68 Ms 100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



some other person acceptable to me, be employed as Assistant- 

 Treasurer at Woods Hole, with full authority to collect and receive all 

 revenues and income from said operations, and to supervise and direct 

 the expenses incurred in said operations, with the understanding that I 

 am not to be responsible for any expenses, except those incurred with 

 and by the knowledge and consent of said Assistant-Treasurer or of 

 myself. 



Nunn had already placed $500 in the hands of Mr. Allen to guarantee the 

 opening of the lab. Mr. Nunn's hard-hitting, straightforward western style 

 appropriate to silver mining in Colorado did not sit well with all of the 

 proper Boston trustees. They wanted to retain control themselves. On April 

 12, 1897, they voted to open the MBL for the summer but to reject Nunn's 

 offer. It seemed, after all, that they could find enough money for the 

 purpose without giving up control to Whitman or to any such outsider as 

 Nunn. 



The trustees as a group wanted to retain control of their laboratory, for 

 which they had initially accepted legal and financial responsibility. In con- 

 trast, Nunn endorsed Whitman's desire for more leeway as director and for 

 not always having to have everything approved by the trustees. 



On August 6, the trustees met once again in Woods Hole. After con- 

 siderable worry about financial details, they voted to add new members to 

 the corporation. One hundred and fifty new members joined the list. These 

 people included mostly investigators and students at the MBL and sig- 

 nificantly swelled the ranks of scientists in the governing body. Then 

 4:20 P.M. came closer. The Boston trustees had to leave to catch the last train 

 of the day if they were to avoid an expensive overnight stay. This left the 

 balance of scientists, who lived in Woods Hole for the summer. Of the 

 nonscientific Boston group, only the secretary, Miss Anna Phillips Williams, 

 stayed. She found herself in a sudden and shocking minority. The real 

 changes began in what must have been a positive and emotionally charged 

 meeting. 



First, the new majority voted to pay for salaries in priority to other 

 bills — a shift of the position held by the trustees as a whole. Then they voted 

 to move the annual meeting from Boston to Woods Hole during tlie 

 summer — over Anna Phillips Williams's objection. They called a special 

 meeting of the new corporation to change the bylaws, to be held in ten 

 days — against Anna Williams's lonely objection. The group then voted to 

 appoint a committee to revise the bylaws — over Miss Williams's continued 

 objection. She was not appointed to the revision committee. 



The crisis had passed. Most of the Boston trustees quit. And at the 

 special meeting the new corporation changed the bylaws so that tlie group 

 of trustees had to become more responsive to the scientific community. 



