Goodhue, and J. R. Coolidge, Jr., have been proposed as Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. By election the Society has added to its membership one Regular, fifteen Junior, and two Associate members, while one member, Mr. Vernon A. Wright, has resigned, and two members, Mr. Charles Bacon and Mr. Charles A. Cummings, have died, making the net addition to the membership fifteen during the year, so that the present membership is 189.
The total membership includes 84 Regular members, 73 Junior members 21 Associate members, and 11 Honorary members. Of these, 90 are members of the American Institute, and 78 are practising architects.
There have been ten meetings of the Society during the year, with an average attendance of 48.6. The programmes have been as follows :
January, annual meeting, 32 present.
February, Mr. F. Elliot Cabot, Causes for Failure in Building Constructions, 31 present.
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March, Mr. Frank Miles Day, some short biographies of Honorary Members elected to the American Institute of Architects ; also by Mr. Francis R. Allen, an illustrated account of Recent Trip to Spain, 64 present.
April, Prof. Geo. F. Swain, a Description of the East Boston Tunnel; also short addresses by Mr. Geo. G. Crocker and Gen. Wm. A. Bancroft, 34 present.
May, meeting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prizes awarded to Miss I. A. - Ryan and Mr. W. H. Crowell of the Institute; also the Rotch Traveling Scholarship awarded to Mr. W. D. Crowell, and the second Rotch prize to Mr. George Burdett Ford. Addresses by President Pritchett, Mr. William Rotch, Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, and Prof. William R. Ware; also, by Mr. R. S. Peabody, an illustrated account of Trip to Cuba, 98 present.
June, Prof. L. J. Johnson, Some Experiences in Floor Loadings, 18 present.
August, Excursion to Fairhaven, 44 present.
October, Resolutions and address on the death of Mr. Charles A. Cummings, by Mr. W, P. P. Longfellow and Prof. William R. Ware. Also discussion of Ethics by Mr. C. Howard Walker, Mr. J. R. Coolidge, Jr,, Mr. R. D. Andrews, and others, 26 present.
November, meeting with the Boston Architectural Club, 57 present.
December, a discussion on the Use of Steel Concrete, by Messrs. J. R. Worcester,
T. M. Clark, W. D. Austin and others, 82 present.
During the year the Society has prepared and distributed an edition of the Society’s “Year Book” and has also caused to be printed and distributed upon request, to architects, without charge, copies of the approved schedule of professional charges. The code of electrical symbols continues to be slightly in demand, something like 250 copies having been disposed of.
The year has witnessed a change in the working machinery of the Society, which it is believed, will greatly increase its efficiency. In the past the bulk of the work was done by the Executive Committee or by special committees appointed for specific purpose and without any general powers. In accordance with the recommendations made by Mr. J. R, Coolidge, Jr., as Secretary of the Society, the following committees were appointed : “Legislative,” 3 members ; “Building Laws,” 6 members; “Architectural Studies,” 10 members ; “Junior Membership,” 8 members ; “Public Improvements,” 17 members. If with these is included the membership of the “Rotch Traveling Scholarship” Committee, of 7, there is a total membership in these committees of 51 engaged upon the active work of the Society, whereas in the past the total membership of committees rarely exceeded a dozen. The reports, which these committees make, give an idea of what they are accomplishing and what lies within their powers.
The facts regarding the recent dismissal of the entire School-House Commission by Acting-Mayor Whelton are well known to you all. The Executive Committee took immediate action in this matter, and the Society is to be congratulated on having adopted a dignified position without exposing itself to any accusation of meddling in politics, at the same time being loyal to what was believed to be the city’s best interests and entirely consistent in its endorsement of the good work which had been accomplished by the Commission. It is gratifying, to both our professional pride and our personal feelings, that the dismissed Commissioners have been vindicated by reappointment by the present Mayor, and careful, conservative work of the Commission is to be continued by the efforts of its chief, our Vice-President, Mr. Sturgis.
The Secretary has this year made a change in the records which, it is believed, in time will have value. In looking over the records of the past it is not easy to ob
tain therefrom the facts in regard to past members of the Society, and the Secretary has therefore made it a custom to enter with the minutes a short statement in regard to the life, education and professional attainments of each member elected.
Any one who is familiar with the history of the thirty-eight years of this Society can find ample justification for pride in what we have been and for what we have grown to. Our record is an honorable one. The Society has from the first been managed conservatively and has ever emphasized the high professional standing of its members. The names which are associated with it in the past have included, almost without exception, all of. the best and most honored architects in our community. Our first President, Mr, Edward C. Cabot, held office for twenty-nine consecutive years and was thereafter Honorary President until his death. Indeed, after thirty-eight years of existence, our fourth President has yet to see the close of his term of office. The same spirit of conservatism, of clinging to what has been tested and tried, has shown itself in other ways. Our Society has the right to nominate a member of the Board of Appeals and, from the begining of this very important civic function, the same incumbent, Mr. Arthur G. Everett, has occupied the position with the utmost credit to our Society. The same has been true of our nominees to the Art Commission. Whether or not such permanence in office is desirable is, of course, a question for the Society to establish, and some few years ago a change was made in the method of electing our officers, by virtue of which the selection of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer is an indirect one, these officers being chosen from the membership of the Executive Committee. Furthermore, under our present constitution, no one can hold office more than three years in succession. In the opinion of your Secretary this change in the method of election is of questionable value. It does not give the Society free choice ; it does not necessarily secure the wisest selection, and it might easily in time tend to make the selection an honorary one, a reward for a certain popularity, rather than a choice of the one who would best do the work required. An office in this Society should neither be sought nor refused. There is work to be done, a-plenty, and there must be some way in which greater freedom can be given to the elections, by which it might be possible, if the Society so desires, pn the one hand, to continue the record of
The total membership includes 84 Regular members, 73 Junior members 21 Associate members, and 11 Honorary members. Of these, 90 are members of the American Institute, and 78 are practising architects.
