It Is a Singular Honor

Transcription:

New Windsor Mar 22, 1781

Sir,

I am much indebted to you for announcing my election as a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences I feel myself particularly honored by this relation to a Society whose efforts to promote useful knowledge will, I am persuaded, acquire them a high reputation in the literary world. I entreat you to present my warmest acknowledgement to that respectable body and to assure them that I shall with Zeal embrace every opportunity of seconding their laudable views and manifesting the exalted sense I have of the institution.  The Arts & Sciences essential to the prosperity of the State & to the ornament & happiness of human life have a primary claim to the encouragement of every lover of his Country & mankind. For the polite & flattering terms in which you have been pleased to convey the sentiments of the Academy I beg you to accept my grateful thanks and the assurances of my being with great esteem & respect Sir Yr most

Obedt & oblig’d Servt 
G Washington

The Revd
Josph Willard

Transcription:

Viro clarissimo et plurimum reverendo
Josepho Willard
S.P.D. [Salutem plurimam dicit]
Leonardus Euler.

Litterae Tuae humanissimae, quibus me certiorem facis, mihi locum inter Socios novae Academiae Americanae destinari, per Sueciam mihi sumt allatae.  Hunc honorem utique maximi facio, licet ob longinquitatem locorum, et quoniam aevo sum gravior, nihil plane ad ejus gloriam conferre queam.  Tibi autem, vir clarissime, qui meum nomen Academiae detulisti, imprimis sum obstirictus.  Vale mihique favere perge.

Dabam Petropoli. a.d. 11 Martii St. V. 1782

Translation:

Distinguished and highly respected
Joseph Willard
[Sends many greetings]
Leonhard Euler.

Your kind letter by which you let me know that a place has been set for me among the Fellows of the new American Academy has come to me in Sweden. I make the most of this honor, but because of distance and because I am elderly, clearly I cannot contribute anything to its glory. To you, moreover, a man of great renown who brought my name before the Academy, I am most obliged. Farewell and continue to be well disposed to me.

Written from Petersburg a.d. 11 March (in the old style) 1782

Transcription:

Sept 24, 1791

Sir

I have the honor of your letter of the 10th instant transmitting me a testimonial of my election as a fellow of the Society of The American Academy of Arts of Sciences. I entertain too high and respectful opinion of that Society not to esteem myself particularly flattered by so honorable a mark of their distinction; for which I request you to make my most cordial acknowlegements [sic] to them; permitting me at the same time to thank you for the obliging manner in which you communicate their act.

I have the honor to be
With great consideration
Sir
Your Obed Ser
A Hamilton

Eliphalet Pearson Esqr
Corresp Secretary

Transcription:

Philadelphia  Dec. 22, 1791

Sir

I am to acknolege [sic] the reciept [sic] of your favor of July 4th covering a copy of Judge Lowell’s eulogy on the late worthy President of the Academy of arts & sciences [sic]. I sincerely wish that my situation in life permitted me to contribute my mite [sic] to the labours of the society for the advancement of science, and to justify the honor they did me in placing my name on their roll. but [sic] however wedded by affection to the objects of their pursuit, I am obliged to unremitting attentions to others less acceptable to my mind, & much less attaching. I read with pleasure whatever comes from the society, and am happy in the occasion given me of assuring them of my respect & attachment & yourself of the sentiments of esteem with which I have the honor to be Sir

Your most obedient humble servt
Th. Jefferson

Mr. Pearson

Transcription:

Cambridge, January 16, 1797

Sir,

You will please to communicate to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences my grateful acknowledgments of the honor done me by that learned & respectable Society in electing me one of its members. My best wishes have ever been for the prosperity of an Institution at once so honorary & beneficial to my country.

I accept the election on the terms proposed; and am, Sir, with great respect

Your obedient servt,
David Tappan

Transcription:

New Haven September 21, 1815

Sir

I have the honour to acknowledge your favour of the 8th Inst conveying a certificate of my election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

I beg you to make my most respectful acknowledgements to that distinguished body & to assure them that it will ever give pleasure to recollect this mark of their favour & to do any thing [sic] in my power to promote those important interests of our country which their Institution is designed to cherish.

I am Sir with sentiments of unfeigned
Respect

Your mo. Obt servt
B Silliman

Hon Josiah Quincy
Cor Sec A.A.S.

Transcription:

Sir,

I have recd with much pleasure your letter of the 7 April 1832 informing me that the American Academy of Arts and Sciences had done me the honor of electing me a fellow of their Academy. I beg you will assure the Academy how much I feel gratified at being thus connected with an institution which having for its object the discovery of truth, must have for its supporters all those who wish well to the interests of mankind.

I remain Sir
Your very faithful Servt

C Babbage

Dorset St.
Manchester Square
London
5 Aug. 1832

To Fr. C. Gray Esqr Sec Am. Academy

Transcription:

New York, 14th Dec, 1841

Dear Sir

Your letter of the 13th Nover, informing me of my election as an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was duly received.  I beg you to present to the Society my grateful acknowledgements of the very unexpected honor it has done me; and believe me to be

Your most obedient Servant

Asa Gray

To Charles Folsom Esq.
Corresponding Secretary of the Amer. Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Transcription:

Nantucket 6th mo. 30th 1848

Prof. Asa Gray

Esteemed friend,

I have been requested by my daughter Maria to acknowledge the receipt of thy official communication of the 29th ult. & that of the 5th inst. informing her that the American Academy of Arts & Sciences had elected her an honorary member of that body; and also to convey her acknowledgements for the honour thus conferred upon her, & to signify her acceptance thereof.

Thine truly

Wm. Mitchell

Transcription:

Sunnyside Dec. 20, 1855

Asa Gray Esq
Corresponding Secy

Sir

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter informing me of my being elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in the department of literature and the fine arts.

I beg you to assure the Academy that it is with no ordinary satisfaction I receive this very flattering proof of its favourable consideration

Very respectfully
Your obliged Hmbl Sert

Washington Irving

Transcription:

Philad. Feby 11, 1864

To Wm B Rogers Esq
Corr. Secy Am. Acad. Of Arts & Sciences
Boston

Dear Sir

I have received with high gratification your favour of January 27th informing me of my election as an Associate fellow of the American Academy. Be pleased to convey to the Officers & Members of the Academy my thanks for this honor, and the assurance of my good will and respect. I should be proud to believe that any thing would fall within my power, in the future, to justify so flattering a recognition of the very little I have done for science in the past. Hoping for the Academy its full share in the brilliant future which American science has before it, I take this occasion also to assure you dear Sir that I am

Very truly and respectfully
Yours

J. P. Lesley

Transcription:

Feb. 20, 1874

Down,
Beckenham, Kent.

Sir

I beg leave to acknowledge your letter of Jan. 28 in which you announce to me that the American Academy of Arts & Sciences has conferred on me the distinguished honour of electing me a Foreign Honorary Member. I request that you will return to the Academy my most sincere thanks for this honour, & I remain

Sir

Your obedient & obliged servant

Ch. Darwin

To the Secretary Am. Acad. of Arts & Sciences.

Transcription:

Boston. 12 November. 1875.

Dear Sir

I have the honor to acknowledge your favor of the 10th inst. informing me of my election that day as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I thank the eminent society for the distinction which they have been pleased to confer upon me and which I accept in the hope that I may be able to do some service which may merit it, and I remain

Your obedient Servant

Henry Adams

Hon. Charles Francis Adams
President of the American Academy

Transcription:

Farringford Freshwater
Isle of Wright

Nov. 18 ‘76

Dear Sir

I have been away from Farringford for many months, & your letter was not forwarded to me; consequently I am now only able to request that you will convey my thanks to the President & Council of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for the honor they have  done me in electing me an honorary member of their body. Pray assure them how much I value the distinction.

I have the honor to be, Sir
Your obedt servt

A Tennyson

Transcription:

My dear Sir

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your notification of my election to a Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and will do all in my power to further the interest of the Academy. I am my dear Sir

very Respectfully
Yours truly,

H. H. Richardson

Brookline
Mass Ap: 10, 1879

Prof.
Josiah P. Cooke Jr.

Transcription:

Joseph Lovering Esq.
President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Boston

St. Petersburg  10 April, 1889.

