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The Secretary recalled a discussion on this very same subject which took place at the annual meeting of the Board of Regents in 1927 when the future of the Smithsonian was considered.  Included at that meeting were members of the Establishment, the President, the Cabinet, as well as the Regents, leaders of industry and government, and the Secretary and his immediate staff.  At that time it was planned that a society of Friends of the Institution could be developed.  Unfortunately, Dr. Walcott, then Secretary of the Institution, who had initiated the suggestion, died two weeks before the plans could be set in motion.  It was particularly sad to us today to reflect back on the fact that the original concept of the Institution had been that private funds could be utilized for innovation and research, and public funds for support of the buildings and the public uses through public education of the Institution.  One can hardly hazard a guess as to what might have happened if an endowment drive had gotten underway during the halcyon days of the Twenties before the great depression.

Many years later, upon his election as Secretary, Mr. Ripley was urged by Mr. John Nicholas Brown and Senator Saltonstall to develop a society of Friends of the Smithsonian and to try to build up increments of private funds which would in effect give us that appropriate balance between innovation, research and public service on the one hand, and maintenance and public education on the other.