[1] It had a lively existence for five years until 1853, when the local activities concerning antiquaries and natural historians were reorganised, leading to the foundation of the Athenaeum, Bury St Edmunds and the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History.
The first was held in Bury St Edmunds Guildhall in the room which housed the West Suffolk Library on 8 June 1848.
[1] Various objects were displayed by a number of members, and Tymms read his paper on "Notes on the Medical History of Bury, from the time of Abbot Baldwin", and a letter from Clare, Suffolk was read out highlighting local antiquities in the expectation of the society visiting the town.
The second meeting was indeed held in Clare where the party visited the castle, where Tymms delivered a presentation about that building.
After a tour of various notable locations in the town, the meeting assembled in a room in Half Moon public house, where further artefacts were put on display and a number of donations to the Institute were made.