SCANNED

MEMORANDUM -- ON THE FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY

Office of the Registrar  ·  Reissued

The Society for Improbable Discoveries was founded in 1878, at the pleasure of A. Merrick Ashby and certain colleagues whose names appear in the Charter of Formation and Operating Principles and need not be repeated here.

The Society’s purpose, set out in the Charter’s opening articles, may be summarized for convenience: the recovery, authentication, and preservation of items and records which official custody has declined to retain, misplaced, or amended.

This summary is offered for convenience only.  Members requiring the precise language are directed to the Charter, which is held in the Reading Room and may be consulted upon written application.

NOTE: The Society does not dispute the official record. The Society retains what the official record declines to retain.  Where the two collections disagree, the Society takes no position beyond continued custody.

Certain provisions of the Charter contemplate the eventual release of holdings.  Members are referred to the Registrar’s memorandum on the operation of Article V.

[Filed by order of the Registrar]