Hon. CHARLES HOWELL, House of Representatives, WASHINGTON, D. C., June 7, 1954. House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I wish to congratulate you on the introduction of your bill H. R. 9111 which would create an opera house and music center for this city. I have long felt that the Nation's Capital should be the center not only for the Government of this country but also for its culture. Washington, in a sense, is the capital of the world. It is only fitting that an appropriate music center should be located here. Our Capital City is now an important visting place for our citizens. We should be able to offer them in addition to what we now have, an opportunity to see and hear the finest artistic productions possible. It has always seemed to me as shameful that even the smallest, most impoverished countries can support music centers in their capitals but that this, the most important country in the world, has not seen fit to do so. As world leaders, the least we should do is to have a suitable edifice appropriate for the great artistic talents of this and other countries. I hope that civic groups in the District of Columbia will support your bill actively. trust that your effort to offer all of the people of the United States a center in their capital which will be important in the cultural world will meet with early success. Sincerely yours, MORRIS CAFRITZ. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Trenton, June 4, 1954. Hon. CHARLES R. HOWELL, United States Representative, House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN HOWELL: We trust that there will be a successful hearing on your bill for the establishment of a National Arts Commission. The State museum arts committee and the Museums Council of New Jersey are in favor of a coordinated Federal art program, and we believe your bill will be the instrument to get it underway. We have discussed your bill thoroughly and with various people. We shall await with interest the results of the hearing. Sincerely yours, KATHRYN B. GREYWACZ, ARTS COMMITTEE OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM, 1954 Mrs. Paul J. Ralph, chairman, Woosamonsa Road, R. F. D. No. 1, Pennington, N. J. Mrs. James Ralston, vice chairman, 109 School Lane, Trenton, N. J. Mrs. Archibald Alexander, Bernardsville, N. J. Mrs. Joseph L. Bodine, 808 Crown Street, Morrisville, Pa. Miss Eleanor Bowman, 67 South Stanworth Drive, Princeton, N. J. Mrs. Harry H. Brakeley, 1000 Main Street, Riverton, N. J. Mrs. Russell Colgate, Oakbrook, Llewellyn Park, West Orange, N. J. Mrs. Walter Edge, Morven, Princeton, N. J. Mrs. Thomas Haight, 131 Hamilton Avenue, Englewood, N. J. Mrs. John Gurney Sholl, 25 Kenton Avenue, Pitman, N. J. Mrs. Edward H. Sterling, 42 Parkside Avenue, Trenton, N. J. Mrs. John Peters Stevens, Jr., Quaker Hill Farm, South Plainfield, N. J. Miss Cornelia Van Renssaler Strong, Stronghold, New Brunswick, N. J. Mrs. Robert Tilney, Southdown, Far Hills, N. J. Mrs. John E. Volkmann, 212 Fourth Avenue, Haddon Heights, N. J. (chairman, art department, New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs) Mrs. Palmer Way, 6000 Pacific Avenue, Wildwoodcrest, N. J. HONORARY MEMBERS Miss Frances M. Dickinson, 479 West State Street, Trenton, N. J. Mrs. Daniel C. Lewis, 825 Columbia Avenue, Millville, N. J. THE MUSEUMS COUNCIL OF NEW JERSEY, 1953-55 OFFICERS Kathryn B. Greywacz, chairman, director, State museum, department of education, Trenton, N. J. Kathryn Gamble, vice chairman, director, the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, N. J. Bernice E. Jamieson, secretary treasurer, State museum, department of education, Trenton, N. J. THE MUSEUMS COUNCIL OF NEW JERSEY, SEPTEMBER 1953 MEMBER INSTITUTIONS Each member institution may be represented by two delegates or their alternates. The names of delegates appear to the right of each member institution below. 1. The Art Museum, Princeton Univer- Dr. Ernest T. DeWald, director sity, Princeton, N. J. 2. Historical Museum, Cape May County Historical and Genealogical Society, Cape May Court House, N. J. 3. The Edison Museum, Thomas Alva Edison Foundation, Inc., Main Street at Lakeside Avenue, West Orange, N. J. 4. The Hopewell Museum, 28 East Broad Street, Hopewell, N. J. 5. The Monmouth County Historical Association, Inc., 70 Court Street, Freehold, N. J. 6. The Montclair Art Museum, South Mountain and Bloomfield Avenues, Montclair, N. J. 7. The Newark Museum, 43 Washington Street, Newark, N. J. 8. New Jersey Historical Society, 230 Broadway, Newark, N. J. 9. New Jersey State Museum, department of education, State House Annex, Trenton, N. J. 10. Forests, Parks, and Historic Sites Bureau, department of conservation and economic development, State House Annex, Trenton, N. J. Miss Frances Follin Jones Mr. Kenneth O. Brown, secretary and custodian Mr. Paul Busse, assistant to the executive director Vice Adm. Harold G. Bowen Miss Susan S. Weart, director Mr. Edward Feltus, director Miss Kathryn Gamble, director Miss Katherine Coffey, director Mrs. Kathryn B. Greywacz, director Mrs. Olga G. Atkins, supervisor GREATER NATIONAL CAPITAL COMMITTEE, Memorandum to all Greater National Capital Committee subscribers: It is with deep regret that we advise you of the cancellation of one of the largest meetings we had scheduled for Washington for the year 1955. We have just been advised that the Southern Baptist Convention, which was scheduled to meet in this city, May 30-June 6, has been canceled due to the fact that we were unable to provide large enough auditorium facilities for the convention. For your information, we had assured the officials of the Southern Baptist group that we would be able to seat in the National Guard Armory upward of 12,000 persons. We based this assurance on the fact that on several occasions in the past 2 years crowds of more than this number have utilized the armory. I refer specifically to the inaugural functions and the occasions on which Billy Graham drew crowds in excess of 14,000 persons into the armory. We are taking this means of calling this matter to your attention to point up again the fact that one of this city's greatest needs is a municipal auditorium of an appropriate size. For us to lose out on securing the Southern Baptist Convention alone for Washington means that the city will lose more than $1,750,000 in revenue. We know from firsthand knowledge and information we have in our files and from our own contacts that there are at least 10 conventions of this size or larger which each year could well be secured for Washington if we had the proper facilities. This, of course, means that a minimum revenue of $15 million per year is being lost to this city because of the lack of a proper convention auditorium. We trust that all the businessmen interested in the economic welfare of this