The Merrimack Bible Society was founded in 1810, during the larger international movement of the creation of Bible Societies. This movement had begun a few years before in 1804, with the creation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, whose purpose was to distribute the Bible to persons in need of one (Hovey, 4). Similar organizations popped up throughout Europe and the United States. On December 29, 1809, there was a meeting of a number of ministers and citizens of Newburyport and the vicinity held at the court house for the purpose of considering forming a Bible Society. It was at this meeting that it was voted to form a Bible Society. A few weeks later, on January 17, 1810, another meeting was held, a constitution was adopted, and officers were chosen; the first president was William Coombs. There was also a vice-president, recording secretary, corresponding secretary, treasurer, and ten managers (6-9). Annual meetings were held on the first Wednesday of January at two o'clock in the afternoon, during which officers would be elected.

The first article of the Society's constitution stated "the distribution of the Holy Scriptures among the needy and destitute, within the reach of our aid, shall be the only object of the Society" (Merrimack Bible Society, The Constitution, 1). The Society aimed to "impart the Holy Scriptures, in their native purity, to those numbers, wherever they may be found, who, from poverty, or other circumstances, are destitute of the invaluable treasure" (7).

On January 1, 1817, the Society unanimously voted to become an auxiliary of the American Bible Society. Nothing was lost by becoming an auxiliary; the constitution was not modified, nor were the rules laid down by the founders of the Society changed (Hovey 16). In 1829, it was voted that a part of the "permanent fund" of the Merrimack Bible Society would be given to the American Bible Society. It was estimated that the American Bible Society had more than 5,000 branch societies across the country (17).

Through the Society's work, Bibles have been donated to asylums, jails, almshouses, mission chapels, hospitals, and on board ships leaving Salem for distant ports in addition to being distributed to needy individuals. Canvases of Newburyport and the vicinity were made by C. B. Bean, who visited families in 1869 and 1877, supplying Bibles through gift or sale. The next canvas took place in 1890, when it was voted that the city would be canvassed every five years (18-19).