THE HISTORY OF THE CONGRESS 5 



of the congresses is due to their broad-minded and liberal deter- 

 mination of the questions laid before them. 



IDEA OF THE CONGRESS OF ARTS AND SCIENCE 



It is impossible to ascribe the original idea of the Congress of 

 Arts and Science to any one person. It was a matter of slow growth 

 from the many conferences which had been held for a year by men 

 of many occupations, and as finally worked out bore little resemblance 

 to the original plans under discussion. The germ of the idea may fairly 

 be said to have been contained in Director Skiff's insistence to the 

 Executive Committee of the Exposition that the congress work 

 stand for something more than an unrelated series of independent 

 gatherings, and that some project be authorized which would at once 

 be distinctive and of real scientific worth. To support this view 

 Director Skiff brought the Executive Committee to the view of 

 expending $200,000, if need be, to insure the project. Starting from 

 this suggestion many plans were brought forward, but one which 

 seems to belong of right to the late Honorable Frederick W. Holls, 

 of New York City, contained perhaps the next recognizable step in 

 advance. This thought was, briefly, that a series of lectures on 

 scientific and literary topics by men prominent in their respective 

 fields be delivered at the Exposition and that the Exposition pay 

 the speakers for their services. This point was thoroughly discussed 

 by Mr. Holls and President Butler, and the next step in the evolution 

 of the Congress was the idea of bringing these lecturers together at 

 the Exposition at about the same time or all during one month. At 

 this stage Professor Hugo Munsterberg, who was the guest of Mr. 

 Holls and an invited participant in the conference, made the import- 

 ant suggestion that such a series of unrelated lectures, even though 

 given by most eminent men, would have little or no scientific value, 

 but that if some relation, or underlying thought, could be intro- 

 duced into the addresses, then the best work could be done, which 

 would be of real value to the scientific world. He further stated that 

 only in this case would scientific leaders be likely to favor the plan 

 of a St. Louis congress, as they would feel attracted not so much 

 through the honorariums to be given for their services as through 

 the valuable opportunity of developing such a contribution to scien- 

 tific thought. Subsequently Professor Munsterberg was asked by 

 Mr. Holls to formulate his ideas in a manner to be submitted to the 

 Exposition authorities. This was done in a communication under 

 date of October 20, 1902, which contained logically presented the 

 foundation of the plan afterwards worked out in detail. At this 

 juncture the Department of Congresses was organized, as has been 

 stated, the Director named, and the Administrative Board appointed, 

 and on December 27, 1902, the first meeting of the Director with 

 the Administrative Board took place in New York City. 



