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Pilgrimage 7 August 1894 — charter 29 February 1896
The pilgrimage: On 7 August 1894 a party of the city's history-minded citizens went down the river to visit the site of old Fort St. Joseph, and there, Howard records, "it was that they resolved to form a Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan Historical Society" — broad enough "to study out and preserve the history of 'the St. Joseph country.'" Formal steps followed on 22 January 1895; a constitution was adopted on 5 February 1895; and the name finally chosen was the Northern Indiana Historical Society, its field the St. Joseph valley in Indiana and Michigan alike, "and also the mysterious region of the Kankakee."
The charter: Articles of incorporation were drawn up on 4 February 1896 and the charter issued on 29 February 1896. Among the objects the articles state, in order, are "the collection and formation of a museum of historical articles" and "the collection and preservation of a library of books and documents." The museum, that is, was not an afterthought of the society's old age; it was written into the corporation's purposes at its birth. The society began collecting at once, "chiefly through the untiring efforts of the secretary, Mr. George A. Baker," and its first year's papers included George Ford's life of Alexis Coquillard, the founder of the city. In May 1895 the builders of Navarre Place had already donated the county's oldest building, Pierre Navarre's cabin of 1820, to the society — its museum life is told below.
Sources:
- Timothy E. Howard, "The Northern Indiana Historical Society," Indiana Magazine of History — the Fort St. Joseph pilgrimage of 7 August 1894, the steps of January and February 1895, the articles of 4 February 1896, the charter of 29 February 1896, the stated objects, George A. Baker's collecting, and the first year's papers.
- The History Museum and the Architecture record of this history — the Navarre Cabin donated to the Northern Indiana Historical Society in May 1895.