New England Society of New York
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The New England Society of New York is one of several prestigious lineage organizations in the United States and one of the oldest charitable societies in the country. It was organized on May 6, 1805 to commemorate the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on Plymouth Rock. The aims and purpose are described in the constitution adopted on that date: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed, convinced that it is the duty of all Men to promote the happiness and welfare of each other, witnessing the advantages which have risen from the voluntary Association of Individuals allied to each other by a similarity of habits and education, and being desirous of diffusing and extending the like benefits, do hereby associate ourselves under the name of ‘New England Society in the City & State of New York’. The objects of the Society are, Friendship, Charity, and Mutual Assistance.”
During the 19th century the charitable focus of the Society centered on payments and annuities to needy widows and children of New England families in New York; necessities of life - such as kindling wood - distributed to the poor from New England; aid to distressed families of imprisoned debtors; grants for special projects created by inventive New England minds. Every year, the Society hosted prominent speakers at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York City. Some of the ground-breaking events were Mark Twain at the twenty-seventh annual gathering in 1882 and Henry Grady's famous 1886 New South speech. In 1868, a bust of Daniel Webster was presented by a member of the Society and is now on permanent loan to Webster Hall at Dartmouth College. In 1885, the Society commissioned a bronze statue of the Pilgrim by the well-known sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward, to be erected near the East 72nd Street entrance of Central Park. On June 4, 1985 a re-dedication ceremony celebrating that statue’s centennial was held on the site. In recent years, David McCullough, Walter Cronkite, Kingman Brewster, George Plimpton, Charles Osgood, Louis Auchincloss, Brendan Gill, and William F. Buckley Jr. have received the Society's Reginald T. Townsend Award, given to a person who exemplifies the best attributes of New England character.
Today, the focus of the New England Society of New York is on education. The Society’s Scholarship Program, established in 1953, awards scholarships to bright and deserving students from the New York City area attending New England educational institutions. In 1979, the Edward M. Fuller Scholarship was established at Bowdoin College in honor of the late Mr. Fuller, Bowdoin Class of 1928, and a past President of the Society, under whose guidance the Program was initiated. In recent years the Society has aided students at most of the leading private colleges and universities in New England.
The Society currently maintains its headquarters in midtown Manhattan. Membership is by invitation, and also requires evidence of New England ancestry, education, or residence.