Dear Sir,

I am in receipt of your letter of the 13th March, informing me that I have been elected an Honorary Member of your esteemed Academy and, in reply thereto, beg to express the sincere gratification I feel at such election and my due appreciation of the honour done me.

I remain,

Dear Sir,
Your obedient servant
D. Mendeleeff

Transcription:

Max Gate,
Dorchester.

23rd June 1916.

Dear Sir:

I write to acknowledge your notification that I have received the distinction of being elected a Foreign Hon^orary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and in accepting the same tender my thanks to the Council of the Academy for the election.

Yours very truly,

Thomas Hardy.

To
Harry W. Tyler, Esq.
Corresponding Secretary.

Transcription:

Berlin  20.VI.24  Haberland str. 5.

An die American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Boston

Der Unterzeichnete nimmt die Wahl zum “Foreign Honorary Member” mit herzlichen Dank an.

Mit ausgezeichneter Hochactung

A.Einstein.

Translation:

Berlin 20.VI.24 Haberland Str 5

To the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Boston

The undersigned accepts the election to “Foreign Honorary Member” with heartfelt thanks.

With the highest regard,

A. Einstein.

Transcription:

South Shaftsbury VT
October 8  1931

Dear Mr Davis:

I am greatly  honored in being elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I don’t know how useful a member I can hope to be at this distance from Boston. You will let me know from time to time what the Society has in mind and what it intends to do about it. I enclose fifteen dollars for my first dues.

Sincerely yours

Robert Frost

Transcription:

Harvard University
Department of Music

Los Angeles, Calif.
June 2nd, 1940

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
28 Newbury Street,
Boston, Mass.

Gentlemen:

It is with the deepest appreciation that I accept the honor of the Academy’s electing me a Foreign Honorary Member.

I shall be proud of belonging to such an outstanding institution.

Most respectfully yours,
Igor Stravinsky

Transcription:

WSC

June 17, 1943

Dear Mr. Usher:

I have just returned from the West Coast to find your letter which tells me that I have had the very gratifying honor to be made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  I am very happy to accept this Fellowship, and I hope to attend the meetings of the Academy when I am in or near Boston.

Sincerely yours,
Willa Cather

Mr. Abbot Payson Usher,
Corresponding Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
28 Newbury Street,
Boston, Massachusetts.

Transcription:

Universitetets Institut
For Blegdamsvej 15, Kosenhavn O.
Teoretisk Fysik
den August 30 1945.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Boston, Massachusetts.  U.S.A.

Dear Sirs,

I wish to acknowledge the receipt of the certificat [sic] informing me that I have been elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the Academy at a meeting held May first 1945.

At the same time I wish to express my deepfelt gratitude for this great honour shown me by your venerable Society.

Yours very sincerely
Niels Bohr
(Niels Bohr)

Transcription:

MAT/WND

Carnegie Institution of Washington
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W.
Washington 15, D.C.
Telephone: Woodley 0863

May 31, 1950

Mr. Henry B. Phillips
Secretary, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
28 Newbury Street
Boston, Massachusetts

Dear Mr. Phillips:

I was startled, but naturally very pleased, to find in my mail, on returning from Seattle several days ago, the certificate with your signature advising me that I was elected a Fellow of the American Academy on May 10. This was the first intimation I had that my colleagues and friends had so delightfully over-estimated my capacities and accomplishments.

I assure you that I am not unaware of the distinguished position occupied by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the intellectual world today, and the record made by the leaders of the past 150 years who have been members of this Academy. We may not have the stature of the giants whose places we take, but at least we recognize the challenges they accepted and we dedicate ourselves to the same ideals. If anything, the race we run today seems to be even more interesting than perhaps it was for the leaders of a hundred years ago.

I assure you of my pleasure in accepting the privileges and obligations which I now incur as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sincerely yours,
M. A. Tuve, Director

Transcription:

Faber and Faber Limited
Publishers
24 Russell Square London W.C.1
Fabbaf Westcent London Museum 9543

3rd June, 1954

The Secretary,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
28 Newbury Street,
Boston 16,
U.S.A.

Dear Mr. Greene,

I thank you for your letter of May 12th, and wish to express my grateful appreciation of the honour done me by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in electing me to Foreign Honorary Membership. I have been (until a day or two ago) absent owing to an illness of some duration, hence the delay in acknowledging your letter and expressing my appreciation of the honour. I return herewith the Data Blank which I hope I have completed satisfactorily. I do not think there is any other category than that of Belles Lettres in which I could properly appear. I am also sending a copy of my most recent photograph.

Yours very truly,
T.S. Eliot

P. S. Your signature reminds me of the handwriting of an old friend whom I have not seen for many years, Mr. William Chase Greene, who is (or was) Professor of Latin in Harvard University. I should be glad to know that you are, in point of fact, Bill Greene.

Transcription:

United States Senate
Washington, D.C.

January 21, 1956

Mr. William C. Greene
Secretary
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Room 14 S-326
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge 39, Massachusetts

Dear Mr. Greene:

Many thanks for your recent letter concerning my membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I certainly appreciate your writing me and I am enclosing the membership data blank, photograph and my check for $25.00 to cover my membership.

Again many thanks and with every good wish.

Sincerely yours,
John F. Kennedy

JFK: el

Transcription:

Marian Anderson accepts with pleasure her election
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Transcription:

Maz Planck Institut für Verhaltensphyiologie

Seewiesen, den 10.7.57

Mr. Bruce H. Billings
Secretary
American Academy of Arts and Science
Room 14 S-326
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge 39, Massachusetts

Dear Mister Billings:

I am fully aware of the high honour conferred on me by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and I am, correspondingly, filled with a deep gratitude for being elected a Foreign Honorary Member of it. Please, believe me that it is my sincere intention to join your society in honest work towards the ends or goals strived at by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences which are, of course, the same for everyone honestly striving for the solution of any scientific problem. May I ask you to convey my thanks to the members of your Board of Election as to accept them yourself?

Sincerely yours,
(Prof. DDr. Konrad Lorenz)

Transcription:

21 May 59

Dear Mr. Billings

I thank you all very kindly for your invitation.

Cordially

Alexander Calder

Transcription:

June 1, 1960

Dr. Kirkley Mather,
President American Academy of Arts and Sciences
28 Newbury Street Boston 16, Mass.

Dear Dr. Mather: On the eve of my departure for Latin American on a diplomatic mission, I received the news of my election to Honorary Membership to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I should like to tell you with what deep gratitude and emotion I have received this honor. I am especially appreciative of your own part in sponsoring and recommending my election.

The distinguished company of those elected at the same meeting, both from the United States and from other countries, has further enhanced the sense of honor which I feel at this moment.

Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to promote or enrich the Academy’s work. I have taken a special interest recently in the role of science in the advancement of new States, especially in Africa and Asia. The interrelationship between the scientific revolution and the contemporary movement of national liberation deserves earnest thought and scrutiny. If there is any edition of DAEDALUS in which this subject would be relevant, I should be glad to write a contribution.

I had hoped that my brief visit to New York on my way home would enable me to come to Boston to pay my respects. However, my Prime Minister’s official visit to France, Holland and Belgium makes it necessary for other Ministers to be back home early this month. I hope that, during my next visit to the United States, I shall be able to go to the Academy for a visit.

With cordial wishes,

Yours very sincerely,
Abba Eban

Transcription:

May 19, 1960

Dear Mr. Oncley:

I am delighted and deeply honored to be elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. As a small boy in Boston my father pointed out to me your building which housed this distinguished group of men and women.

With warmest appreciation for this honor.

Sincerely yours  Andrew Wyeth

Transcription:

le 27 M 61.

Cher Mr. Oncley;

Mr. Pierre Matisse m’a fait parvenir votre lettre comme j’ai été élu membre de l’American Academy of Arts and Sciences de Boston. Je tiens à vous dire que c’est un très grand honeur pour moi et que je suis très fier de cette élection.

Veuillez recevoir, Monsieur, mes salutations les plus distinguées,

Miró

Translation:

Mr. Pierre Matisse sent me your letter as I was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Science in Boston. I want to tell you that this is a very great Honor for me and I am very proud of this election.

