0.7 Chapter five: new initiatives and economic shocks, 1982-1987  (Page 16/18)

This paragraph, which was unanimously adopted by the board, directly con­tradicted a generally accepted museum practice that required that proceeds from deaccessions be used only for new acquisitions.

Obviously, the Society was desperate for funds. The ad hoc budget committee reported that the Society's staff had submitted a plan to reduce expenses by $1.2 million. But much more needed to be done. Even if all expense reductions were ac­tually to materialize, without additional revenue the Society's deficit would still ex­ceed $1.6 million. Although the Society had given up on developing the real estate adjacent to its building, one opportunity for cash that the Society continued to pur­sue was the possible sale of a property it owned on Forty-Second Street. It was thought that the Society might realize approximately $1.5 million from such a sale. In addition, the development committee, which had just elected Norman Pearlstine as its co-chair, reported that it had high hopes for what it was calling the an­nual History Makers' Gala. The first of these events was scheduled for October 31, 1988, and Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, had ac­cepted the Society's invitation to be the guest of honor.

Another source of funds the Society began to consider was city appropria­tions. As mentioned, the last time the Society had petitioned the city for support was in the 1860s, when the Society was looking to move out of cramped quarters on Second Avenue at Eleventh Street. For more than one hundred years, the Society had made no effort to attract city support.

It took quite some time for even the recent crises to motivate the Society to overcome its bias against petitioning the city. The first evidence in the official record that the Society was rethinking this principle was in November 1984, when one of the trustees, Dr. Robert S. Beekman, "stated that he had indicated on ear­lier occasions that he felt that the Society should explore the possibility of obtaining financial assistance from the City's Department of Cultural Affairs. Pres­ident Goelet pointed out that the Society needed to position itself prior to mak­ing an approach, but the prospect would be explored." Nothing happened. In late 1987, the prospect was revisited, albeit briefly, when the board of trustees minutes reported that "it was the sense of the meeting that plans to bring the budget in balance should include ... increased annual giving, planned giving, a capital fund drive and possible support from the City of New York." In February 1988, the Society finally took action when Miner Warner, a Society trustee since September 1985, helped arrange a meeting between Robert Wagner, representing the city, and Albert Key and Theodore Gamble, trustees of the Society. It was reported that although there were no concrete outcomes of the meeting, both Key and Gamble were encouraged by its tone. It was a first step—admittedly a small one—in what would later become a serious appeal to the city and state governments for assistance.