Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

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The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, a not-for-profit organization headquartered in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States, is the main legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses religious faith. It is often referred to as "The Society". This organization usually holds copyrights to literature published by Jehovah's Witnesses. Beyond the Pennsylvania organization, there are other legal entities that support the various aspects of the faith's operations. See Legal instruments of Jehovah's Witnesses.

[edit] Foundation

The Bible Students began organizing the Society in 1881 with William Henry Conley, a Pittsburgh business man, as the first President and Charles Taze Russell as Secretary-Treasurer.^[1] The Society was registered in Pennsylvania on December 15, 1884, this time with Russell as the first legal President.

#	Name of the president	Date of birth	Date of Death	Started service as President of the Society	Ended service as President of the Society
1.	Charles Taze Russell	February 16, 1852	October 31, 1916	December 15, 1884	October 31, 1916
2.	Joseph Franklin Rutherford	November 8, 1869	January 8, 1942	January 6, 1917	January 8, 1942
3.	Nathan Homer Knorr	April 23, 1905	June 8, 1977	January 13, 1942	June 8, 1977
4.	Frederick William Franz	September 12, 1893	December 22, 1992	June 22, 1977	December 22, 1992
5.	Milton George Henschel	August 9, 1920	March 22, 2003	December 30, 1992	October 7, 2000
6.	Don Alden Adams	1925	living	October 7, 2000	currently serving

^ Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (Watchtower, 1993), p. 576.