary heraldry, not only for our Society, but for patriotic Americans everywhere who witness the display of our colors.

And finally, as the past administration has done for us, our administration pledges to you to pass on to our successors a Society that not only continues to be true to its traditions, its heritage and its purposes, but also strives to make these fully relevant and vital for the new millennium.

I do not wish to unduly burden you with needless and time-consuming rhetoric, but let me address each of these issues more fully, albeit briefly.

It is perhaps the first and singular duty of our organizational structure to keep the total force of our Society dedicated, rooted, interested, energized and proud. That is to say, in order to further the goals of my tenure, our board and its committees must continually work towards building a broad and abiding consensus, but a consensus that attracts and excites even the more dispassionate among us. For only by engendering broad-based commitment to widely shared goals can the leadership achieve the degree of accomplishment to which we are pledged. Following the towering tradition of General George Washington, who forged a stellar coalition of fragmented colonial forces, we will work to engender and sustain a sense of collective stewardship and synergism and spread it throughout our Society. These forces will not be splattered like drops of quick-silver splashed on a marble floor. On the contrary, it will be done methodically, and with definite purpose in manner and speed befitting the dignity of this Society and its membership. I find in myself, and in others, a sense of personal importance and love for this Society and that for which it stands; that sense of pride is found in the satisfaction of voluntary work well done. It is infectious, and we cannot help but pass it on. I hope that I have made clear that the youth of our organization are vital to our future; and we will do all in our power to encourage the young members’ inclusion in every aspect of our Society. We will — indeed, we have a duty — to encourage all others who do qualify for membership to join our ranks, especially the young, because it is they who must be the most singular, vital and growing force of our organization. It is this future generation which we must nurture as the sustaining force of our organization. They are critical to our long-term stability to further the traditions of our American heritage; and I, as are you all, convinced that our Society is as relevant in the 21^st Century as it was in the past centuries. Even the precious "past" which our Society seeks to preserve, is preserved for the future. Indeed, the terms "past" and "history" are insufficient to describe or define what our Society has or is. That history and past which we preserve and present is a living breathing thing.

Another focus of the new Board’s tenure will be the support and enhancement of our Color Guard and the acknowledgment of the superior work they have done, not to mention the splendid reputation they have earned and shared for our public profile. Truly, they are a hallmark element of our Society that has no equal in any other State Society. The constancy of their dedication and service to the colors is worthy, not only of our unbounded praise, but also of the utmost limits of our support. The continued leadership of Captain Salisbury promises that the Color Guard will remain a beacon for our public image and an enormous source of internal pride. It also serves as an inspiration for each of our members, especially the younger members.

As our generation takes office, we are pledged to build on the strong foundation, the proactive cooperation and creative organizational committee structures that our past Board Presidents, Officers, and Managers have passed on to us. Through their work, our Society has become fully mature for participation in the technological age: the age of e-commerce, e-mail, e-trading, and the world-wide web. With talk of domain names, intellectual property, digital imagery and disc storage, it is certainly a new information age, if not a new culture in which we now live. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Vice Presidents, all of whom have been most generous in their time and talents, and who together have produced a prodigious enhancement of our Society’s finances, investments, business management, community service and outreach to the membership. Without question, a great measure of the credit for our Society’s modernization and preparedness for the 21st century goes to the collective efforts and achievements of our Vice Presidents and their committees. Praise for success so often falls only on the senior leadership; it should also be shared with the leaders and members of the committees whose efforts have actually achieved the accomplishments. Having served as a managing partner directing 75 lawyers during the past 10 years, I have learned a great deal about encouraging participation, while at the same time sustaining a streamlined process, a process that will encourage new visions, unleash the power of creative minds, and work together in an atmosphere of harmony and fraternity to produce the best quality programs and projects. Those lessons will be utilized by me as your President. For all such endeavors and undertakings, I assure you that common sense will be our common practice.

Our fourth area of focus demands that we constantly assess our initiatives and our programs to insure that each furthers the fundamental purposes of our Society. In his first inaugural address, President George Washington reminded us of those first principles for "the foundation of our national policy ... the pure and immutable principals of private morality, the pre-eminence of free government." I would like to affirm our first principles for our Society and for which we were founded in 1888, which are preserved here today. The first principle is to enhance the proper celebration of national holidays, especially those that concern the men and events of the Revolutionary War. It should be a matter of public shame that the Fourth of July is celebrated more with parades of cars, e-commerce and sales in shopping at malls. The celebration of the birth of a nation should be concerned with traditional celebrations built around patriotism and national heritage. It should be concerned with the remembrance of the joy and the sorrows of the fledgling nation; with both the victories and the defeats of those who risked or gave their lives and property for an experiment in freedom and democracy that even God would not guarantee. What must remain relevant are the core values of duty, honor, patriotism and country, and not abject modernism and crass commercialism.

The second principle of our Society is to perpetuate the memory of the men who, in the service of their country in the Revolutionary War, wrested our nation from colonial indenture. It is we who have the honor of being the loving curators of their roles, their records, their documents and their colors. It is sad to see successive free generations in America becoming less passionate and more distant from their revolutionary roots, without regard for the men who won their freedom. If we, the decedents of the enlightened revolutionary bearers, do not lead the nation’s commemoration for those to whom we owe our sacred freedom and democratic legacy, who will? Therefore, we must do so.

The third principle of our Society is to inspire the minds and passions of our Society’s members with the patriotic spirit of our forefathers. We, of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution, exist to preserve the memory and principles of those who freely pledged and gave their lives, their fortunes and risked their sacred honor to secure the nation’s freedom and to form a system of government that has for more than 200 years, sustained a people free of oppression.

As we train our attentions and energies to the years ahead and strive for ambitious, yet attainable, goals, I promise each of you first that I will always be mindful of our historical anchors, our moral obligations to each other, our Society’s purposes and our traditions. Second, that we will continue to measure our progress with the compass of accountability to each other and use it as a safe guide for targeting and sustaining the growth and programs we collectively desire. Third, that we will do all this in accordance with our organizational structure, our charter and philosophy as a Society. Nonetheless, we will listen to new ideas; we will encourage new visions and accept reasonable challenges as we press on to further the Society and to inspire a new generation of Pennsylvanians and Americans with a patriotic passion.

As I bring these thoughts to a close, I would once again like to commend past President, now President Emeritus Lloyd, the Officers, Managers and Committees that have served each of us so well, and again to thank the Nominations Committee for its confidence in my leadership. I and we, the new Officers and Managers, promise you, the membership, that in the days ahead, we will continue to demonstrate a leadership for a new century devoted to a Society that stays true to its founding purposes, yet keeps itself relevant for the changing times; a Society that thrives with a membership engaged in restoring traditions with new energy and fresh ideas from all quarters, a Society which continues to enhance the passage of our American heritage to a generation that may be losing its connection to its founding roots. Our Society is able as an organization to bring to its goals and programs the prodigious intellectual force and enthusiastic commitments of its membership, including the commitment of the men who will fill its ranks tomorrow. To this end, I quite earnestly seek your energies, your participation, your prayers, and at times, I’m sure, your forbearance and your charity, as we begin the leadership process of this great Society.

Extraordinary opportunities present themselves for our Society. Expect them and plan to participate.