Please accept, Sir, my best regards,

Miró

Transcription:

Dear Mr Oncley,

Forgive me not yet having answered : I waited for the other papers to arrive. As I leave for a few days this evening, I feel the need to express my deep appreciation & my gratefulness for the honor bestowed on me. Am sorry & rather ashamed to write so hastily, but I just came back from the States & go away again! Please transfer to the Academy my feelings & believe  me to be most sincerely yours

Nadia Boulanger

16 mai 1962

Transcription:

December 20, 1962

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences
280 Newton Street,
Brookline, Mass.

Dear Sirs: I needn’t tell you how pleased and flattered I am to know that you invited me to become a member of such a distinguished society. At the time (I believe you said in May) I was in Europe and the letter missed me. There was no one to forward it to me. If the invitation still holds, I will be happy and honored to accept it. Unfortunately I am on the road with a play and will be gone before you get this letter but you can write me at 124 East 65th Street in New York City.

Very sincerely yours,
Tennessee Williams

Transcription:

2 October 1963

Dear Mr. Raper,

My election to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences both honors and gratifies me greatly. I say gratifies because as a student of our early history I have always admired John Adams, and have always remembered the envious comment in his diary about the American Philosophical Society – that after the war Boston must have a similar body of learned men. Thus my entrance into the American Academy serves as a link with the past I spend so much time with intellectually and imaginatively. It gives me great pleasure to accept your invitation.

Sincerely yours,
Carl Bridenbaugh

John R. Raper, Secretary

Transcription:

Feb 28 1967 Recd  

A LLN50 PD Fax Atlanta GA 27 1022A EST

John Voss
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
280 Newton St
Brookline Station BSN

Happy and honored to accept membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences application blank and fee being mailed under separate cover

Martin Luther King Jr

Transcription:

Gentlemen!

Okay

John Berryman

Transcription:

June 18th, 1967

Raymond A. Bauer., Sec.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
280 Newton Street
Brookline Station, Boston Massachusetts 02146

Dear Mr. Bauer: By the date of this letter and that on the blank you sent me, you have already learned something very fundamental about me, that is my power of procrastination. I make nice excuses for myself, such as getting a photograph from one of my friends, also my steady occupation with other people’s faces. This summer I will also be on the jobs of two photographic workshops, one at the University of Oregon for which I enclose the folder. Of course I am a bit surprised by your offer of making me a fellow of such a noble organization as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and have never known anyone in my field, except Ansel Adams, a recent Fellow, who had received the honor.  Naturally I accept with pleasure and I hope due humility. For the most part I have remained contentedly in a remote part of the photographic picture, but you will find in the copy of APERTURE as good a report of my past as is necessary. I have just received a letter of congratulation from my old friend William Wilson Wurster, a Fellow since 1944. I think he must be the only person in the whole Bay Region who has noted this.  My eldest son[’]s first job in Architecture was in the office of Bill Wurster. It is very interesting to me to note that Martha Graham is the other woman chosen at this time.  I photographed her in 1931 but most of the photographs have never been shown since printed that year in Vanity Fair. This applies also the the [sic] Chinese architect Pei, whom I admire excessively.

Sincerely,
Imogen Cunningham

Transcription:

Buenos Aires.

Octobre 28 / 1968

“The American Academy of Arts and Sciences”

Dear sir: Feirstly [sic], please accept my apologies for this long delay of my answer, a delay due to unavoidable circumstan[ces] [sic]. Your decision has given me great joiy [sic] and elation. I am most thankful for the unmerited honour you have so generously conferred on me.

With heartfelt gratitude, I remain, sir, Yours very truly.

Jorge Luis Borges

Transcription:

Mr. Raymond A. Bauer, Secretary
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
280 Newton Street,
Brookline Station,
Boston Massachusetts 02146

September 30, 1969

Dear Mr. Bauer,

Thank you for informing me that I have been elected to the Academy of Arts and Sciences as its foreign member. I accept this honour with gratitude and regard it as a sign of trust not only in myself, but in many of my colleagues, Soviet scientists, as well. The fact that the distinguished Soviet writer, A. Soljenitsin, was elected at the same time as myself, has given me particular satisfaction. I have profound respect for the American people and American science.  All the more reason to feel pain, as probably you do too, because of certain matters, that cannot be reconciled with – the napalm war in Vietnam and some inner problems. I hope you will forgive me those bitter notes at this joyful moment, but I think I have some right to friendly candour and believe that the American scientists is a force that can accomplish a great deal.

Sincerely yours,
(A.D. Sakharov)
P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Academy of the Sciences of the USSR

Transcription:

June 5, 1970

Mr. Denis M. Robinson Secretary
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
280 Newton Street – Brookline Station
Boston, Massachusetts 02146

Dear Mr. Robinson:

I am honored to learn of my election as a  Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and  Sciences, and am delighted to accept member- ship. I will look forward to taking part in the activities of the Academy, particularly through its Western center.

Sincerely,
William R. Hewlett

WRH: mfs

Transcription:

May 17, 1973.
A. Hunter Dupree
Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
280 Newton Street
BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS 02146
USA

Dear Mr. Secretary:

It is with sincere thankfulness and deep gratification that I received notification, first by your telegram and now by your letter, dated from May 9, of my election as Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Although I am fully aware of the discrepancy between my own very humble scientific achievements and the great honor to become a member of one of the most prestigious scientific bodies of the world, I am gratefully accepting this membership and will certainly do my best to act in accordance with the spirit and traditions of your Academy. Let me, therefore, express my most sincere thanks to the Membership of the American Academy, to the Council and to yourself. The formal letter announcing my election will always be one of my most cherished treasures as a token of the understanding and good-will of the scientific community of a Great Country – worth the traditions of the Founding Fathers of the American Republic – towards a scientist of a very small country, whose people hold the same ideals for the advancement of mankind.

Most respectfully yours

(J. Szentágothai)

Transcription:

198, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
Paris, 4 June 1974

Mr Hunter Dupree Secretary
AMERICAN ACADEMYOF FINE ARTS AND SCIENCES
185, Allandale Street,
BOSTON, MASS. 02130

Dear Mr Dupree,

I have received your letter. Would you please transmit my thanks to the Committee for the honour which falls upon my camera.

Sincerely yours,
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Transcription:

Mr. Saville R. Davis, Secretary
Amer. Acad. of Arts & Sciences,
165 Allendale St.
Jamaica Plain Station,
Boston, Mass 02130

May 23, 1978

This is to say that I accept with pleasure the Fellowship in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences which you wrote to inform me of. Please let the Fellows of the Academy know of my acceptance and of my gratitude to them for the honor which they have given me.

Sincerely,
John Cage

I enclose the Membership Data Blank and a biographical statement. I have asked my music publisher to forward to you a recent catalog which includes a list of my musical compositions. J.C.

Transcription:

Jan. 28th 1980

Dear Dr. Davis,

Indeed, I wrote to you expressing my warm appreciation of the honour paid to me on my election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This was at the time when Tanzania was at war and many letters were lost or diverted. I apologise deeply for my seeming lack of response and rudeness, please believe that I am not responsible. Since you have not received my previous letter, may I say again how greatly honoured I am to be an Honorary Member of this august body. I return the form herewith.

Yours sincerely
Mary Leakey

Transcription:

Dear Mr. Hiatt:

I’m honored and pleased to have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Garry Trudeau

May 17, 1993

Transcription:

feast [sic] of St. Peter and Paul 1999

Daniel Tosteson President American Academy of Arts & Sciences

dear President [sic]

Thank you for your election of me as a Foreign Honorary Member. I look forward to visiting your Academy in October. So far I have only seen Plato’s.

Regards
Anne Carson

Transcription:

May 25, 2000

Daniel Tosteson, President 
Emeilio [sic] Bizzi, Secretary 
American Academy of Arts & Sciences 
136 Irving Street 
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Daniel and Emeilio [sic]:

Thank you for your letter of April 19th. I am proud indeed to know that I have been elected as a Fellow of the Academy, and accept with great pleasure.

I shall watch my mail for the reports, journals, and newsletters. Meanwhile, I have marked October 14th on my calendar, and look forward to meeting with the other members.

