BEQUEST OF LOUISA COMBE: The Museum is designated as residuary legatee. The estimated value of the Museum's interest in the estate is from $50,000 to $75,000. There is a possibility that the Museum will receive approximately $5,000 on account in 1920. BEQUEST OF MARGARET OLIVIA SAGE: The Museum is entitled to two shares of the residuary estate, which have an estimated value of from $1,500,000 to $1,700,000. The executors expect to make a substantial payment on account of this legacy in 1920. BEQUEST OF A. D. JUILLIARD: Under the will of Mr. A. D. Juilliard, the Museum is to receive $100,000. The Assistant Secretary has signed the necessary papers to exempt the Museum from the Inheritance Tax. BEQUEST OF FANNY BRIDGHAM: Under the will of Mrs. Fanny Bridgham, who became a Life Member of the Museum in 1912, and who died October 23, 1919, the Museum is to receive an unconditional bequest of $15,000. Many of these recent bequests have come as a surprise to the Trustees, without our solicitation or suggestion. They constitute a striking manifestation of the firm hold which the Museum has gained on the confidence and affections of the people of our city. Educational and living costs have doubled within the last ten years. Our total annual budget for our public educational work in the broadest sense has risen from $244,240.17 in 1907, the last year of Mr. Jesup's administration, to $774,899.29, our budget for 1920. Doubled The size of the building and the maintenance work remain virtually the same, yet the operating and maintenance costs have risen from $186,828.52 in 1907, to $359,902.79, the maintenance budget for 1920. For the combined years 1919 and 1920 we face a deficiency of $106,401.08, incurred in operation and maintenance, that is, in the purely public educational side of the Museum administration, with all the exhibition halls open free to the public every day in the year. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment has shown its faith in the public educational work that the Museum is doing by increasing the annual appropriation this year by $95,140.00, practically an advance of 50% of the appropriation for 1919. We need at the present moment $2,000 000 of additional general endowment to meet the current costs of operation, that is, to continue our public educational work in the exhibition halls, lecture halls, and exchange collections delivered to the libraries and schools. MEMBERSHIP AND STAFF We regret to record that during the year two of our colleagues have been removed by death, namely, Mr. Augustus D. Juilliard, who died on April 25, 1919, after a Trustees service of twenty-one years, and Mr. Henry Clay Frick, who died on December 2, 1919, and who had been a member of the Board since February 2, 1914. The Trustees at a meeting of the Board, held on November 10, 1919, adopted the following minute and ordered it suitably engrossed: The Board of Trustees of The American Museum of Natural History desire to record their warm appreciation of the many years of service of AUGUSTUS D. JUILLIARD which began with his election to the Board on May 9, 1898, and continued to the time of his death on April 25, 1919. His clear and sound judgment was manifested in his work upon the Finance Committee (1903-1905), the Auditing Committee (1908), and his ten years of service on the Executive Committee (1909-1919). He gave evidence of his wide interest in the Museum by generous annual contributions to its maintenance and to explorations in the Congo. In recent years he donated the unique collection of Nazca Pottery, also a beautiful series of Peruvian textiles, and he showed an especially warm interest in the work that the Museum is doing in industrial textile design. All together his individual donations amounted to more than $36,000, and through his Will he manifested his faith in the future of the Museum by a bequest of $100,000, which will supplement Mrs. Juilliard's generous legacy of $50,000. The Trustees will greatly miss his genial presence and will endeavor to keep alive his memory and influence by continuing the wise and patriotic administration. of his gifts and legacies to the Museum for the public welfare. At the Executive Committee meeting, held on December 17, 1919, the Trustees recorded their appreciation of the services of Mr. Frick by the adoption of the following minute: The Trustees desire to record their sorrow in the loss of their late associate HENRY CLAY FRICK a member of the Board of Trustees from February 2, February 18, 1914-Appointed member of Finance February 5, 1917-Elected Associate Benefactor in view of generous contributions and interest in growth of Museum. February 5, 1917-Entertained Trustees at his residence on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the Board. He was a liberal contributor to the general work of the Museum, his gifts totaling $17,000. We wish especially to record our admiration of the public spirit and patriotism of our late colleague and his superb bequests to art, to philanthropy and to general and technical education, which place him among the foremost benefactors of the people of the country. We desire to extend to the members of his family our most sincere sympathy in their loss and our profound appreciation of the life and work of Mr. Frick. Because of the demands of other duties upon his time and energy, Mr. R. Fulton Cutting tendered his resignation as a member of the Board, which was accepted with regret by the Executive Committee at a meeting held on October 15, 1919. Two new Trustees were elected to the Board on November 10, 1919, namely, Mr. Walter Douglas and LieutenantColonel Theodore Roosevelt. Several changes were made in the Scientific Staff in 1919, through promotion, resignation or appointment: Mr. G. K. Noble was appointed Assistant Curator in the Department of Herpetology on February 19. Scientific Mr. Karl P. Schmidt was appointed Assistant in the Department of Herpetology on February 19. Mr. Childs Frick was appointed Assistant in Vertebrate Palæontology on May 21. Mr. Leo E. Miller resigned as Assistant in the Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology on June 3. Dr. Thomas G. Hull resigned as Assistant in the Department of Public Health on September 19. Miss Ann E. Thomas resigned as Assistant in the Department of Public Education, to take effect October 1. Miss Ruth E. Crosby was appointed to succeed Miss Ann E. Thomas, to take effect October 6. Mr. Laurence V. Coleman was appointed Chief of the Department of Preparation on October 15. Major Barrington Moore was appointed Research Associate in Forestry on February 19. Mr. Robert Cushman Murphy was appointed on October 15, as Research Associate in Ornithology for 1919. Dr. Joseph Bequaert was appointed on October 15, as Research Associate in Entomology for 1919. PUBLIC ACTIVITIES OF THE STAFF The outside activities of Staff members have been extensive and in many instances they have received notable public recognition. By direction of Albert I., King of the Belgians, Colonel Leon Osterrieth, Chief of the Belgian Military Mission, presented to President Henry Fairfield Osborn, at the Museum on November 20, 1919, the Cross of Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium, in recognition of the Museum's important services to science in exploring the Belgian Congo and in issuing valuable publications setting forth the results of its collections and researches. President Osborn has been elected to a trusteeship of the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine of Paris, as a member of the Conseil de Perfectionnement. President Osborn served on Mayor Hylan's Committee on Receptions to Distinguished Guests to welcome Their Majesties King Albert I. and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, and His Royal Highness Edward Prince of Wales. In November, the Cullum Geographical Medal was awarded to President Osborn by the Council of the American Geographical Society. Dr. J. A. Allen has been elected the first Honorary Member of the newly formed American Society of Mammalogists. Dr. Frank M. Chapman, from October, 1918, to April, 1919, was Red Cross Commissioner to South America, the highest. office, for foreign service, the Red Cross can give. He also visited the Panama Red Cross and the extremely active Canal Zone Chapter, and was sent in April, 1919, to Paris to report on his work. Dr. W. D. Matthew has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Great Britain. Dr. William K. Gregory was elected a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London, January 15, 1919. |