TRACT SOCIETIES (Lat. tractus, treat ment, discussion, handling, I Irawing. from tra here, to draw, drag). The word tract signifies a brief treatise. In the modern use of the term, it is applied almost exclusively to treatises upon religions subjects, and a tract is distinguished from a book mainly by its external (pamphlet) form and its brevity. The earliest illustration of a tract is found in the separate hooks of the Bible, each one of which, as originally circulated in manuscript form from hand to hand. may he considered a tract. Apart from this, however, we may consider Wiclif, the great English re former, as the first to begin the work of writing and distributing, tracts. which, though laboriously produced by hand, yet obtained a large circula tion. With the invention of printing, the possi bilities for the development of tract literature were wonderfully enlarged, and the religious movement which culminated in the Reformation may he said to mark the commencement of the general dissemination of Christian literature in tract form.
The availability of tracts as a means for prop agating Christian knowledge led to the forma tion of societies for that express purpose. An early pioneer among tract societies for English speaking peoples was the Society for Promoting Christian Knowbdge, which was organized in England in 1698 and incorporated in 1701 to cir culate Bibles and religious tracts both at home and abroad. The publication of tracts, begun by John Wesley in 1742, was soon carried for ward upon a large scale, and in 1782 he organized the Society for the Distribution of Tracts Among the Poor. The first interdenominational union of Christian effort for the circulation of tract literature was effected in 1750, in the City of London, by the formation of the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge the Poor. This was followed by the organization of simi lar societies in other cities, and though none of these maintained a permanent existence, they must he regarded as forerunners of the great tract societies of modern times. In the closing decade of the eighteenth century, at Bath, Eng land, Hannah Alore (q.v.) initiated a move
ment for the better circulation of Christian liter ature by putting forth a series of short religious tales in tract form, named the Cheap Repository. In 1705 the Religious Tract Society of Scotland (now' known as the Religious Tract and Book Society) was founded in Edinburgh, by Rev.
John Campbell. This was followed, in 1799, by the organization of the Religious Tract Society of London, which stands foremost in age and influ ence among tract societies of the present day.
In America the work of religious publication was begun by the Methodist Book Concern, which issued its first publication in 1780. The .Massa chusetts Society for Promoting Christian Knowl edge, founded in 1803, may be properly regarded as the first interdenominational organization for tract work in America. This was followed by the formation of various local ,societies, among which were the New York Religious Tract Soci ety, organized in 1812, and the New England Tract Society, organized at Andover in 1814. The latter society, in 1823, changed its headquarters to Boston, and its name to the American Tract Society, and two years later became merged in the American Tract Society which was organ ized in New York City by friends of tract work, who desired to see a society of national scope and influence. Since that time tract societies have multiplied, but the American Tract Society still remains the principal agency for tract dis tribution in America.
A board of managers, consisting of a presi dent, vice-president, and thirty-six members, are elected annually by this society. This board elects the publishing, distributing, and finance committees. The members of these three com mittees constitute an executive committee to conduct the business of the society. To promote in the highest degree the objects of the society, the Constitution specifies that the officers and managers shall be elected from different de nominations of Christians; that the publishing committee shall contain no two members from the same ecclesiastical connection; and that no tract shall be published to which any member of that committee shall object.