CHICAGO 

 NATURAL 

 HISTORY 

 MUSEUM 



News 



CLIFFORD C. GREGG RETIRES AFTER 38 YEARS; 

 NEW PRESIDENT IS JAMES L. PALMER 



/Vt the may meeting of the Museum 

 Board of Trustees, Dr. Clifford C. Gregg, 

 President, announced his plans to retire 

 on June 1 . The Board, after accepting 

 the resignation with a resolution of pro- 

 found appreciation for Dr. Gregg's long 

 and distinguished service to the Muse- 

 um, elected Mr. James L. Palmer, for- 

 merly First Vice President, as the fifth 

 President of the Museum. 



Mr. Palmer retired recently as Presi- 

 dent of Marshall Field & Company. His 

 first position with the company was as a 

 consultant in 1936, and he carried vari- 

 ous executive responsibilities between 

 then and 1949, in which year he was 

 elected President. He became chief ex- 

 ecutive officer in 1958. 



Prior to his association with Marshall 

 Field & Company, Mr. Palmer was a 

 member of the faculty of the University 

 of Chicago School of Business, from 1922 

 to 1936. During this period he also 

 served as a consultant to various cor- 

 porations. 



Mr. Palmer is a Director of Marshall 

 Field & Company, International Har- 

 vester, Harris Trust and Savings Bank, 

 and the General Candy Corporation. 

 Among his civic activities have been 

 various assignments in government, the 

 Community Fund of Chicago, and the 

 Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. He 

 is a Trustee of the Chicago Sunday Eve- 

 ning Club, a Fellow of Brown Univer- 

 sity, a Director of Federal Prison Indus- 

 tries, Inc., and a Director of the Chicago 

 Area Committee. 



Mr. Palmer holds a Bachelor's degree 

 from Brown University, a Master's de- 

 gree from the University of Chicago, and 

 a C.P.A. degree from Illinois. He served 

 in the U. S. Navy in the first World War. 



In accepting the Presidency of the 

 Museum, Mr. Palmer stated, "In a sense 

 I am returning to a first love, the field 

 of education. I found my career in uni- 



PageG JUNE 



versity work most enjoyable and reward- 

 ing, and I expect my work at the Mu- 

 seum to be equally stimulating. Stanley 

 Field through the past 55 years, aided 



"Especially," he said, "I want to express 

 my gratitude to Mr. Stanley Field, who 

 is responsible for my early training at 

 the Museum and who has been a most 



STANLEY FIELD 



President, 1909-1961 



Chairman of the Board. 1962- 



CLIFFORD C. GREGG 

 President, 1962-1964 



JAMES L. PALMER 

 President, 1964- 



by Dr. Gregg during the past 38 years, 

 has built a great educational institution 

 on our lake front. Like all such institu- 

 tions, it must continue to grow and pro- 

 gress if it is to keep pace with our chang- 

 ing and expanding society. In these 

 times no worthwhile university or mu- 

 seum can stand still, financially or 

 otherwise. I regard as a great personal 

 challenge the opportunity to help extend 

 and broaden the research and educa- 

 tional services of Chicago Natural His- 

 tory Museum, already one of the four or 

 five great natural history museums of 

 the world." 



D, 



'r. gregg joined the staff of the Mu- 

 seum in February, 1926, as Assistant to 

 the Director. He was elected Director 

 in May, 1937, and continued in that 

 office until January, 1962, when he was 

 elected President. In that position he 

 succeeded Mr. Stanley Field, who was 

 elected Chairman of the Board after 53 

 years of service as Museum President. 



In announcing his retirement Dr. 

 Gregg expressed to the Board his deep 

 appreciation of the privilege of serving 

 the Museum for more than 38 years. 



loyal supporter at all times. Without 

 his guidance the Museum would never 

 have reached the position of world-wide 

 eminence which it now enjoys." 



Dr. Gregg has been active in other 

 civic and philanthropic affairs. He is a 

 past president of the YMCA of Chicago 

 and is currently a member of its Board 

 of Managers and its Board of Trustees. 

 He has also been President of the Na- 

 tional Council of YMCAs in the United 

 States, is a member of the Executive 

 Committee of its National Board, and is 

 a member of the Board of Trustees of 

 George Williams College. In World 

 War II, he advanced to Colonel, Gen- 

 eral Staff Corps, while on leave from the 

 Museum. He retired as a Colonel, 

 U.S.A.R.,inl955. 



X he years of Dr. Gregg's service as 

 Director and as President were among 

 the most productive in the Museum's 

 history. In 1939 with the financial back- 

 ing of President Stanley Field and Mr. 

 Marshall Field III, the Museum em- 

 ployees' pension plan was established — 

 one of the early museum plans in this 

 country. The number of employed per- 



