corporate_body:New-York Historical Society

The Treasurer requested and received approval to follow custom and offer Christmas bonuses to staff, the total expenditure amounting to $5,780. Minutes also record the vote to recommend two employees receive "separation of six-months' salary from January 1, 1949." A generous amount of material from the Beekman Family was donated, supplementing similar gifts of size and worth in the past. In association with the outstanding Beekman gift, the Society received further papers, diaries, journals, and notebooks etc.

The President spoke of the successful transfer of the Egyptian Collection to the Brooklyn Museum. Minutes also record the decision of Columbia University not to accept the loan of the Thomas Jefferson Bryan and Louis Durr collections of paintings from the Society, due to not being able to provide proper housing. The Secretary reported the need to cut five positions from the staff, beginning January 1949, because of the reduced projected budget.