Exercises held in Connection with the Opening of the Museum 



to the Public 



May 23, 1908 



The Museum of the Staten Island Association of Arts and 

 Sciences was formally opened to the public on the afternoon of 

 May 23, 1908. 



About 100 members and guests were present. 



President Howard R. Bayne delivered an address of welcome 

 to those in attendance and accepted as a trust, on behalf of the 

 Association, the dedication of the museum to the use and for the 

 benefit of the public, and introduced Hon. George Cromwell, 

 President of the Borough of Richmond, who delivered the fol- 

 lowing address in reply, on behalf of the people of the Borough: 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



In speaking here this afternoon for the Borough of Richmond, 

 I am addressing in you, Mr. President, a man who holds an office 

 much older than my own, for the Association of Arts and Sciences 

 is an older organization than the borough. Not only does your 

 splendid and complete collection of geological specimens impress 

 upon us the antiquity of Staten Island, but your Association, under 

 a different name, antedates our consolidation with the City of 

 New York, and is today a living and convincing evidence of what 

 things in the way of _study and research and education Staten 

 Islanders were able to accomplish by themselves before the aegis 

 of the metropolis was extended over our towns and villages and 

 institutions. We still are, and always will be, autonomous in our 

 initiation and perfection of special works and organizations 

 peculiar to this community and of permanent value to it, of which 

 the Association of Arts and Sciences is a brilliant example; and 

 I devoutly hope that the day will never come when our autonomy 



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