With all good wishes and again, many thanks

[signed]

Julia [Child]

Transcription:

April 24, 2000

Mr. Daniel C. Tosteson, President
Mr. Emilio Bizzi, Secretary
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Mr. Tosteson, Mr. Bizzi, and Members of the Academy,

It is with enormous gratitude and pleasure that I accept your invitation to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I number this honor among the highest I have received because literally it provides an entry into a “fellowship” of those who have devoted their lives to the arts, sciences, and to the higher goals of humanity. We live in an age where the meretricious often triumphs, an age of so-called celebrity worship where the distinction between accomplishment and notoriety has been erased. Therefore, it is more valuable than ever to be with clear thinking minds that are unobstructed by cant and unimpressed with image.

Now that I look back on a career of almost half a century, I see in it a common theme: the exploration of reality and illusion, the long-lasting value of the former and the dangers of the latter. Your invitation to become a Fellow of this most prestigious organization validates my work. I look forward to becoming an active participant in your august body.

Most Sincerely,

[signed]

[Barbara Goldsmith]

Transcription:

May 2, 2001

Leslie C. Berlowitz
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, Mass 02138-1996
Fax 617-576-5050

Dear Leslie Berlowitz,

It is a great honor to join the members of the Academy. I am deeply happy to accept.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Richard Avedon

Transcription:

May 28, 2001

Leslie C. Berlowitz 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
Norton’s Woods 
13 6 Irving Street 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 0213 8-1996 USA

Dear Ms. Berlowitz:

It is with profound honor that I ·accept my election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Please excuse the lateness of this formal letter of acceptance, and impart no intentional affront. The completion of my autobiography, whose release date is October 16, has completely dominated my time.

The enormity of the opportunity to be associated with some of the brilliant minds of this century is irresistible. The amazing contributions of the American Academy and its impact in this century are irrefutable. I am both excited and profoundly humbled at your selection and the prospect of learning more about the staggering accomplishments of your society. Numerous letters of congratulations from colleagues such as Edgar Bronfman, Mike Nichols, Richard Parsons, Henry C. Gates and John Brademus, among others, speak with singular praise of the accomplishments of the Academy.

The significant accomplishments and innovative approaches of the Academy are compatible with my own visions of global peace and prosperity.

Thank you for the packet of information, which I have read with enthusiasm. I would like to donate to the Academy library, and enclose herewith, some of my life work and recent published articles.

I look forward to learning more about the Academy during induction and orientation ceremonies on October 13 and to a future relationship toward our common goals.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Quincy D. Jones

Transcription:

June 25, 2002

Ms. Patricia Meyer Spacks
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Ms. Spacks:

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation for your recent letter regarding my election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It is a great honor to be recognized, and I am delighted to accept my election into the Academy.

The Academy’s mission to recognize and uplift achievements in art and science is important to the advancement in these fields. I am profoundly humbled to be associated with the highly accomplished individuals in the Academy. It is with sincere gratitude that I accept your generous offer as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I look forward to learning more about the Academy during the induction ceremonies in Cambridge on October 5th.

With best wishes,

Sincerely,

[signed]

Edward M. Kennedy

Transcription:

Ms. Patricia Meyer Spacks, President
Mr. Emilio Bizzi, Secretary
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Ms. Spacks and Mr. Bizzi:

I am honored beyond my imagination by learning from your letter of May 5, 2003 that I have been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I accept this membership with delight, recognizing full well that many others cleared the way for me, led me, and pushed me along.

My mother and father were raised on small farms in western North Carolina and never had the opportunity of attending a college or university, yet their respect for education could not have been higher and was imparted to me in full.

Thank you for this welcomed news and for the opportunity to be in association with such distinguished members which you represent.

Sincerely,

[signed]

C. D. Spangler, Jr.

Transcription:

April 26, 2005

Dr. Patricia Meyer Spacks
Dr. Emilio Bizzi
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Dr. Spacks and Dr. Bizzi,

It is with profound gratitude that I accept this extraordinary honor. It will be a pleasure to be surrounded with my heroes from the beginning of our nation.

I look forward to rubbing shoulders with these ghosts and the present Academy members in which debt I remain for bestowing this honor.

Many thanks.

Sincerely yours,

[signed]

Nancy S. Wexler, Ph.D.
Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology
Columbia University

President, Hereditary Disease Foundation

Transcription:

May 8, 2006

To the American Academy of Arts and Sciences:

It is with honor and amazement that I accept your invitation to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. How could any American not be floored by an invitation to be listed among the greatest Americans our culture has ever possessed?

This is probably a mistake on your part, but before you change your mind, my answer is [underline] yes [end underline], you bet.

I’m particularly happy to be included in a list of both scientists and artists because I wish for our country both the highest experience of art and the deepest possible understanding of science by the greatest number of our citizens. I believe that our souls and our very existence depend on it.

With sincere thanks,

[signed]

[Alan Alda]

Transcription:

We accept this honor with gratitude and are humbled by the accomplishments, ideas, and dreams of those who have been so honored!

May 8, 2007

Billie Tsien
Tod Williams

[text written over handprint of Williams in ink overlaid by a drawing in ink of the outline of Tsien’s hand]

Transcription:

May 14, 2009

Emilio Bizzi
Jerrold Meinwald
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-576-5000

Dear Emilio and Jerrold,

[affixed is a separate piece of paper containing an abstract drawing of lines, swirls, and squiggles in red, blue, green, yellow, and orange marker]

Thank you so much for your letter. I am honored to be nominated for such a prestigious award. It is with great joy and respect that I accept your nomination. I don’t receive such a thrilling piece of mail just everyday!

Sincerely Yours,

[signed]

William Eggleston

Transcription:

26 June 2009

American Academy of
Arts & Science [sic]
Cambridge

We graciously accept the appointment as Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science [sic].

It is an immense honor to be a Member of the Academy and we are humbled to be joining the company of such a distinguished and extraordinary group of individuals.

We wish the Academy well in its endeavors and we congratulate you on your outstanding achievements. Thank you for honoring us with this appointment.

Sincerely

[signed]

N R Mandela

Transcription:

April 24, 2009

Emilio Bizzi, President
Jerrold Meinwald, Secretary
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Gentlemen,

I received your letter of April 16th and it is with great pleasure that I accept the high honor which you have conferred upon me. The membership roster of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences comprises a list of some of the most illustrious and contributive members of our society, and to be included in their number is surely to be one of the great privileges of my life.

If I can freely paraphrase the great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff in saying: the study of science and art is enough for a lifetime... but a lifetime is not enough for science and art. Surely institutions such as the American Academy of Arts & Sciences can help us rededicate ourselves to the creation of a world where science will be the illuminant of the future, and art the source of its sustenance. Although I’ve never been a teacher, active policy-shaper, or mentor, I hope that I might be able to make some small contribution, consistent with the lofty goals of the Academy.

With thanks again for the great honor that you’ve bestowed upon me.

Yours truly,

[signed]

John Williams

Transcription:

Dr. Emilio Bizzi
President
American Academy
of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

April 28, 2009

Dear Dr. Bizzi,

I am truly humbled and honored to receive the news that I have been selected to become a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

It seems that America once again faces many philosophical and practical concerns that invoke the spirit of the challenges our founding fathers met in forging the path that our country was to take. The Academy’s esteemed tradition of cultivating the very best in innovative thought mirrors the excellence that has been manifested in our country’s long history of ingenuity in the arena of the arts and sciences. The continuation of America’s leadership in these areas is fundamental to the survival of the very principles that define this remarkable American experience.

I look forward with great anticipation to my induction into this distinguished group and can only hope that my own contributions to our nation’s collective future are worthy of the company that I will keep.

Sincerely,

[signed]

James Earl Jones

Transcription:

Dear Emilio and Jerrold,

I am honored to accept membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. I feel privileged to join such distinguished company, past, present and future.

Sincerely,

Cl. L. Powell

Transcription:

4/25/10

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Academy —

Thank you for the [underline] great [end underline] honor of my election, which I accept with humility (and astonishment).

Warmly

J Lithgow

Transcription:

April 29, 2010

Louis W. Cabot
Jerrold Meinwald
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Messrs. Cabot and Meinwald:

It is with deep pleasure and gratitude that I acknowledge the honor of being elected a Fellow of the Academy.

In my view, it serves to recognize and pay tribute to not only my own achievements as an artist, but to what I represent: the great American music called jazz. It is in this spirit that I welcome and cherish the honor.

I am especially happy to contemplate the possibility, in the future, of even more outstanding jazz artists being recognized by the Academy for their contributions to American and world culture.

