TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY MAGNA CHARTA DAMES AND BARONS, POTENTIAL MEMBERS AND THOSE WHO SHARE OUR INTEREST IN THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
FROM LEWIS L. NEILSON JR., CHANCELLOR
DATE: JUNE 30, 2004
We continue to significantly increase our e-mail list. To those of you who are new to our list we welcome you to receive our Electronic Newsletter and hope that you will find our Society and our mission to be interesting. Since a primary mission of our Society is to develop awareness of Magna Charta we wish to expand the circulation of our Electronic Newsletter by increasing our e-mail address list particularly including those who are members of lineage societies and/or who might share our interest in the principles of Constitutional Liberty.
We encourage you to check our Website regularly for new developments and information. The link to the Newsletter on the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org/enews62004.htm The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org. Please also refer to OUR E-MAIL LIST at the end of this Newsletter.
This Electronic Newsletter features information about text and video from our April 2004 dinner including video of Dean of Lincoln Alec Knight and Mrs. Linda Watkins. It also includes information about pictures and text of a speech from the Magna Carta Celebration in Bury St. Edmunds, England, in June, 2004.
I am pleased to announce that Mrs. Rose Mary McKeown, an experienced genealogist, has joined our office staff.
Topics:
Greetings - Please send new email addresses.
Washington, DC Reception and Dinner - April 17, 2004. Information about
the evening.
Print of Lincoln Cathedral - Lincoln Magna Carta Fund
Bury St. Edmunds June 2004
PLAN AHEAD April 16, 2005 - DC Reception and Dinner - University Club
Tour Program - 2005 - Ascot at York in June, 2005.
Potential Members
Contributions
OUR E-MAIL LIST
Greetings
On behalf of the Officers and Council of the Society, I bring greetings with this Newsletter. We continue to develop awareness of Magna Charta and its message. We ask each of you to participate with us in continuing the long tradition of friendship and fellowship which has continued over many years. We need to increase the number of members and friends on our email listing. Please ask your relatives or friends to send us their E-mail address. Please also send us the E-mail addresses of friends who are interested either in lineage societies or in memorializing Magna Charta. For the future, please propose new members for our Society. Please also attend your local meetings and include your children and grandchildren. We have a very special organization and I hope that you will help us to maintain its traditions.
I enjoyed the enthusiasm and interest shared by members of our Society in my visit to the Washington State Division in April.
Washington DC Dinner - April 17, 2004
Our Washington Dinner this year was a great success, highlighted by an outstanding speech by The Very Reverend Dr Alec Knight, Dean of Lincoln, entitled “Magna Carta – our heritage and yours”. Lincoln Cathedral owns one of the four extant originals of the 1215 Magna Carta. Attending the reception and dinner, 55 members and guests of the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons came from throughout the United States. I am pleased to inform you that I have included the text of his speech on the Website. I am pleased to also inform you that you can watch the speech as streaming video.
The link for the text is: http://www.magnacharta.org/DeanofLincolnsRemarks2004.htm
The link for the video is:
http://www.magnacharta.org/Video2004/DeanLincoln.WMV
The link for video of Chancellor Neilson's introduction:
http://www.magnacharta.org/Video2004/IntroDeanLincoln.WMV
Print of Lincoln Cathedral - Lincoln Magna Carta Fund
Dean Knight brought a print of Lincoln for those who attended the luncheon on Friday, April 16, 2004 in Philadelphia and the dinner on Saturday, April 17, 2004 in Washington, DC. The print of Lincoln, circ 1750 by Nathanial Buck, was specially published to celebrate The Very Reverend Dr. Alec Knight’s visit to the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons, Washington DC, April 2004. There are over 60 prints left over and we would like to provide them for contributors to initiate a fund to support and interpret the Lincoln Copy of Magna Carta. Dean Knight estimated the cost of the prints at $20.00 each. We propose to send a print to each person who contributes more than $100.00 to the fund. The deductible contribution would be the amount of the gift reduced by $20.00. We estimate the cost of mailing and supplies to be $10.00. The amount contributed less $10.00 (the estimated cost of mailing and supplies) will be forwarded to Lincoln to be used to support and interpret the Lincoln Copy of Magna Carta. Please make checks payable to the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons and designate the gift, less shipping, to the Lincoln Magna Carta Fund.
Greetings From Mrs. Linda Watkins, President General Daughters of the American Revolution
I was pleased to represent our Society at the Opening Ceremony of the National Society Colonial Dames of the 17th Century. Mrs. Johnstone invited those representing other societies to bring greetings. I thought this was an excellent idea and I invited three leaders of other societies to bring greetings to our dinner. I am including the greetings from Mrs. Linda Watkins, President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution as streaming video.
The link for the video is: http://www.magnacharta.org/LindaWatkins.WMV
Bury St. Edmunds June 2004
We are pleased to include a speech by Councillor Varley of Bury St. Edmunds and some photographs of the day. The photographs can be found of a page for the Celebration in Bury St. Edmunds. http://www.magnacharta.org/BuryStEdmunds2004/BuryStEdmundsPage.htm.
Washington DC Dinner - April 16, 2005 - at the University Club - We provide the date so that you can plan ahead.
Tour Program - June 2005
After canceling our 2004 Tour, we are going to try a different approach to the Educational Travel Program for June 2005. We plan to provide an itinerary by November 1, 2004 so that those participants with frequent flyer miles can plan ahead. We plan to visit Bury St. Edmunds, the site of the 2004 Celebration, Lincoln Cathedral and Royal Ascot at York.
The purpose of our educational tours is to visit locations of cultural and historical significance primarily relating to the Magna Charta. We are undertaking to reduce the cost while maintaining quality.
Potential Members
If you are not a member of our Society and are eligible I hope that you will join. If you are not eligible but share our interest in history and genealogy we encourage you to remain on our Email list. We also welcome your participation in our ongoing genealogical research projects and our Tours. We welcome and encourage new members and remind those submitting lineage information to include copies of referenced material.
As mentioned in prior E-Newsletters, membership continues to be of vital importance to our Society. If you wish to speed up or facilitate the membership process, please include with the Proposal Form a well documented lineage (including copies of the documentation) to either a known ancestor or to one of the qualifying Barons. If you have sent lineage information without the copies you may also speed up the process by sending copies of the documentation. Lineage Forms are provided on the WebSite.
Contributions
We rely on member contributions for our Society operations and we plan to build our endowment in connection with the 100th Anniversary of the founding our Society in 1909. We hope you will consider year end contributions, including contributions of appreciated securities. Our Society is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
OUR E-MAIL LIST
Our E-mail list is made up of those who have sent us e-mail, of members and friends of the Society who have responded to our Newsletter request for E-mail addresses and others who we believe might be interested in our Society or mission. If you would prefer not to receive future Electronic Newsletters, however, please let us know. If you have friends who you believe might be interested in our Society, please forward this e-mail. If you have received this as a forwarded e-mail, please visit our Website at for more information about our Society. You may also contact our Society Office at 215-836-5022.
Do not hesitate to contact me with questions or suggestions. Chancellor@magnacharta.org