The New-Ibrk Historical Society . "I Annual Report 1982 *- the New-York ^Historical Society

The New-ibrk Historical Society . "I Annual Report 1982 *- The New-York ^Historical Society Annual Report for the Year 1982 Central Park West and 77th Street New York, New York 10024 Cover illustration: Hudson's River, Dey Street. (New York) by Baroness Hyde de Neuville, 1810. Copyright ©1983 by The New-York Historical Society Table of Contents Report of the President / 5 Report of the Director / 7 Introduction / 7 The Library / 9 The Museum / 19 Special Events: The Year In Review / 27 Conclusion / 36 Report of the Treasurer / 38 Necrology / 48 Members of the Society / 49 Annual Appeal / 70 Contributors to the Library / 73 Restricted Gifts and Other Contributions / 78 Museum Acquisitions / 80 Presidents and Medalists of the Society / 84 Board of Trustees / 85 Committees / 86 Report of tike President The end of the summer was a time of transition for the Society, as we said goodbye, and thanks to a friend of many years and wel comed a successor. After twenty-six years with the Society, of which twenty-two were served in the capacity of Director, Dr. James J. Heslin retired effective August 31. He was succeeded the following day by Dr. James B. Bell. Dr. Heslin joined our staff in 1956 as Assistant Director and Librarian. On April 1, 1960, he succeeded Dr. R.W.G. Vail as Director. A perusal of annual reports over the past quarter-century makes eminently clear Dr. Heslin's many important contributions to the Society during a period marked, especially during the last decade, by national and international economic crises. As a sign of respect and gratitude for his many accomplishments over more thari two decades, the Trustees named Dr. Heslin Director Emeritus and voted to award him the Society's Gold Medal for Distin guished Service. The medal was presented to him on December 9 at a reception following the meeting of the Pintard Fellows. Dr. Bell came to the Society from Boston, where he served for the past nine years as Director and C.E.O. of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he earned his doctorate in history at Balliol College, Oxford University. Dr. Bell has lectured throughout the United States on topics relating to American history. The author of three books and many articles, he is a former member of the faculties of Ohio State and Princeton Universities. Although he has been with us for only a short period, Dr. Bell has already begun to place his mark on the Society. In the report that follows, he details new programs that he and staff have intro duced. Judging from what he has undertaken, the years to come promise to be productive and exciting ones. On behalf of the Trus tees, I am delighted to welcome Dr. Bell to the Society. On behalf of the Trustees, I am also pleased to welcome four new members to the Board: Theodore R. Gamble, Jr., elected to the Trustees' class of 1983; Christopher C. Forbes, whose term extends through 1984; E. Lisk WyckofF, Jr., chosen for the class of 1985; and Wendell D. Garrett, named to a term ending in 1986. It is my sad duty to note the death on August 24, 1982, of Mrs. Reginald P. Rose. A Trustee since 1979, Bertha Rose had a particular expertise in the field of American decorative arts and served on the Museum Committee. She served as well on the Nominating Committee and was a dedicated and loyal Trustee. She will be sorely missed. More than ever, there is a resurgence of interest in American history, American painting, sculpture, and silver. This interest now extends to more recent periods and the challenge to collect material from the turn of the century, and even the '20s and '30s, provides the Society with tremendous opportunities. Your Society needs to broaden its membership base and enlarge the number of its corporate and foundation contributors. The lev el of annual deficits incurred in recent years simply cannot be al lowed to continue. We will need your help in implementing what I trust will be a most successful era in the history of your Society. Robert G. Goelet, PRESIDENT Report of tlie Director Introduction What an exciting, exhilarating time the period since September 1 has been. As I write this, my first annual report, I am reminded that only a few short months have passed since I arrived at The New-York Historical Society. These months have been filled with wonderful opportunities —to meet the Society's trustees, members, friends, and staff; to learn about its traditions and accomplish ments; and to discover how the Society can prepare itself to serve the needs both of its members and its community. The Society has many constituencies. Among the measures that my staff and I have already taken a number will serve all of its members and friends. In November we introduced The New-York Historical Society Gazette, a newsletter to inform members about events at the Society. Throughout the fall we consulted with ex perts on computers and word processing to make our adminis tration more efficient; our membership records have already been entered into computer files and within the next few months we will automate our accounting systems and accessions list of mu seum holdings. We introduced new programs, perhaps the most exciting of which was a symposium on "Collecting and Connois- seurship," co-sponsored with The Magazine ANTIQUES, on December 3 and 4. We began a systematic review of membership categories and benefits. And we instituted an Annual Appeal to members, with heartening results. Other measures will serve individual constituencies. Our muse um is a priceless treasure. To ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of those who think first of the museum when they think of the Society, we undertook a comprehensive review of its collecting, lending, and exhibition policies. We also began to plan for the renovation of our storage areas, a project of the first prior ity if we are to preserve our holdings properly. Our library houses a superb collection of books, pamphlets, newspapers, prints, and manuscripts, undoubtedly the most important collection anywhere on the history of New York City and State, and one of the major collections on the history of the United States. For those who think first of our library when they think of the Society, we secured two grants amounting to nearly $300,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. One of these will enable us to join a network organized by the Research Libraries Group for sharing bibliographic information among many of the largest and most important libraries in the country. The second will support a project in cooperation with five other major repositories to establish a computerized catalog of newspaper holdings. Of course, we will continue our ongoing efforts to ensure that our library's collections are properly cared for and accessible to everyone who needs their use. The Society has sponsored many interesting lectures over the years. For those who think first of these programs when they think of the Society, the staff arranged two lecture series to be held dur ing the winter and spring—on American painting and on the ar chitectural history of New York. Such lecture series will continue to be a regular part of the Society's program. The Society is an important institution for scholars in history and the arts, thanks both to its collections and to the various ser vices that its' staff provides for members of the academic commu nity. For scholars we are instituting conferences on topics of interest and significance. In the fall we planned the first of these, a sympo sium on "New Approaches to the History of Colonial and Revolu tionary New York." These are only some of the programs that the Society will pro vide in years to come. The challenge that the staff and I have undertaken is to build on the Society's record of 178 years of distin guished service to the city, state, and nation. We accept that chal lenge with enthusiasm. The following pages recount the highlights of 1982. Yet they tell as much about the future as the past. Their story is of a living and growing institution, one preparing itself for the next 178 years. The Library The computer, Time magazine's "Machine of the Year" for 1982, will be our machine of the year in 1983. Soon automation will revolutionize the work of our library staff, thanks to the two major grants that we received near the end of the year from the National Endowment for the Humanities. On December 8 I met at the White House with President Reagan, Chairman William G. Ben nett of the Endowment, and the directors of eleven other major research libraries for the announcement of a series of special initia tive grants. The Society received an award of $100,000, which we will have to match with $300,000 in private gifts. We will use these funds to join the Research Libraries Group and take part in the Research Libraries Information Network, the Group's computer ized union catalog. At about the same time, the Endowment also awarded the Society nearly $200,000 for our share of the United States Newspaper Project, a program to create a national data bank on American newspapers. Our first step into the computer age, the coming age for cul tural institutions no less than for business corporations and pinball aficionados, was our library's most exciting development in 1982. But it was not our only noteworthy news.

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