After the founders' meeting, it was decreed that every new member must be nominated by two active members, his name read before the group and voted on at the next business meeting. A single black marble in the voting box kept the nominee out. It was presumed that the prospective member knew nothing of his nomination, so that the insult of being rejected would not be known by him. If black-balled, the nomination blank was destroyed to remove any record of the outcome of the election. Nominations, as shown on the stubs of the book of records, appear in 5 volumes, 1817-1929. Two books of proposals, possibly a duplication of entries in the nomination book also record the names from Feb. 15, 1814 to Dec. 27, 1853.

Includes 1 large voting box [UNK] 76 white and 13 black [UNK] 1 small voting box with 6 white and 4 black [UNK] [UNK]