Joseph Hodges Choate 33 



At a special meeting of the Trustees of The American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, held May 22, 1917, in memory of 

 Mr. Choate, the President was invited to prepare a Memorial, 

 of which the following is an abstract : 



"At the age of thirty-seven, in the month of February, 1869, 

 Joseph Hodges Choate became one of the Founders of The 

 American Museum of Natural History and served the institu- 

 tion continuously for forty-eight years, sending his last official 

 letter to the President on May 5, 19 17, and attending his last 

 meeting of the Board of Trustees on May 7, 19 17. At this 

 time he was fresh and young in heart, powerful and vigorous 

 in mind, and his interest in the Museum showed no abatement. 



"The history of the Museum, as recorded in the Minutes of 

 the Board of Trustees, shows that he was the author of the 

 Charter, of the Act of Incorporation, of the original Constitu- 

 tion and By-Laws and of the Contract with the Department of 

 Parks. Into these papers, which constitute the unique legal 

 foundation of the Museum, he worked an entirely new concep- 

 tion, namely, provision for the independent and untrammeled 

 management of the Museum by the most intelligent men of the 

 city, combined with its establishment as a public institution, to 

 be built and partly maintained by public taxation, and to be 

 endowed and enriched with specimens brought together 

 through private gifts and donations. 



"This wise union of public and private endeavor led the way 

 to a similar legal foundation for The Metropolitan Museum of 

 Art, of which Mr. Choate was also the author. The foundation 

 of these two Museums led to that of the several other great 

 scientific and educational institutions of the City of New York, 

 including The New York Botanical Garden and The New York 

 Zoological Park; to these have been contributed, in the many 

 years since their foundation, $50,000,000 in private gifts. Thus 

 Mr. Choate was, in a sense, the legal author of a system of in- 

 stitutions which now gives to the City of New York the lead 

 among all the cities of the world." 



For the full record of Mr. Choate's services, our Members 

 are referred to the Memorial Volume which will be found in 

 the Museum Library. 



