MR. THOMAS: Thank you, Mr. Best.
We are always glad to welcome groups such as yours. You represent a unique organization to us with interests not in our field. We are a public institution, and are glad to have you here.
I feel there are many things of interest in this museum and in our program to interest you, because you are horticulturists and people interested in the out-of-doors.
This museum is owned by the City of Rochester. By the way, there are only about 12 museums throughout the country that are supported as we are. We get 98 per cent of our funds from the City of Rochester. It is not endowed. It is the people's museum. In the exhibit upstairs are three dimensional models showing the evolution of the Genesee Valley in New York from early times to the present. Here you will see a beautiful panorama of what it looked like two hundred million years ago right where we are sitting and standing now when the seas overlay the area during the Devonian and Silurian times. We have reconstructed the little sea creatures that lived in the rocks in their natural colors.
Another exhibit is the Indian story, primitive man, not just before the white man came, but going back 1500 years. On the top floor you may see how the pioneer man worked here as a woodcutter and running flour mills and how the city came about. The whole story of our region is in the museum.
But more important than these exhibits is what we do through the educational system; adult lectures, and so forth. That is just a little background of our work. I know you have your important business at hand, but I hope you will have a little time to view the exhibits. We want to help you in any way we can. If there is anything we can do, don't fail to ask.
PRESIDENT BEST: Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Most of you met Mr. Wilbur Wright last night out at the park. He is going to make an address of welcome from the City of Rochester and from the parks. Mr. Wright.
MR. WRIGHT: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the City of Rochester and the Park Department, we want to welcome you to The Friendly City. We want you to feel that Rochester has its hand out for a wide open welcome for anything we can do to make you happy while you are here.
The parks are particularly interested in the fact that you have chosen Rochester as your conference city for 1953. The parks, as you know, are a good deal like the museum. They are botanical collections in the heart of the city, the money coming from the city; the taxpayers pay the bill. We have a tremendous botanical collection here, and are known the country over for our lilac and other collections.
We have, in the past two years, appointed Bernard Harkness to take charge of our plant collections, with the title of taxonomist. It took quite a bit of backing to get Civil Service to break down and make such a title. There wasn't such a title in the State of New York, and they couldn't understand why they should give it.