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[[preprinted]]   
 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
[[line]]
BOSTON . MASSACHUSETTS . 02115
Office of the President
[[/preprinted]]

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Davis, John Lowell, Thomas H. Perkins, William Phillips, Josiah Quincy, Israel Thorndike, and perhaps others). The Washington Monument Association held meetings at the Athenaeum. Of the $1,500 paid for the portraits, $800 came from the Washington Monument Association, and additional amounts came from persons associated with both organizations.

I do not doubt, of course, the conviction of Trustees of the Athenaeum that these objects were given to them free and clear. But, the above history cannot help but raise the issue of whether the funds used were given as much for the purpose of preserving the portraits for the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as for the purpose of benefiting the Athenaeum. Certainly the funds raised by the Association were explicitly and only for this purpose. Given this history, we believe that there is a possibility that the Massachusetts Attorney General and our Supreme Judicial Court, which must approve your proposal, may find that the Athenaeum is restricted in its right to dispose of the portraits unless the equity of the people of Massachusetts is recognized for future generations.

I am informed that the law is quite clear that an object taken under restriction is subject to that restriction until a court determines that the original purpose of the gift can no longer be served appropriately, and I believe that it is equally clear that such a restriction may be created by implication as well as by explicit statement. Whether the implication is clear enough in the current circumstance is, of course, the ultimate question, but it would seem to me that from the view of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington as our storehouse of national treasures, some recognition should be given to the fact that these objects were preserved for the nation by the citizens of Boston and Massachusetts. John Brooks's statement, which I attach, indicates a depth of patriotic feeling which we all should understand and respect.