Activities of the Friends

Fall Meeting. At the forthcoming Fall dinner meeting, to be held
at the Faculty House on November 14, Dr. Meyer Schapiro, Uni¬
versity Professor Emeritus, will speak to the Friends on his study
of ancient maiTuscripts. Mr. Warren J. Haas, Vice President for
Information Services and University Librarian, will present the
Columbia Libraries Citation for Distinguished Service to Mrs.
Julia Engel, who, with her husband, the late Solton Engel, estab¬
lished and endowed the Engel Collection of literary first editions,
association books, autograph letters, and manuscripts.

Bancroft Dinner. The annual Bancroft Prizes Dinner is scheduled
for Thursday, April 4, 1974.

Finances. In the November issue each year we report the total gifts
from our members (both cash and "in kind") for the twelve-month
period which ended on jMarch 31. To conform with the Univer¬
sity's financial reporting period, which runs on the fiscal year,
July I through June 30, this year's report will cover a fifteen-
month period, April i, 1972, through June 30, 1973; and all suc¬
ceeding annual reports will be based on the University's fiscal year.
In 1972-73, the general purpose contributions were $18,574, ^"^^
the special purpose gifts $7,770, making a total of $26,344.

The Friends also donated or bequeathed books and manuscripts,
for addition to our research collections, having an appraised value
of $116,815. The total value of such gifts since the establishment
of the association on May, 1951, is now $1,530,773.

Aside from gifts, the association has received income from sales
of paid subscriptions to the Columns and the Twenty-Year Index,
and payments for dinner reservations for the fall and winter meet¬
ings. In the year of this report, such receipts totaled $3,873.

Membership.hi oi Octohtr i, 1973, the membership of thcFricnds
totaled 420. Since memberships include husband and wife, the
number of individuals who belong to the association is 663.

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