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Temporarily at: 57 West 58th. Street. 

September 14., 1940. 

Dear Harold: 

It was a pleasure indeed, to hear from you and I thank you for your interesting letter of September 9th. - it is full of sunshine and optimism. Let us hope you are right! 

I am stuck in New York without the possibility of travelling, as we haven't yet moved to our new galleries, and in fact at the present writing I don't know where they will be. However, it is a question of a few days until this will be decided. In the meantime I have a desk and telephone - by the way the number is the same we had previously, Plaza 3-0250 - at 57 West 58th. Street, as we are definitely out of 3 East 51st. Street. 

How very interesting what you write about Heimann. He certainly seems to be a very active and efficient businessman. 

The more I hear about these different museums on the coast, the less, I will admit, I understand the situation. From your letter I gather that there is going to be a new museum at Santa Barbara, but if they spend $1,000,000., on remodelling the old post-office, it is logical to assume that they will have money them for purchases - or is it just going to be one more beautifully planned building with crying empty walls?  The theory years ago was that it was necessary to have a beautiful building in order to make people museum conscious, but with all the experiences this country has had now, we realize that this one has been exploded and I think that people should be made to understand that the money should first be spent on acquiring the paintings and works of art which would eventually warrant the erection of a museum! Isn't it putting the cart before the horse? 

You write that van den Bergh is in California. Is he the man who lived in Vienna and who was in the diplomatic service and who, after the invasion of the latter country, moved back to Belgium or Holland? I may be wrong as regards the name. Do you infer that he is still buying? 

Your comments about K. C. are certainly very depressing. However now that the Lorenzo Monaco is out of the way, I trust that with your help, the Bellini is No. 1 on the list. In this connection, do you know whether Paul 

t.s.v.p............