Bryans (then President of Philadelphia Electric Company) was elected on June 20th to fill the vacancy thus caused.
Hostess Committee
The Hostess Committee has continued to earn our gratitude for its interest in and its effective contributions to the Institute's needs. Continuation of the grounds-improvement program was the Committee's chief project for 1951.
Journal of The Franklin Institute
The January 1951 issue of the JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE commemorated its 125th anniversary with a symposium "Science and Tomorrow," in which fourteen eminent scientists discussed possible future developments in fourteen branches of science and technology. The issue received favorable comment throughout the country, with reviews in many United States and foreign technical journals and in the press.
Fifty-four papers were submitted for consideration, of which eleven were published and twenty-seven were added to the list awaiting publication.
The board of reviewers continues to merit the gratitude of the Publications Committee for its painstaking examinations of manuscripts.
Substantial increases in printing and engraving costs made it expedient to raise the subscription price from $8.00 to $10.00 a year, effective with the September issue; and the JOURNAL was thus enabled to continue on the present basis of 112 pages per issue.
Library
On January 1, 1952, the Library contained 139,796 bound volumes, 50,065 pamphlets, and 6976 maps.
Acquisitions in 1951 totalled 3139 bound volumes (986 by gift, 810 by purchase, and 1343 by binding), 511 pamphlets, and 840 maps by gift.
Patent specifications from United States, Great Britain and Switzerland were received regularly to keep our files up-to-date.
Three thousand United States patent specifications, missing from our 1914 to 1919 collection, were secured and presented as a gift by the Philadelphia Patent Law Association.
Another noteworthy gift was the entire library of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.
Several choice rare books were added to the James T. Morris Collection.
Through subscriptions and exchange relations with 476 societies and institutions, over a thousand periodicals are being received currently.
New periodicals were added during 1951, and many war-time issues were also received.