community will think about this matter seriously and join together in an effort to see that this city secures a proper municipal auditorium. We are certain that with the proper impetus one could be built. Cer tainly there is no more interested group of businessmen than those who are subscribers to the Greater National Capital Committee. Hon. CHARLES R. HOWELL, House of Representatives, CLARENCE A. ARATA, Executive Director. Washington, D. C. THE WASHINGTON POST, Washington, D. C., January 26, 1953. DEAR MR. HOWELL: Thank you very much for sending me a copy of the Congressional Record containing the coarticle which you had inserted in the appendix. It is certainly high time that we constructed, in Washington, some facilities to take care of the quadrennial events surrounding the election and inauguration of a President. Every 4 years we hold all of these meetings and ceremonies in improvised structures. These events have been coming around regularly for 150 years, and each fourth year they seem to take the country by surprise. One would think that all these events were wholly unanticipated and unexpected. We seem suddenly to discover, in the middle of an election year, that we are going to have some conventions, and there is a great flap to find some stockyards, arena, or auditorium that can be rebuilt and reequipped for that purpose. After the election we behave as though someone realized all at once that the President must be inaugurated. Temporary arrangements are then made at great cost. As soon as the inauguration is over, these facilities are torn down and we sit back and await the same kind of surprise 4 years later. MY DEAR MR. HOWELL: Thank you very much for your good letter of July 11 and your kindness in sending me bills 7494 and S. 2300. I want to commend you most heartily for your generous interest and efforts in behalf of the cultural life of our Capital and country. We are particularly interested in the creation of an opera house or art center and we sincerely hope that during the next Congress, we are able to get sufficient funds from Congress to begin the building of such an edifice, so sadly needed in our Capital. It seems almost wicked, when in the past few years we have spent some of our Marshall plan money in rebuilding and rejuvenating six opera houses in Europe and here in our city, which is the most dynamic Caiptal in the world, today, we are lacking such a cultural facility. Please use our organization for any purpose you deem necessary and be assured that we are deeply mindful and grateful for your splendid efforts. Cordially yours, CURT SCHIFFELER, President. TEACHERS COLLEGE, Hon. CHARLES R. HOWELL, New York, N. Y., September 24, 1953. House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Thank you for sending a copy with the revision of H. R. 5397. The proposals represent a tremendous step forward for the arts in America. When I heard Congressman Celler's excellent presentation of the bill at Adelphi College, I made 1 or 2 mental reservations, but I see that the revisions cover the 2 points I was going to make. In my opinion the strongest features of the bill are: (1) the opportunities for participation on all levels of individuals. This avoids the danger of simply offering good entertainment by helping people create their own entertainment. (2) Although not stated specifically, new writers will be needed and encouraged. They will have more opportunities to see their work. (3) The provision for fellowships is important and fully as necessary as the provision for study in science and engineering that so many schools offer today. I sincerely hope that the National Theater and Music Center will not be so tightly unionized that our students trained in handling scenery, props, and lights will be excluded when they bring a production to the National Theater. I also hope that many traveling companies can be sent out from the national center to all regions of our country. I hope that conventions of theater teachers and workers can be held frequently in the National Theater. I wonder if it is possible to set up some kind of arrangement whereby a community could raise half the money necessary for a program or a building, and the Government would provide the other half. I think some such arrangement would encourage local initiative and avoid some of the objections that arose toward the Federal theater. Please be assured of my wholehearted support of your plans. Sincerely, PAUL KOZELKA. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF SINGING, INC., Congressman CHARLES R. HOWELL, House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN HOWELL: As an officer of the above organization, I am very much interested in the proposed theater and opera house which you are promoting as a memorial to the men and women of our Armed Forces. As active members of a profession which would be somewhat involved, we would like to go on record as being much in favor of your project. A national theater for the performance of opera would mean nothing without a first-class opera company, which would require top direction, and that is a matter of great concern to us. On the other hand, if all you are thinking of is a building, then perhaps just providing a home for the symphony orchestra of Washington, D. C., would be sufficient for the time being. But, of course, the ideal arrangement would be the one they have in San Francisco, which combines both an orchestra and an opera company. I wou'd be glad to receive further releases on this subject. Hon. CHARLES R. HOWELL, RICHARD DE YOUNG. AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS, United States House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: The proposal to create a great music center in the city of Washington, D. C., the Capital of our country, is a project which appeals strongly to millions of our citizens, a constantly increasing number of whom enjoy and appreciate music, which is an important factor in binding all our people more closely together. The American Guild of Organists, a nonprofit educational institution, chartered in 1896 by the board of regents of the University of the State of New York, has a membership of 14,000 in every State, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Canal Zone and has for its purpose the development of high standards in organ and choral music. May we recommend that, as an important part of the musical equipment of the proposed music center, there be included a truly magnificent organ, comparable to the finest instruments in similar auditoriums in Europe and Great Britain. The American Guild of Organists is a member of the National Music Council and wishes to be included in the national organizations which have indicated interest in the proposed music center. Respectfully yours, S. LEWIS ELMER, National President. |