 In light of the College's attitude and decreasing undergraduate participation, the membership agreed not to mention Harvard at its meetings (a ban that remained in effect for twenty-four years) and turned its capacities toward the advancement of music in Boston.The association's first undertaking was the establishment of an annual lecture series, delivered on erudite musical topics by qualified individuals.The lecture series in itself lasted five years, with speakers Henry R. Cleveland (1840), John Sullivan Dwight (1841), William Whetmore Story (1842), Ezra Weston (1843), and Christopher P. Cranch (1845).