My sincere thanks to you for this recognition, and to Dr. Georgopoulos for his efforts on my behalf.

Very truly yours,

[signed]

[Sonny Rollins]

cc: Professor Apostolos P. Georgopoulos

Transcription:

17.V.11
Castlekevin
Annamoe
Co. Wicklow
Ireland

Dear President & Most Esteemed Members of the Academy –

With pleasure, undiminished by my utter bewilderment, I write to accept your very generous invitation. To have been invited to join this august body, what’s more, as a fellow citizen of yours in the supreme, living experiment of democratic society, only deepens the sense of privilege just as it affirms my conviction that an error has been surely made, the benefit of which is entirely mine.

Wild horses couldn’t keep me from the ceremony of induction. Abraham Lincoln, however, with a prior, though not a senior claim, just might. I hope very much that you’ll forgive me my absence in such a case, and I’m fully confident that you’ll forgive him.

I sign myself in Gratitude; with
Humility & a whoop of joy,
your – relatively – obedient &
fully Emancipated Servant,

Daniel Day-Lewis

Transcription:

04 September 2012

Mr Louis W. Cabot/ Ms Leslie C. Berlowitz
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Mr Cabot and Ms Berlowitz

It is with enormous pleasure and deep gratitude that I formally acknowledge my elected membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I am profoundly honoured to be associated with such a pioneering and distinguished organisation and to join your very impressive and diverse list of members. This recognition is truly one of my all time personal bests.

It is with regret that I am unable to attend the ‘2012’ induction in October 2012 but would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your acknowledgment of my lifetime work [sic] and I look forward to keeping abreast of your amazing projects and astounding accomplishments.

Yours sincerely,

[signed]

[Paul McCartney]

Transcription:

May 10, 2012

Louis W. Cabot, Chair
Leslie C. Berlowitz, President
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

Dear Louis and Leslie,

The invitation to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the highlights of my life and career, and I am delighted to accept. I do not exaggerate when I place it among the most moving of achievements. Having grown up in a then rural part of Campbell County, Virginia in a family that was threatened, and, therefore, hostile to the world of books and ideas, I would say that I pursued what I loved against a certain resistance, not only theirs, but my own. I take pride in having persevered. The judgment of people whom I admire and respect that I have contributed something to higher education and the world of ideas about it is not something I ever anticipated.

Through my scholarly life and the administrative positions that I have held in higher education, I have come to know many members of the Academy firsthand, as well as through their writings and creative work. I was delighted and humbled to learn from you that I had been elected to the Academy. I admire its mission and the effective work that you have done. I look forward to contributing what I can to its future.

I look forward to attending the induction ceremony this fall in Cambridge and to being in the company of such distinguished members, past and present.

Yours,

[signed]

Biddy Martin

Transcription:

[begin page 1]

06.17.13

1

What can one say to the honor of being elected to membership in such a society? The American Academy honors individual merit, true, and this election is a bit of an ego boost catering to the vanity in us all, but it measures that supposed “merit” primarily by the extent of the honoree’s contribution to the collective community of which we are all a part and by whether we have in our pursuits added to the common good.

I do not believe I belong in a society that

[end page 1 | begin page 2]

2

honors achievements far beyond my own, but since the error has been made I will not endeavor to correct it and will happily take my place beside those who have made the kinds of contributions to which I can only aspire.

Being elected to Congress was a great moment in my life and it was an honor to serve in that capacity but I am not naive: election to any office involves a public assessment of one’s personality, the extent to which a candidate shares the voter’s viewpoint, and how many other qualified men and women chose not to offer themselves as candidates. This honor is different, it’s personal,

[end page 2 | begin page 3]

3

and it recognizes attributes intrinsic to the self. It is thus satisfying at a level far deeper than any recognition I have received before.

It is my profound hope that your error in electing me to the Academy will not be discovered and, if it is, that it is now too late for you to do anything about it.

M[ickey] Edwards

Transcription:

May 16, 2013

Dear Louis W. Cabot and Leslie C. Berlowitz,

Looking through the list of members in the Academy, I realized here are the people who have defined my hope for humanity, brought my mind and heart into greater synchronicity. I am transported by the thought of belonging to such a fellowship. In fact this magic of meeting has already blossomed:

- through composers Leonard Berstein, Andre Previn, and Yehudi Wyner
- to choreographer Christopher Wheeldon creating “A place for us” – a pas de deux leaps to life on the stage of NYC Ballet May 8, 2013 accompanied by this enthralled clarinet player.

I rejoice in the members of the Academy. Within each of us abides this amazing amalgam of wonder, wisdom, dedication, and simplicity. I am thrilled to accept your invitation.

Sincerely,

Richard Stoltzman

[Transcribed are two measures from the “Adagio” movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622, with the musical direction “Adagio, sublime” captioned above; and four measures of a similar passage from the hymn “Amazing Grace,” with the musical direction “Slowly, simply” captioned above]

Transcription:

9th May, 2014

The Chair of the Board,
Mr. Don M. Randel,
American Academy of Arts & Sciences,

The Chair of the Academy Council,
Ms. Diane P. Wood,
American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Norton’s Woods,
136 Irving St.,
Cambridge, MA.,

Dear Mr. Randel and Ms. Wood,

My election as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014 Class, is an unexpected privilege. I am, therefore, honoured and gratified to become a member of this august body and for the recognition it confers on my work. For membership embodies a promise that assumes profound significance, as I join a long and distinguished list of those who have transformed universal human experience.

Through its work and contributions to the humanities, science and technology, global security and social policy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences provides institutional memory, context and continuity for the benefit of contemporary and future scholars, scientists, leaders, inventors and artists, not only in the United States of America, but globally. Knowledge germinates from the soil of a multitude of disciplines and is thus without borders and limits, being universal and ubiquitous. A proverb from Africa states: “[emphasis] A tree is known by its fruits and not by its roots [end emphasis]”.

The function of art, like this institution, is to look at our universe openly, re-define [sic] what is possible, and at times situate the importance of the process over the product. Function also enables participation in Truth and Reality; enabling us to understand our shared humanity and to offer insights into humanity’s predicaments – not to instruct or clarify, but is most effective when it stimulates dialogue and debate, and engenders respect… even awe.

Our 21st century is characterised chiefly by a microwave syndrome of instant results and the circularity of entitlement. In addition, our political and social landscape is in danger of descending into nihilism through the threat of a pernicious and highly radicalised ideology which, though it claims to espouse religious exceptionalism, has no race, class, national borders and religion. This Academy, therefore, assumes, as never before in its 234-year history, a highly critical role in these unsettling times as a stabilising entity and a conduit for continued interaction and influence between its members and the rest of the international community.

My commitment, as an artist to humanity and my national and continental heritage, remains unshaken. And, I hope that my creative and intellectual contributions to the ever expanding narrative and goals of this great assembly will always be useful.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

El Anatsui

Transcription:

5/19/15

Dear Academy:

Delight. Enchanted. Enthralled. Thrilled!

Glad to be in!

Peace and love,

James McBride

Transcription:

Dear AAAS:

Words cannot quite express my gratitude.

Thank you for the honor.

Sincerely,

Terrance Hayes

May 2016

[included is a black and white sketch of a man with a jumbled thought bubble above his head, from which have fallen arrows and the word “Thanks”]

Transcription:

May 21, 2016

Mr. Jonathan Fanton, President
Mr. Don M. Randel, Chairman of the Board
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Messrs. Fanton and Randel:

It is with deep gratitude that I accept your invitation to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a 2016 Fellow. I am honored and humbled to be counted among the storied leaders, scholars, and activists who make up the Academy’s rich history.

Your mission, though crafted more than two hundred and thirty-six years ago, resonates just as strongly today—to champion scholarship, civil dialogue, and useful knowledge, I gladly take up the charge to help promote this cause.

Again, many thanks for this special opportunity. I look forward to attending the induction ceremony in October.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Mellody Hobson
President

Transcription:

Drs. Randel and Fanton
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996
USA

3 May 2017

Dear Drs. Randel and Fanton,

I am greatly honoured to be elected a member of such an august body as the American Academy for [sic] the Arts and Sciences. As the ancient Egyptians would say:

[a series of Egyptian hieroglyphs, under which the translation is provided by the author]

(My heart is joyful. I am delighted to be one who is among the company of the great ones of knowledge).

