Constitution

ARTICLE I – Name of Society

            The Society shall be known by the name, style, and title of “The Society of The Ark and The Dove,” in the State of Maryland.

ARTICLE II – Membership

            Any person shall be eligible to membership in The Society of The Ark and The Dove who is lineally descended from Sir George Calvert, or an ancestor, as the propositus, who came over either on the Ark or the Dove, bearing the first Maryland Colonists under the command of Governor Leonard Calvert, which sailed from Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, on St. Cecilia’s Day the 22nd of November, 1633, and who settled in the Province of Maryland.

ARTICLE III – Officers

            The officers of The Society of The Ark and The Dove in the State of Maryland shall be a Governor, a Deputy Governor, a Lieutenant Governor, a Secretary, a Deputy-Secretary, a Treasurer, a Registrar, a Historian, a Chancellor, a Surgeon, and a Chaplin, who shall, with the exception of the Deputy-Secretary and Chaplain, be ex-officio members of the Council.

ARTICLE IV – Council and Committees

            There shall be a Council, consisting of six members, who shall be called “The Council,” in addition to the ex-officio members, a Committee on Membership consisting of five members, of which the Registrar shall be a member ex-officio, and a Committee on Collection of Historical Documents and Records, consisting of five members.

            At the election on May 27, 1910, or the first election thereafter, if no election is held on that date, two members of the Council shall be elected for a term of three years, and thereafter at each election two members of the Council shall be elected for a term of three years.

ARTICLE V – Election of Officers

            The council shall appoint a Nominating Committee of three members, who shall not be officers, who, two weeks before the General Court of the Society, shall report to the Council a list of members to be voted for at the ensuing election to succeed the officers and committees whose terms expire at such General Assembly.

            The Officers, and the members of committees, shall hold office for the period of one year, or until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified. Vacancies shall be filled for the residue of the current year by the Council.

ARTICLE VI – Admission of Members

            Every application for membership shall be made in writing, subscribed by the applicant, and approved by two members of the Society, over their signatures. Applications shall be accompanied by proof of eligibility, and such applications and proof shall be referred to the Committee on Membership, who shall carefully investigate the same and report at the next meeting their recommendation thereon. Members shall be elected by vote at a Council of the Society duly called, but a negative vote of one in the ballots cast shall cause the rejection of such candidate. Payment of initiation fee and dues and subscription to the declaration contained in the Constitution of the Society shall be a prerequisite of membership.

ARTICLE VII – Permanent Fund

            All contributions, donations, legacies, unless otherwise specified by the donor, initiation, life, and hereditary membership fees, shall remain forever to the use of the Society, and only the income therefrom may be used for the general purposes of the Society. This permanent fund shall be deposited in some financial institution subject to the joint order of the Governor, Secretary, and Treasurer, and invested in such manner as may be determined by the Council. The annual income from the above fund, if not used at the end of a fiscal year, shall then become part of the corpus of the permanent fund.

ARTICLE VIII – Objects

            At every Council, the objects of the Council shall be considered and the best measures to promote them adopted. No party, political question of the day or existing controversial, religious subject shall be discussed or considered at any meeting of the Society.

ARTICLE IX – Commemorations

            It shall be a regulation that members of the Society, when practicable, shall hold a celebration, commemorative of some event in Maryland Colonial history, and meet together at least once a year.

ARTICLE X – The Seal

            The Seal shall be of the following: Within a bended amulet a title scroll “1633” The Society of The Ark and The Dove, “1909.” Surrounding on a sea two Seventeenth Century ships at anchor, sails furled-all proper.

            The Secretary shall be the custodian of the Seal.

ARTICLE XI – Insignia

            The Insignia of the Society shall consist of a badge, pendant, by a wreath of oak leaves fructed from a watered silk ribbon, one inch and a half wide of yellow, bordered with black and edged with yellow. The badge shall consist of a gold eagle, displayed, in the dexter claw holding an oak branch, in the sinister claw a thistle, a red and white rose and a bunch of shamrock, indicative of the English settlement of the colony; two vessels of the Seventeenth Century, at anchor, gold hulls, sails furled on a sea, overhead the sky, all proper, around the whole an amulet, bearing the title Deo Patriae et Terrae Mariae, 1633, 1909. Obverse. A representation of the first landing at St. Marie’s, within an amulet, inscribed, “The Society of The Ark and The Dove, 1633-1909.”

            It shall be worn by the members on all occasions when they assemble as such, for any stated purpose or celebration, and may be worn on any occasion of ceremony; it shall be worn conspicuously on the left breast, but members who are, or have been of the Council, may place a rosette of regulation pattern upon the silk band from which it is pendant. Members who are, or have been officers, may wear the insignia suspended from a regulation ribbon around the neck. Members who are, or have been Governors or Deputy or Lieutenant Governors may, in addition to the insignia so suspended, wear a ribbon of the Society’s colors three and one-half inches in width, extending from the right shoulder to the left hip.

            The insignia shall never be worn as an article of jewelry. The Secretary of the Society shall issue the insignia to all members and shall keep a record of all issued by him or her. Such insignia shall be returned to the Secretary by any member who may resign or be expelled, and the cost of same shall thereupon be refunded to such member. No member shall receive more than one insignia, except to replace one lost, proof of which must be satisfactorily established and the new one paid for.

            The undress insignia shall be a rosette or button of yellow and black silk.

ARTICLE XII – The Flag

            The Flag of the Society shall be of army regulation size and shall consist of the escutcheon of the Society on a field of yellow silk.

ARTICLE XIII – Alterations or Amendments

            Amendments to the Constitution of the Society offered by a member must be presented in writing at an Assembly of the Society and immediately referred to the Council and, if approved by the Council, shall be submitted for vote at the next Assembly of the Society; but amendments may be submitted in writing by the Council at any Assembly of the Society and acted upon without further reference. The Secretary shall, ten days previous to the meeting at which the amendments are to be acted upon, send a printed copy of the proposed amendments to each member of the Society and state the Assembly at which the same will be voted upon. No amendments or alterations shall be made unless adopted by a three-fourths vote of the entire membership of the Society at the Assembly voting upon the same.