A pamphlet of the report dated March 1849 made by the Joint Standing Committee on Education to whom was referred a request made by the presidents of Harvard College, Williams College, and Amherst College asking that once the state's Common School Fund reaches the limit of a million dollars, another fund be allowed to accumulate to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars to be distributed among the three colleges. The report is signed "by order of the Committee" by J. Lothrop Motley. In the report Motley provides information on the request and on the three colleges including their current financial status, property, and needs. Motley provides the Committee's conclusion that the request should be granted according to a plan discussed. The accompanying bill is included and it provides the details regarding the proposed new fund called the Massachusetts Fund for Public Instruction.