(particularly Benjamin Franklin, a great hero of mine] [sic].

I very much look forward to the ceremony in October, and to meeting you then.

Yours sincerely

[signed]

Salima Ikram
Distinguished University Professor

Transcription:

May 8, 2018

Nancy C Drews [sic], Chair of the Board
Jonathan F. Fanton, President
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1996
USA

Dear Dr. Drews [sic] and Dr. Fanton:

Many thanks for your letter of April 16, 2018 informing me about my election as member [sic] of the Academy. With great humility, I accept this honor from my peers and colleagues. I look forward to participating in the induction ceremony at the House of the Academy in October. I am excited to work with fellow members to continue the Academy’s long tradition of working collaboratively to make this world a better place for all creatures small and mighty.

My receipt of your letter inadvertently led to a difficult moment. How to convey the news to my mother, who is 77 and lives on a modest farm in rural western Kenya? Unable to find an easy way to explain what this honor meant, I called my brother Kity and asked him to convey the news. I received the following text from Mum: “Congratulations on your new appointment as President. God bless the work of your hands.” Alarmed, I immediately called her to explain that I had not been elected president of the United States but honored by my peers for my research that has fostered greater appreciation for the contributions of Kenyan and Swahili peoples to global history.

Only in this great land, the United States, can a son of an illiterate Kenyan woman serve alongside the great minds who have tirelessly worked with honor and dignity to improve the human condition. I look forward to joining my colleagues to continuing the long tradition of service.

Sincerely Yours,

[signed]

Chapurukha M. Kusimba

CC: Professor Joyce Marcus
Professor Charles Stanish

Transcription:

[images of people appear in the text below]

My Diverse Universe accepts AAAS Membership

[the following text in a variety of fonts and sizes appear in two separate text blocks, side by side]

[left block]

I am but one of a diverse universe (un)likely not an inverse 
for both cannot concurrently be. And yet, that’s the human lot 
-what we in our community seem to naturally see, a [emphasis] LOT [end emphasis] you & ~ me 
everything black or white; all shades of grey bleached away, 
Another (an other they there ere) who never is you and thus never is right 
by ego-centric definitional smite [s(might)], reinforced by unconscious
repetition repetition rep rep rep

hep to [emphasis] SHUN [end emphasis] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [LeavingNoroom4Compromise]

[emphasis] 2 Sympathize [end emphasis], 2 Empathize,
4 Wisdom (and 22 knowledge)
To acknowledge the other as HU(wo)MAN too – HUMANEly but~ vainly ~you 
And, to bare one’s soul, which will take its [underline] will [end underline] toll* [illegible markings]
But is worth the aches & pains, worth the (fake it 'til you make it) gains
to take on that OTHER (OH [italics] the [end italics] HER; OH perhaps there go I) role; 
roll along – that’s the long and the short of it 
even if what mindbrains see is a [you ~ me] bit, 
don't instinctively <<<one> vs <the other>>> pit. 
Identical an impossible physicality 
with even DNA subject to expression by epigenetic locality.

[right block]

[italics] i [end italics] [sic] am but 1 of a diverse universe
some non-linear sum learning yearning, probabilistically convolving 
in a milieu of diverse U-u-u-u-u’s opportunistically evolving 
using my mμse to extend my mind beyond my body represented, augmented, and real 
to seal entry into a s(elect) academy 
of writers, artists, dancers, CEOs, and composers, 
poets, judges and legalistic deposers, 
Nonprofit heads, diplomats, and musicians, 
past U.S. presidents, and visionary politicians, 
business(wo)&men, scientists and various academicians, 
physicians, clinicians, and others - unique and of note 
each LinkedIn to the villages it takes to make a nominee 
surrounded by boats teeming with family, friends and a (professional) community 
along side, behind (got your back), in stride, inside 
Each a part(y) to the you who in the objective I could an other me be.
At once both t([italics]here[end italics]) t([italics]here[end italics]) [underline] t(here) t(here). [end underline]

[signed]

[Marta Kutas]

2018

  
Transcription:

[text accompanies several self-portrait sketches of the author slowly transforming into a Fred Astaire-style dancer in black top hat and tails]

May 12, 2014

To The American Academy of Arts and Sciences,

Um –

Wait a minute.

I’m figuring out what to say.

Important to strike the right note.

Grateful. But not gushing.

As a member of Arts and Letters and [emphasis] now [end emphasis] Arts and Sciences, I’ve attained too much stature to gush.

But a formal or dry or witty response would not reflect my true feelings.

At times like this, I look for answers from my mentor: Mr. Astaire.

Hip! Hooray! I’m glad to be, Elected to the Academy – In gratitude, I take a chance, And express my thanks –

In dance! Dance! Dance!

Bless you,

Jules Feiffer

Transcription:

May 12, 2019

Dear Chair Andrews and President Oxtoby,

Thank you for your kind letter announcing my election to the Academy. I am pleased to accept and look forward to seeing you at the induction ceremony in October.

My only concern is that you may have sent the announcement letter to me by mistake, as I certainly do not belong in the pantheon of distinguished members listed in your letter. If it was a mistake, please do not hesitate to rescind the letter. I have some experience in dealing with this kind of disappointment

Sincerely,

Merrick Garland

Transcription:

American Academy of Arts and Sciences
130 Irving St., Cambridge, MA 02138-1996

May 17, 2019

Dear Drs. Nancy C. Andrews and David W. Oxtoby,

I am thrilled to accept membership in the AAA&S, and I would be honored to attend the 2019 Induction in October. While this election honors my accomplishments in biomedical research, it also reflects a much larger collective effort by scores of talented collaborators and trainees with whom I have worked with over the last three decades.

Those who devote their lives to creative pursuits are often inspired by a singular event. Mine came from my great-grandfather, whose [emphasis] 1890 Bausch & Lomb microscope [end emphasis], abandoned in a closet after being shipped west from Worcester Massachusetts, came into my possession when I was 10 years old. I picked it up and began exploring the biological world, never to stop. But sporadic events are not enough to support a lifetime of curiosity and discovery. That support would come via the [emphasis] State of California [end emphasis] through an amazing and accessible public education system, and through the [emphasis] National Institutes of Health [end emphasis], which has supported curiosity-based discovery research as an engine for improving our health and well-being. Unwavering support also came from my husband, family, and mentors who provided the personal strength and resiliency needed to overcome moments of disappointment, insecurity, and self-doubt.

I thoroughly enjoy my life as a scientist and continue to be addicted to the rare experimental successes sprinkled among the many failures inherent in the scientific process. I look forward to advancing the stated mission of the Academy and leveraging this award to increase [emphasis] diversity and inclusion [end emphasis] in our nation’s STEM enterprise. Below, I share two congratulatory notes written by my mother and father (92/94 yrs old) and my grand-niece (10 yrs old) – they are special.

[three images, left to right: handwritten note from author’s parents; black and white photo of 1890 Bausch & Lomb microscope; handwritten note to author from grand-niece]

Cordially,
Holly A. Ingraham, Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
Director UCSF IRACDA NIGMS Program to Promote Diversity
Herzstein Distinguished Investigator of Molecular Physiology

[signed]

Transcription:

October 13, 2020

Nancy C. Andrews, Chair
David W. Oxtoby, President
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby,

My father, Albert V. Baez, was a physicist who, among other contributions to society, co-invented the X-ray microscope. He was saddled with a wife and three girls, none of whom had any leanings whatsoever towards academia. He was, however, deeply appreciative of the arts.

And though he lamented the fact that he had not produced one offspring who would finish college, he understood that singing and painting and dancing, arts in which his daughters all excelled, have an important role in this world.

He was also an anti-war activist, a pacifist, and a Quaker, clearly having a profound influence in my own social conscience and action.

All of this is to say that, 1) Perhaps it is he who truly earned this distinction and honor from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences! And 2) I accept it most gratefully with what I know would have been his blessings.

Thank you so much!

