Part 1 - The Institute Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

joint basis. The Departrrrent agreedoW) The discussion of building the
School of &thematics appeared to be closed with Flexner's letter.
On the 10th November, the fzculty gathered at 69 Alexzndes
Street in the evening, and wlked to Princeton Inn in a body to present
a mall gift of sen~irantal velue to the Director, who w~s about to have
his seventieth birthday. The origin of the idea seems to hEve been in
the humanistic group. The Director wzs deeply touched, and expxessed
his appreciation next morning in a letter to Veblen in which he sought
to heal piist wounds, znd te re-estzblish their reletions on a friendly
footing, 45
Eerly in December, however, Veblen's patience with conditions
at Fine lhT1 broke again when he le~rned that off-street parking permits
must be obtained by the faculty members of both institutions to admit
them to the limited spzee outside Fine and Palmer Halls. Yeblen f o ~ d
it derr~ankng to have to esk Professor %the for the permit, and resented
the exclusion of the Institute's members frm the privilege. Patiently
Flexner pointed out that members might park on the streets, OX walk to
Fine Hall, which afforded the School of Hathe~tics many valuable advant-
ages:
the use of the Library, and jenitos service, telephone ser-
vice, and luxurious quarters, and what is more important than
all of these.,,the ssy opportunity for conference, coopera-
tian, and contact with other men interested in mthematica
and mathematical physics,
We must make a choice -- to continue our cooperatfon with
Princeton, ignoring everything that is not of prim importance,
or set up shop alone. In the fonner case, we shall hop@ to develop a great institution; in the latter event, we shall
have a small om, and the first subject to suffer would be
m a t u t ics.46