LB ! s s 1 1 ii:!!!: ii ii llil Hi- STATE OF NEW YORK REPORT OF THE Jesse Ketchum Memorial Commission TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE MARCH 6, 1917 ALBANY J. B. LYON COMPANY. PRINTERS 1917 STATE OF NEW YORK REPORT OF THE iA^^n^fh^^)jQgSQ Ketchum Memorial Commission TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE MARCH 6, 1917 ALBANY J. B. LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS 1917 'ZB86 D. of D. OCT '■■ 19W ^ »N^ State of New York ^ :No. 57 i . — IN SENATE March 6, 1917 Report of the Jesse Ketchum Memorial Commission To the Governor and the Legislature : I liave the honor to submit the report of the Jesse Ketchum Memorial Commission. This Commission was created by Chapter 500 of the Laws of 1914 for the purpose of erecting a bronze statue to Jesse Ketchum to commemorate his services in the cause of public education in providing for the use of the State of 'New York the site now occupied by the Buffalo State Normal School. The Act creating the Commission also appropriated the sum of $5,000.00 for the purpose and also to defray the actual neces- sary traveling and other expenses of the Commission incurred in pursuance of its official duties. The members of the Commission appointed by Governor Mar- tin H. GljTin under the Act were as follows: Edward H. But- ler, A. Conger Goodyear, David E. Peugeot, Daniel Upton and Edward H. Gallagher, all of whom immediately qualified after their appointment for the discharge of the duties imposed by the Act, excepting Edward H. Gallagher, in whose place and stead in April, 1915, Governor Charles S. Whitman appointed Mr. Hobart Weed, now deceased, who duly qualified, and became the fifth member of the Commission. 4 [Senate On September 22, 1914, the Commission was organized by the election of Edward H. Butler as chairman and David E. Peugeot as Secretary. An invitation was thereafter extended to various sculptors and artists to submit designs and estimates of cost, etc., which were given full discussion and consideration at subsequent meet- ings of the Commission, and it was decided that the appropria- tion was w^holly inadequate for the purposes named in the statute, and it w^as decided by the Commission to ask the Legisla- ture of 1915 so to amend the Act as to give the Commission greater discretion as to the form that the Memorial should take, for after a thorough study of the subject, the Commission were unanimously of the opinion that a Memorial that would be of service in the work of the Buifalo formal School would be far more appropriate and in keeping with the character and efforts of Jesse Ketchum du.ring his lifetime. Chapter 173 of the Laws of 1915, approved April 3, 1915, amending Chapter 500 of the Laws of 1914, gave the Commis- sion the desired discretion to select and purchase a Memorial which in its judgment would be suitable and appropriate to accomplish the purpose of the statute, and it also provided that a feature of the Memorial should be a bronze tablet with appro- priate marking or wording that it was erected in commemora- tion of the services of Jesse Ketchum in the cause of public education. On April 30, 1915, the Commission met and re-elected its former officers and also decided to have built and installed in the Assembly-room of the new Buffalo l^ormal School building, a pipe organ for use in the work of the school, together with the tablet required by the law as amended. Invitations were thereupon extended to various organ-building companies to send representatives to look over the premises and submit bids for the necessary work required to build and install an organ and subsequently a contract w^as awarded to the Hook & Hastings Co. of Kendall Green, Mass., whose bid of $4,800.00 for the complete work was deemed, after consultation with expert organ- ist, as most advantageous to the State. A bid of $200.00 for the desioii and construction of the Tablet bv John Harrison No. 57] 6 Mills of Buffalo was also accepted by the Commission and a contract awarded to him. During the summer of 1916 the organ was installed in the Assembly-room of the school and was thoroughly tested by the greatest organists of Buffalo before being accepted by the Com- mission. These organists pronounced the instrument a perfect and splendid organ and heartily congratulated the Commission on the choice. The dedication of the organ and the unveiling of the Tablet took place on the eleventh day of January, 1917, with the fol- loAving programme: DEDICATION OF THE JESSE KETCHUM MEMOKIAL, JANUAEY 11, 1917, AT THE AUDITOEIUM, BUFFALO STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Order of Exercises. Introductory Remarks Mr. Edward H. Butler Chairman Jesse Ketchum Memorial Commission. The Ketchum Memorial Idea Mr. David E. Peugeot Secretaa-y Jesse Ketchum Memorial Commission. Organ Selections Mr. Seth Clark Organist Trinity Church. Prelude Heroic • • Faulkes At Twilight Frysinger Intermezzo • • Hollins Verset Claussmann Marche Pittoresque -Kroeger Remarks Concerning the Life and Influence of Jesse Ketchum Dr. Henry P. Emerson Superintendent of Education, Buffalo, N. Y. Song — " Alma Mater " Normal School Students Remarks Concerning the Life of John Harrison Mills, Who Designed the Ketchum Tablet • • The Rev. L. 0. Williams Pastor Church of the Messiah, Buffalo, N. Y. Song — '•' America " Students and Guests At the top of the Tablet in relief is a portrait of Jesse Ketchum and in the lower right-hand comer is the Great Seal of the State of Xew York. The inscription on the Tablet reads as follows: ^' To commemorate with honor the life and efforts of Jesse Ketchum, a citizen of Buffalo and a loyal friend of public education, the State of ISTew York erects this Tablet and has in- stalled the organ in this School — October 4th, 1916." (5 [Senate, ISTo. 57] The total ainount uppropriated by the State for the Jesse Ketchum Memorial was $5,000.00, and while the Act provided for the payment of the necessary traveling and incidental expenses of the Commission out of the appropriation, the members of the Commission have taken great pleasure in giving their services to the performance of the duties imposed upon them by the Statute, and have incurred no expenses for travel or communica- tion, and this has enabled them to make the full sum appropriated by the State available for the Memorial. The Commission, therefore, is veiy happy to report that of the $5,0€0.00 available for its use it has disbursed the appropriation as follows: To the Hook & Hastings Co., Kendall Green, Mass., for building and installing the organ. . . . $4,800 00 To John Harrison Mills, Buffalo, E". Y., for de- signing and casting bronze tablet 200 00 Total $5,000 00 That the Commission has no outstanding obligations whatever and that its work is completed. All of which is respectfully submitted. By order of the Commission, DAVID E. PEUGEOT, Secretary. Buffalo, :N^. Y., Feb. 23, 1917. {ill! liii; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 022 152 649 1