Activities of the Friends
 

WI'", WISH to report three changes which have recently
taken place in the membership of the Council of the
Friends. Dean Emeritus Virginia C. Gildersleeve, who
has been such a source of strength from the period when our or¬
ganization was activated, has for reasons of health submitted her
resignation from this administrative group. We shall miss her
sound advice and her steady interest. To replace her and to ex¬
pand the membership of the Council, two new appointments have
been made—Mrs. Arthur C. Holden and Mr. C. Waller Barrett.
We appreciate their willingness to join in the deliberations and
in the planning activities of this group.
 

Finances

During the period from April i, 1954, to March 31, 1955, the
Friends have contributed in cash a total of $32,354.76. Of this,
$2,503.76 was given in general support of our activities and
$29,851, was designated for special purposes. Included in the lat¬
ter category were the following especially substantial gifts: Mrs.
Francis Henry Lenygon for the construction of the Francis
Henry Lenygon Memorial Room in Avery Library, 110,000; an
anonymous donor for the purchase of Santayana manuscript col¬
lections, $5,400; a member of the Columbia College class of 1916
for the salary of an exhibitions assistant, $3,600, and $3,040 for
complete renovation of the Butler Library exhibition cases; Dr.
Jerome P. Webster for the purchase of books on plastic surgery,
$3,500; the Roger Benjamin Fund as a contribution to the N..VI.
Butler centennial fund for the renovation and expansion of the
general library, $1,500; and Mr. Valerien Lada-Mocarski towards
the cost of a collection of Russian books, $ i ,000.

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