[p. 83]
The Register's twenty-second volume.
With the present issue the Register closes its twenty-second volume.
It bears date of December, but owing to adverse conditions, will not reach its readers till the new year has dawned.
Published by the Historical Society as a part of its work, it has in twenty-two years preserved for reference and public information nearly all the papers prepared for and read at the meetings.
In recent years there have been fewer of local interest thus presented, but the Register has gathered otherwise much that will be valuable to the future historian of
Medford.
Prior to 1855, the time of
Mr. Brooks' writing, there had been comparatively few town histories written.
It was then a source of regret that the work was not earlier begun.
These twenty-two volumes contain 2,344 pages, exclusive of title pages, index and illustrations.
Their publication has been a labor of love on the part of writers and editors, and an expense to the society which has but a limited income, and which is itself none too well appreciated by the city at large.
Several times the question of discontinuance has been raised; yet the Register has continued to appear, though sometimes belated.
On one occasion an annual deficit was prevented by the timely gift of one hundred dollars, by a grandson of a former
Medford clergyman.
The town in 1855 from its treasury assisted
Mr. Brooks in his publication, and in 1886,
Mr. Usher more largely in his. For
his careful work in 1905,
Mr. Hooper received
no remuneration whatever, nor has the Historical Society ever (contrary to current impression) received any financial aid in its work from the city of
Medford, in either its publication or its building enterprise.
The present editor has served nearly eleven years, and must of necessity be relieved ere long.
For several years he has performed the duties of publication committee, starting with a deficit of over one hundred dollars, but trusting to close the present year with a practically
[p. 84] clean balance sheet.
There has been much
said of ‘civic pride’ and ‘public spirit,’ which are desirable in many ways, but in the
Register's experience its best appreciation comes from abroad rather than from the community it has tried to serve.
The Society is reluctant to cease its issue, but it
must have a better support.
