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Beneficent Society

This society, founded in December 1884, was first named the Beneficent Union, then the Beneficent Club, before receiving its charter as the Beneficent Society of New England Conservatory in December 1885.

The Beneficent Society was dedicated to financially assisting talented musicians who were unable to afford tuition at the Conservatory.

Scope and Content

Records of the Beneficent Society include: a listing of original members, an address to the society given by Conservatory Director George W. Chadwick in 1907, society annual reports from 1925 and 1926, an accounting ledger from the 1970s, and a centennial anniversary booklet published in 1985. Other records consist of meeting minutes, listings of loan applicants, financial statements, annual reports of the repayment committee, and other unidentified materials. This collection is largely unprocessed.