The American Architect
Vol. CXV
Wednesday, May 14, 1919Number 2264
The Nashville Convention of the American Institute of Architects
The Second and Third Days’ Proceedings
An Historical Pilgrimage to the Hermitage, and an Old-Time Barbecue Mark the Close of an Epoch-Making Meeting
AT the opening of the morning session, the
report of the Committee on Credentials was presented. This report showed that the full quota of delegates certified to the convention was 213, of which 145 were registered, leaving delegates certified but not attending as 68.
In analyzing this non-attendance, it was found that the Baltimore, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Toledo and Wisconsin Chapters were entirely unrepresented. Boston, with fourteen delegates, had seven present with seven proxies, Cleveland presented a full delegation of five, and Illinois, entitled to thirteen delegates, presented a full attendance. The New York Chapter, with a total accredited delegation of twenty-two, was represented by eight delegates with fourteen proxies.
The Committee on Credentials recommended that the present system of registering delegates be discontinued, and that in future conventions a room be provided for the Credentials Committee and that delegates be instructed to file their credentials with the committee in advance of the opening session of the convention.
Following this report, Irving K. Pond read an appreciation of the late Frank Miles Day. When Mr. Pond’s paper was concluded, the delegates stood in silence for a period as a tribute of respect to the memory of Mr. Day. Mr. Pond’s address of appreciation was as follows:
An Appreciation of the Late Frank Miles Day
In honoring Frank Miles Day, the American Institute of Architects honors itself, for its honorable progress is linked insistently with the development of that many-sided man who lived to serve it with untiring devotion in its every need. There is scarcely a copy of the proceedings of the Institute for the last two decades which is not a chapter in the
graphic history of his profuse contributions to the cause he loved—here the scholarly report, there a tribute to a fellow architect done in beautiful English ; here a timely warning against ill-considered action, there helpful interpolation wherefor to clarify the turbid waters of a convention debate.
And so, in setting forth the Institute’s estimate of the man, Frank Miles Day, on the pages of the proceedings of the Fifty-second Annual Convention the record is complete, just as he would have wished it, and just as his family will want to find it, not in high-sounding phrases of formal resolution, but just the simple record written in loving appreciation and approval by a silent, heartfelt tribute to his memory.
In the prime of his professional career, Frank Miles Day, architect, teacher, practical man of affairs, and in all and through all an indefatigable worker, passed away. From his first day of service to the profession in its national organization, down to the day of his death, he worked unceasingly for the good of the profession with utter devotion and a complete disregard of self.
During the years of Mr. Day’s active connection with the Institute, it grew from a small group of Eastern men who practiced architecture almost as amateurs, to a society embracing architects from every part of the country, and including the best men of the profession everywhere. He entered the profession when, as already suggested, it was almost an amateur occupation; he left it when it was one of the most complex and difficult professions; he kept pace with that progress, at many stages he led or directed its progress, and if his fellow architects owe him a debt of gratitude for his unselfish life of devotion to their profession, the public owes him a debt for his share in uplifting architecture.
Mr. Day shared in and took an active interest in the growth of the Institute, but also demanded the
Copyright, 1919, The Architectural & Building Press (Inc.)