Yours,

[signed]

Joan Baez

Transcription:

May 4, 2020

Nancy C. Andrews
David W. Oxtoby
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby:

Thank you for the honor of being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I gratefully and humbly accept your invitation to join this esteemed institution. When I first read your email and reflected on the prior and current members of the Academy, a painting my husband and I purchased while traveling in South Africa, jumped to mind. Painted by the Congolese artists Alda and Bikis, “Mandela Freedom Day Celebration” depicts the joy of the South African people rejoicing on the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison. To me the painting also represents a community celebrating their success in advancing the common good against great adversity. When I gaze at this painting, I am filled with hope. I hope that in the future, the members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences will celebrate with all the world many new successes in the advancement of the common good including minimizing the impact of pandemics on our global community.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Trisha N. Davis
Professor and Chair
Earl W. Davie/Zymogenetics Endowed Chair

[detail of painting]
“Mandela Freedom Day Celebration” Artist: Alda and Bikis (close up)

Transcription:

Letter Number: M.O.S 2020/ 53
Date: April 29, 2020

Dear Chair of the Board Andrews and President Oxtoby

Your moving letter inviting me to join an extraordinary constellation of brilliant minds and souls both past and present in your Academy of Arts & Sciences “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people” touched me deeply, as it would ordinarily have done in any circumstance. Receiving it in the midst of a global pandemic that has shut me together with a plurality of mankind in the severest lockdown experienced in living memory literally took my breath away.

Isolated, as we are, in identical small cubicles that thread a similar path across the globe as we try to manage our new communal habits and to pursue our careers in virtual modes, we are reminded every day of the fragility of our very existence on this wounded planet.

This novel experience heightens our awareness - or should- of an inconvertible fact that has sealed its valediction throughout the centuries. The only way for all of us to find light at the end of this, or any other dark tunnel that may plague us in the future in a similar manner, is to forge a closer bond between nations, and to incite all resolute men and women of commitment, talent and honor to work together for the advancement of mankind, regardless of their race, creed or origin. Isolation siren calls that often rise in such troubled times notwithstanding, international solidarity, shared values, and the individual commitment to universal service remain a prerequisite condition for our own survival.

I have been remarkably lucky in witnessing what such a spirit can achieve in a small country that fought the odds in record time to build a knowledge-based economy founded on tolerance and indebted to a vast network of international partnerships and cultural exchanges. Rising on the moving sands of a weak, underdeveloped, and threatened region of the world, investing heavily in education and culture, the United Arab Emirates was able in fifty years to build from scratch a forward looking society in which two hundred different nationalities work harmoniously together to bring prosperity, progress and social security at home and to extend a hand of help and succor wherever needed in the world. A trajectory that was sealed in the historic “Document of Human Fraternity” signed by His Holiness Pope Francis and the Imam of Al Azhar in Abu Dhabi on the 4th February 2019.

It is therefore an honor and a great pleasure for me to accept your invitation in all humility. I pray and hope that I can help in any way I can in fulfilling the mission you have been set up to carry out. Quoting the words of 13th century Persian mystic Jalal ad-Din Rumi: “Don’t you know yet! It is your light that lights the worlds”.

Sincerely

[signed]

Zaki Nusseibeh
Minister of State

Transcription:

April 28, 2020

Nancy C. Andrews, Chair of the Board
David W. Oxtoby, President
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Chairperson Andrews and President Oxtoby:

I am immensely pleased to have been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. I write to enthusiastically accept membership.

In receiving this honor, I reflect on the work of fellow Academy member, Paula J. Giddings. In her first book, When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America, Giddings quotes Anna Julia Cooper, who was born into slavery and went on to become one of the first Black women to earn a PhD. Speaking with bold authority, Cooper remarked that when and where Black women enter, “the whole…race enters with me.”

I feel this privilege and this responsibility to bring other Black people—especially Black women— into the Academy with me as I enter. In particular, I walk in the paths forged by Ida B. Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, and my mother. Ida B. Wells’ painstaking empirical documentation of the lynching of Black people at the turn of the 20th century has offered me a powerful model for using knowledge to address society’s injustices. Zora Neale Hurston’s ethnographic fieldwork informed her lyrical novels, short stories, plays, and essays, which advanced the dignity and showed the virtuosity of everyday Black folks doing everyday things. Her work inspired me to be a qualitative sociologist. And I bring my mother, Marva Parks Pattillo. Born and raised in Jim Crow New Orleans, my mother graduated from college at 19 years old and headed to New York City for graduate studies in mathematics. I marvel at her courage and determination. I have been guided by her example of excellence my entire life.

Bringing these scholars with me as I enter recognizes the erasures of the past and charts what I hope to be a more inclusive and just future. The Class of 2020 marks the election of the first Black women to the Sociology, Demography, and Geography Section of the Academy, despite generations of Black women’s genius that have come before us. I honor those who have been overlooked, and I look forward to celebrating the contributions of women and people of color in my field for decades to come. Because, as Zora Neale Hurston pronounced, with her characteristic wit and sass, “How can any deny themselves the pleasure of [our] company? It’s beyond me.” And, so, we enter.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Mary Pattillo
Harold Washington Professor of Sociology and African American Studies

Transcription:

May 3, 2021

Nancy C. Andrews: Chair of the Board 
David W. Oxtoby: President 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
136 Irving Street 
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Dr. Nancy C. Andrews and Dr. David W. Oxtoby:

I confess that I read and reread your letter announcing my election to the Academy before writing this heartfelt letter of acceptance. No doubt others have described the tapestry of elated emotions that they felt upon receipt of your surprise notification. This letter of acceptance is possible only through the early support and vision of my mentor Professor William Labov, who was the 2020 recipient of the Talcott Parsons Prize; his singular effort, attention, and care opened the door to a life of science in academia that was beyond my capacity to imagine.

I was attracted to his research because he was the first linguist to debunk racist stereotypes about Black speech. Moreover, he did so with empirical precision that demonstrated how linguistic science could be utilized to dispel pervasive myths about the inherent intellectual inferiority of slave descendants. Due substantially to his example, I have been able to repeatedly use the tools of my science to help uplift speakers of minority dialects, in classrooms, on the job, and as falsely accused murder suspects in courts of law. Labov blazed new methodological trails that have allowed me to help others who could not help themselves. Thanks, in large measure, to your election I will be able to expand my mission to promote equality by advancing linguistic human rights worldwide, /ænd ɑɪ wɪl ridʌbl mɑɪ kəmɪtmənt tu du soʊ ɪn ˈɔrdər tu truli bi ˈwɜrði ʌv ðis ɛksɛpʃənl ˈɒnər/. [ [italicized] and I will redouble my commitment to do so in order to truly be worthy of this exceptional honor [end italicized] ].

/rispɛktfəli səbmɪtɪd/
[ [italicized] Respectfully submitted [end italicized] ]

[signed]

/dʒɒn ˈbɔ/
[ [italicized] John Baugh [end italicized] ]

Transcription:

May 17, 2021

Nancy Andrews, Chair of the Board 
David Oxtoby, President 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
136 Irving Street 
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby,

It is with immense pleasure and gratitude that I accept your invitation to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. As a physicist, I’m especially excited to contribute to the academy’s excellent work exploring complex problems and searching for solutions that can help all members of society. I became a physicist because it excited me to understand how forces and particles led to common phenomena, such as friction and rainbows. Now, I’m interested in trying to understand how interactions of “simple” particles can yield complex behavior. I would love to extend this analogy to humans and their interactions, but unfortunately it’s clear that the problems facing our world extend beyond basic physics. Still, I hold to the idea that it’s worth trying to find solutions to even the most complex problems in society.

Of course, physics itself is not separate from society, for better and worse. As one of the very few black woman physicists, I am constantly aware of the cultural and structural issues that prevent many from entering or thriving in my field. I’ve appended a photo of Edward Bouchet, 1876 PhD in physics at Yale, the first African-American to earn a PhD from any American University. Bouchet achieved in my own field of condensed matter physics, yet was unable to attain a university job because of his race. People like Bouchet paved my way, but his experience also shows that it is not enough to stand on the shoulders of giants – we need to link arms so that the next giants can stand on our shoulders. I am thrilled to join an academy that works toward this goal.