There have been ten meetings of the Society during the year, with an average attendance of 48.6. The programmes have been as follows :
January, annual meeting, 32 present.
February, Mr. F. Elliot Cabot, Causes for Failure in Building Constructions, 31 present.
j l
March, Mr. Frank Miles Day, some short biographies of Honorary Members elected to the American Institute of Architects ; also by Mr. Francis R. Allen, an illustrated account of Recent Trip to Spain, 64 present.
April, Prof. Geo. F. Swain, a Description of the East Boston Tunnel; also short addresses by Mr. Geo. G. Crocker and Gen. Wm. A. Bancroft, 34 present.
May, meeting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prizes awarded to Miss I. A. - Ryan and Mr. W. H. Crowell of the Institute; also the Rotch Traveling Scholarship awarded to Mr. W. D. Crowell, and the second Rotch prize to Mr. George Burdett Ford. Addresses by President Pritchett, Mr. William Rotch, Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, and Prof. William R. Ware; also, by Mr. R. S. Peabody, an illustrated account of Trip to Cuba, 98 present.
June, Prof. L. J. Johnson, Some Experiences in Floor Loadings, 18 present.
August, Excursion to Fairhaven, 44 present.
October, Resolutions and address on the death of Mr. Charles A. Cummings, by Mr. W, P. P. Longfellow and Prof. William R. Ware. Also discussion of Ethics by Mr. C. Howard Walker, Mr. J. R. Coolidge, Jr,, Mr. R. D. Andrews, and others, 26 present.
November, meeting with the Boston Architectural Club, 57 present.
December, a discussion on the Use of Steel Concrete, by Messrs. J. R. Worcester,
T. M. Clark, W. D. Austin and others, 82 present.
During the year the Society has prepared and distributed an edition of the Society’s “Year Book” and has also caused to be printed and distributed upon request, to architects, without charge, copies of the approved schedule of professional charges. The code of electrical symbols continues to be slightly in demand, something like 250 copies having been disposed of.
The year has witnessed a change in the working machinery of the Society, which it is believed, will greatly increase its efficiency. In the past the bulk of the work was done by the Executive Committee or by special committees appointed for specific purpose and without any general powers. In accordance with the recommendations made by Mr. J. R, Coolidge, Jr., as Secretary of the Society, the following committees were appointed : “Legislative,” 3 members ; “Building Laws,” 6 members; “Architectural Studies,” 10 members ; “Junior Membership,” 8 members ; “Public Improvements,” 17 members. If with these is included the membership of the “Rotch Traveling Scholarship” Committee, of 7, there is a total membership in these committees of 51 engaged upon the active work of the Society, whereas in the past the total membership of committees rarely exceeded a dozen. The reports, which these committees make, give an idea of what they are accomplishing and what lies within their powers.
The facts regarding the recent dismissal of the entire School-House Commission by Acting-Mayor Whelton are well known to you all. The Executive Committee took immediate action in this matter, and the Society is to be congratulated on having adopted a dignified position without exposing itself to any accusation of meddling in politics, at the same time being loyal to what was believed to be the city’s best interests and entirely consistent in its endorsement of the good work which had been accomplished by the Commission. It is gratifying, to both our professional pride and our personal feelings, that the dismissed Commissioners have been vindicated by reappointment by the present Mayor, and careful, conservative work of the Commission is to be continued by the efforts of its chief, our Vice-President, Mr. Sturgis.
The Secretary has this year made a change in the records which, it is believed, in time will have value. In looking over the records of the past it is not easy to ob
tain therefrom the facts in regard to past members of the Society, and the Secretary has therefore made it a custom to enter with the minutes a short statement in regard to the life, education and professional attainments of each member elected.
Any one who is familiar with the history of the thirty-eight years of this Society can find ample justification for pride in what we have been and for what we have grown to. Our record is an honorable one. The Society has from the first been managed conservatively and has ever emphasized the high professional standing of its members. The names which are associated with it in the past have included, almost without exception, all of. the best and most honored architects in our community. Our first President, Mr, Edward C. Cabot, held office for twenty-nine consecutive years and was thereafter Honorary President until his death. Indeed, after thirty-eight years of existence, our fourth President has yet to see the close of his term of office. The same spirit of conservatism, of clinging to what has been tested and tried, has shown itself in other ways. Our Society has the right to nominate a member of the Board of Appeals and, from the begining of this very important civic function, the same incumbent, Mr. Arthur G. Everett, has occupied the position with the utmost credit to our Society. The same has been true of our nominees to the Art Commission. Whether or not such permanence in office is desirable is, of course, a question for the Society to establish, and some few years ago a change was made in the method of electing our officers, by virtue of which the selection of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer is an indirect one, these officers being chosen from the membership of the Executive Committee. Furthermore, under our present constitution, no one can hold office more than three years in succession. In the opinion of your Secretary this change in the method of election is of questionable value. It does not give the Society free choice ; it does not necessarily secure the wisest selection, and it might easily in time tend to make the selection an honorary one, a reward for a certain popularity, rather than a choice of the one who would best do the work required. An office in this Society should neither be sought nor refused. There is work to be done, a-plenty, and there must be some way in which greater freedom can be given to the elections, by which it might be possible, if the Society so desires, pn the one hand, to continue the record of