The Society's Birthday Party He then took the occasion to congratulate the delightedly surprised Society on having just received a rare and longed-for gift—one which had always been wanting to supplement its far- famed collection of John James Audubon's original watercolors of American birds: a complete and perfectly preserved set of the Elephant Folio edition of his Birds of America (published in Edinburgh and London, 1826-1836), bound in four sumptuous volumes for the Duke of Newcastle, together with the five- volume companion set of Audubon's Ornithological Biography, or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1831-1839)! Appraised at $30,000, this magnificent gift had been presented on November 12, 1954, by Mrs. Patricia R. Campbell of New York and Mrs. Gratia R. Laiser of Palm Beach, Florida, in the name of and as a memorial to their mother, the late Mrs. Gratia Houghton Rinehart, who had purchased the Folios in 1937 from the Duke of Newcastle. The Society registered its delight and gratitude with prolonged hearty applause. And the Board of Trustees, at its meeting on November 24th, voted its thanks to the generous donors by electing both of them Patrons of the Society. Dr. Kimball now turned to our President, Dr. Fenwick Beekman, who, despite the ill-health which had compelled him to request a six-months' leave of absence, gallantly attended in order to address the Society personally on this momentous occasion. Before introducing him as a speaker, Dr. Kimball performed the pleasant duty of presenting to President Beekman the Society's Gold Medal for Distinguished Service which his grateful colleagues on the Board had awarded him with the following citation: Twenty years ago there was instituted a Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to The New-York Historical Society. This Medal has been awarded previously to three Presidents of the Society: Samuel Verplanck Hoffman (1903-1912), John Abeel Weekes (1913-1939), and George Albert Zabriskie (1939-1947); and today we honor President Fenwick Beekman—eminent surgeon who served with distinction in the United States Army Medical Corps in the First World War with 93