This volume (6" x 7.5", about 225 pages) contains the constitution and meeting minutes of the Upper Alton Presbyterian Sabbath School Society, recorded between January 5, 1842, and July 14, 1850. The first 2 pages are comprised of the society's constitution, along with the names of 20 members, followed by around 225 pages of weekly notes. The group's secretaries regularly recorded brief meeting minutes every Sunday with occasional gaps, most notably between April 1846 and June 1848. Meetings generally opened and closed with prayer or singing, and the minutes often include the names of teachers present and the number of students in attendance, separated by gender. Some sets of minutes, especially those composed at the beginning of each calendar year, note additional occurrences, such as officers' resignations and the results of the group's annual elections. On January 19, 1845, the society read a communication about the death of a devout Seneca Indian boy, and on January 21, 1849, the society mourned the loss of a girl who had previously attended Sabbath school meetings. The minutes dated after January 1850 refer to teachers' accounts with the group's library, and the minutes from February [1 or 7], 1850, consist of a list of Sabbath school scholars. The Upper Alton Presbyterian Sabbath School Society's secretaries between 1842 and 1850 included Benjamin Walker, Samuel H. Archer, Moses H. Long, Eliakim Thorp, E. Cunningham, and James Newman.
