The American Philosophical Society (APS) was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin (then only 37 years old) and is North America's oldest scholarly organization. The archaeological interests of Thomas Jefferson, who became its third president in 1797, are not mentioned in this history but it is worth noting that besides his well known pioneering excavation of a burial mound in 1784 he sent out a circular letter for the APS to secure information on archaeological remains, stating, "The American Philosophical Society have [sic] always considered the antiquity, changes, and present state of their own country as primary objects of their research".