Benevolent Society records

The Benevolent Society was formed in 1814 by twenty-nine members who met in the chapel and adopted a constitution for the purpose of assisting "indigent young men of promising talents and of good moral character in procuring an education at this college." The society was to receive donations in books, furniture and money. A committee of the society, including members of the junior and senior classes, made awards to deserving students with the consent of the executive government of the College. In 1826 the society accepted an Act of Corporation and dissolved itself. This was followed by the formation of the Auxiliary Benevolent Society of Bowdoin College, a strictly student organization which advised the incorporated Benevolent Society. In this collection of accounts, constitutions and records, no society material seems to have survived after 1831.