Sincerely yours,

[signed]

Nadya Mason

[On the right is an embedded black and white photograph of Edward Bouchet as a young graduate student, with the caption “Edward Bouchet / Physics PhD 1876” as provided by the author]

Transcription:

November 12, 2021

Dr. Nancy C. Andrews
Dr. David W. Oxtoby
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby,

As a young girl growing up in rural Mississippi in the apartheid South, I never could have dreamed of being recognized and honored by such a prestigious institution. I remember vividly, around four or five years old, watching my grandmother boiling clothes and sheets in a huge cast iron pot. As she pulled the steaming garments from the water to hang on the line, she said to me, “Oprah Gail, you better watch me careful now because one day you’ll have to do this for yourself.” “Yes, ma’am,” I said, nodding dutifully, but I knew inside myself that would not be my life. While I didn’t understand then all that my life would become, I could feel a call to something more.

Through all the years of The Oprah Winfrey Show, speaking with people around the world during 4,561 shows, my intention was always to show people the “more” of who they could be. Education, for me, has always represented that “more,” an open door to a better life. Founding a leadership academy for girls in South Africa and providing countless support to institutions and organizations throughout the world, including an ongoing scholarship program for the men of Morehouse College, has been a fulfillment of purpose. A way to give back “more” to those who might otherwise not be given the chance.

It is with deep appreciation that I welcome the opportunity to further the mission of this esteemed organization. I accept the honor of being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In Gratitude,

[signed Oprah Winfrey]

Transcription:

Dresden, 28-Dec-21

American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
David W. Oxtoby, President 
Nancy C. Andrews 
Chair of the Board

Dear President Mr. Oxtoby, 
Dear Chair of the Board Mrs. Andrews,

I am honored and delighted that I have been elected as a new member of the Academy. This is an incredible honor, but also gives me the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of the scientific thinking in our society. Especially during these times of a viral pandemic, we have witnessed the necessity of fostering the dialogue between scientists and the public, raising awareness of the impact of scientific research among people. Scientists cannot work in isolation, they need to share their ideas with other communities of intellectuals. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an excellent forum for such a dialogue. I’ve always believed that artists and scientists must learn from each other about how to view the world we live in. I expressed this concept in the book Gentle Bridges: Architecture, Art and Science: “Every scientist looks at a scientific problem from his or her angle, like an artist. We interpret how molecules and cells interact. In this respect, it is important to consider that the act of representing life at this scale not only describes but, in a way, within the boundaries of good scientific practice, ‘creates an object’.” When describing a biological process, a structure or a molecule, we experience different perceptions, depending on the tools, methods or techniques we chose, just as we have diverse perceptions while looking at a painting, or other artistic expressions in general. “The pictures we produce through this variety of approaches reflect our individual way to perceive and communicate what is, ultimately, the brilliance of life. It is our hope that the art, in this double sense, contained in these beautiful and powerful mechanisms of nature will also be approached, explored, and questioned by non-scientists.” Such a concept is visually symbolized in the logo of my group, which I am pleased to share with you in this letter.

Through my science I hope to contribute to the Academy, in an effort to understand the mechanisms of life while uncovering and sharing its beauty and grace.

May the Academy instill wisdom in this troubled society that yet again needs enlightenment.

Yours sincerely

[signed]

Marino Zerial

[The majority of the text centers around the aforementioned logo, a circular mosaic filled with multicolor tiles]

[The original letter was written in emoji.]

Transcription:

American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Norton’s Woods
Cambridge, MA  02138

Re: Offer of Membership in the AAAS

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am in receipt of your offer of admission for me to join the fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I am surprised, humbled, and grateful.

I consider it a cause for great celebration and happiness.

I am pleased to accept your offer, and hope to contribute as much as I know I will learn from the association.

Most Sincerely,

Jonathan Zittrain

 
Transcription:

April 28, 2022

Dear Ms. Andrews and Mr. Oxtoby,

I stepped out onto my front porch this afternoon and found a thin, pristine envelope in my mail basket. In it was your letter informing me of my election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Because I was not expecting it, the world seemed to hold its breath for a
moment, as I processed what I held in my hands.

I thought of how, at a very young age, I felt my destiny was to be an actor. Not a star. Not a celebrity. Not even what is now known as an influencer, but an [italics] actor [end italics]—an artist whose craft affords them the privilege of stepping into someone else’s shoes and looking at the world through someone else’s eyes. Acting, once described by Katherine Hepburn as--“this terrible profession, this terrifying profession”—has constantly tested my resolve and resilience, and still does to this day. At the same time, my craft has taught me the meaning of unconditional love, empathy, and forgiveness, on the way to finding the common humanity I share, with each character I have played, no matter how they are judged by the world.

And standing on my porch today, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for Edward O. Wilson, George B. Schaller, and Alan Rabinowitz, who I was blessed to call my friends and teachers. They gave me windows into the natural world and fed my curiosity about the interconnectivity of all life on this planet. They helped me put Homo Sapiens in perspective, as we move further into the Anthropocene, grievously continuing to put our planet in peril.

Thinking of all those who have helped me on my journey, I gratefully and humbly accept my membership in the Academy, while in awe of its Founders and members—past and present. I congratulate those who were elected alongside me this year and look forward to meeting them and other fellow members and learning from as many as possible, in the years to come.

Thank you.

With best wishes,

[signed]

Glenn Close

Transcription:

May 28, 2022

Dear Chair Andrews and President Oxtoby,

I am writing to gratefully accept your invitation to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

It is a great honor, evidenced by the fact that I have just completed my 79th letter of thanks to friends and colleagues who have written to offer their congratulations. Admittedly, one colleague wrote to say he was unaware of any accomplishments of mine in the arts. I was pleased to share with him an early self-portrait, one that I hope may now be appreciated should this replica grace your walls.

[Embedded color image of self portrait of the author as a child]

I look forward to the reception next year and the opportunity to experience the Academy’s traditions in celebrating human endeavors in all fields of inquiry and expression.

With gratitude,

[signed]

Richard Ivry
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of California, Berkeley

Transcription:

Dear Nancy and David,

This is a lovely surprise. I’m delighted to accept your invitation, and I’m eager to participate among this distinguished group who is advancing the public good.

I love working on things in need of “fixing”. One of my fondest childhood memories is watching plumbers and electricians at work. They were heroes who performed magic around the house—summoning invisible electric currents, making water run with a wrench and sleight of hand. It was absolutely fascinating to watch, and the source of my inspiration to pursue science and invention, and to change things in need of fixing.

I never could have imagined that this joy would lead me to be elected into the Academy. One of my greatest areas of focus now is to give back to the next generation. I believe that every person—no matter who they are or where they are—can be an inventor. And I hope that many, like me, will come to find their own source of inspiration—even in the most unexpected places!

I look forward to collaborating with Academy members soon.

Sincerely,

Marian Croak

Transcription:

April 29, 2022

Nancy C. Andrews
David W. Oxtoby
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby:

I am beyond thrilled and profoundly humbled to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Upon receipt of your letter, I’m mindful of the contributions of those committed to the life of the mind. The scientists, artists, and thinkers who rush not to easy answers but to sustained reflection; the coalition of those who push not for quick affirmations but instead probe the doubts that trouble science; the union of seekers who skip the easy succor of soundbites fueling a 24-hour news cycle and dwell instead over the problems that plague our species and threaten our planet; the alliance of those who resist the basic binary of enemies and allies and foster instead empathy and compassion amongst all humankind. In short, these are the brave ones providing bold leadership in a time when our society needs it so desperately. I am honored to be counted among their esteemed company.

I’m reminded yet again of the prolific African American writer and theologian Howard Thurman, whose words have often been my guide:
[italicized] Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.
Despite the dullness and barrenness of the days that pass, if I search with due diligence, I can always find a deposit left by some former radiance. [end italicized]
This moment, my election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, will forever be a deposit of radiance in my own commitment to the life of the mind.

False modesty does not befit such an occasion. I’ve been elected to this august body, I presume, because I’ve written and edited some books and served in various leadership positions at institutions of higher learning. I write today as the President of The New School, a position I began during the onset of a once in a millennium pandemic. I’d also like to think I’ve been elected for my service as a mentor and example of the limitless potential within each of us, regardless of our race, economic background, or sexual identity.

It is to the multitudes of America, those so often left out of the pursuit of learning, that I feel most responsible and will remain forever resolute. For these responsibilities, Thurman instructs us, foster and nurture our resolve: 
[italicized] Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed. [end italicized]

I am honored to accept membership to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Onward and upward,

[signed]

Dwight A. McBride, PhD
President & University Professor