Part 1 - The Institute Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

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were place3 before the Bwrd for action, friendly consent and cooperation
would probably heve marked this important step, which succeeding genera-
tions at the fnstitute.have appreciated so richly.
The Cornittee closed its purchases in 1936, acqutring 265 acres
of field, woodlsnd and meadow, a very small part of which was relatively
elevated and bordered on Fkrcer Street. That Mr. &ass, a city man, had
suddenly come to appreciate acrezge gua acretge wzs shown when he reported
that "the land owned by Princeton University and the Institute now cam-
prised about 3,000 acresmm The total cost of all the parcels, of the
remodeling of 69 Alexander Street, rephiring Olden &nor and renov~ting
two tenant houses on the Fzm, and of incidental expenses such as surveys,
taxes, fees, etc., vat ~235,694.~~ The Hale and the Battle Park tracts --
these added straws which tested the Founders' charity -- lay to the west
of the Farm, and included a part of the historic battlefield vhcre the
troops of Generals Washington ar.d Mercer routed General ~ornballis from
Princeton a few days after the crossing of the Delaware and the capture
of Trenton.
That Mr. Maass was well aware of the disfavor In which the
Cormnittee was held seems to be evfdent in en oblique allusL!on fn his
report to the costs of administration, evidently aimed at the Director.
He said:
In principle we adhere strictly to the original decision of
the Bsrd that as small a part of our resources as is possi-
ble should be invested in or spent on buildings and grounds
snd as large a portion as is possible should be resexved for
that part which has within a feu years already mde the Insti-
tute distinguished: namely, sdeqwte salaries,and retiring
allowances for men of...talent and genius. This principle
applies not only to the question of real estate and buildings
but admintstsetfon, in respect to which precisely the sam
policy has been purrued.33
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