Activities of the Friends

MEETINGS

Happy aftermath of the January 28 meeting. As a direct con¬
sequence of the Annual A'leeting during which the Bicentennial
anniversary of the founding of the Columbia Libraries was cele¬
brated, the Libraries were the recipient of two spontaneous gifts.
The first of these originated on the night of the meeting when
six members of the Council decided to give funds for the pur¬
chase of books in honor of Judge Harold R. Medina whose stir¬
ring address had made the program such a success. The gifts to¬
talled 1150.00. (Each volume purchased will contain one of the
attractive bookplates which was designed for such testimonial
purposes a few years ago by an artist commissioned by the Coun¬
cil.) The second gift came a few days later when one of the
daughters of Harmon Hendricks wrote to the Director of Li¬
braries that she and her rwo sisters had read in the newspaper
about the Libraries' Bicentennial celebration and that they would
like to present funds to the Libraries for the purchase of books
in memory of their father, who had graduated from Columbia
CoUege in June, 1858. Their gift totalled $1,200.00.

Bancroft Award dinner. The Friends' e\'ents for the present
academic year came to a conclusion on Tuesday, April 22, when
approximately 240 members of our organization and their guests
attended the Bancroft Award dinner which was held in the Men's
Faculty Club. During the program President Kirk announced the
winners of the prizes for the two books judged by the Bancroft
Prize Jury ro be the best in the field of American history pub¬
lished during 1957: A History of American Magazines, Volume
IV, by Frank Luther Mott, and The Crisis of the Old Order, by
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. He presented a $3,000 check ro each
of the authors, who responded wirh much enjoyed shorr addresses.
Mr. C. Waller Barrett, Chairman of the Friends, presented certifi-

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