The Life and Work of Francis Willey Kelsey: Archaeology, Antiquity, and the Arts

5. A National Profile: Kelsey and the Archaeological Institute of America, 1902-12

chapter 5 A National Pro‹le Kelsey and the Archaeological Institute of America, 1902–12  on the national scene, Francis was becoming more visible. In 1907 he represented the University of Rochester at the semicentennial of the Agricultural College in Lansing, where he enjoyed the company of the presidents of the University of Oklahoma and of the University of California at Berkeley.1 In April 1909, at the invitation of Professor W. P. Dickey and President Boatwright, he gave three lectures at Richmond College. He and Isabelle were lavishly entertained.2 At commencement exercises at the University of Rochester in 1910, he was “presented for the degree of Doctor of Laws” and spoke brie›y. In 1911, between meetings in Boston at his publishers and others at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he was one of ‹ve invited speakers at dinner at the Twentieth Century Club.3 On May 10, 1912, he and Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Carroll were guests at a garden party at the White House. 118 1. Diary, May 30, 1907. (As noted in chapter 4, Kelsey’s diaries are among the Francis Willey Kelsey Papers at Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.) 2. Kelsey’s diary makes a point of remarking that his lecture on Pompeian wall painting used “colored slides” for the ‹rst time and that he received an honorarium of three hundred dollars for these lectures (April 12–14, 1909). 3. Diary, March 17, 1911. According to the online organizational history of the club,“Club activities centered around Saturday Luncheons. Begun [in January 1894] as men-only affairs, they were opened to women by 1895. These informal gatherings were meant as forums for the sharing of ideas and viewpoints across the political spectrum” (“Twentieth Century Associa- Although these invitations all testi‹ed to Kelsey’s scholarship and reputation , it was his leadership of the American Philological Association and the Archaeological Institute of America that would bring him national prominence during these years. His energy and vision would become particularly apparent in the context of the AIA. Kelsey’s brief experience as president of the APA and his negotiations with large philanthropic organizations were only the backdrop to his wholehearted involvement in this organization, which absorbed much of his professional attention. the american philological association and the carnegie institution In 1905 Kelsey had been elected vice president of the American Philological Association for 1906,with the expectation that he would become president in 1907. While serving at the same time (incredible as it may seem) as secretary of the AIA,4 Francis, as APA president, went to Washington, D.C., to talk to Carnegie Institution president Robert S. Woodward on February 2, 1907, about the formation of a Classical Department there.The two discussed what projects such a department might undertake, including a “Thesaurus of the Greek Language,” an “Atlas to illustrate the History of Ancient Wall Painting,” a “Corpus of Ancient Figured Lamps,”and a“Collection of materials for the study of the History of Greek and Roman Cults.” They also mentioned a possible budget of thirty thousand dollars a year for ten years; President Woodward was encouraging.5 Kelsey next traveled to Princeton to discuss the matter with Professor Andrew Fleming West,6 and thereafter he contacted other classicists, including James Egbert of Columbia7 and Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of the UniA National Pro‹le • 119 tion Records, 1894–1964,” http://www.masshist.org/‹ndingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0022 [accessed November 24, 2008]). 4. On these dual positions, see chapter 4, “The Archaeological Institute of America and the International Commission of Archaeology and Ethnology.” 5. Diary, February 2, 1907. 6. Andrew Fleming West (1853–1943) graduated from Princeton in 1874, taught Latin at a Cincinnati high school for six years, and returned to Princeton as the Giger Professor of Latin in 1883. The ‹rst dean of the Graduate School at Princeton and dean for twenty-seven years, he was a proli‹c fund-raiser, a founder of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, a president of the American Philological Association, and editor of the important conference volume Value of the Classics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1917). He was also a great ally and friend of Francis Kelsey. 7. James Chidester Egbert Jr. spent his whole academic life at Columbia, as undergraduate , graduate student, professor of Latin, and subsequently dean of the School of Business (1916–32). versity of...