883.927/5
The President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (De Forest) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 20.]
Sir: In behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of Art I transmit to you the following resolutions unanimously adopted by our Board of Trustees today, and trust that in so far as it properly comes within your powers you will seek to obtain, in behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other art museums of the country, the desired action.
Whereas: The Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art have received formal notification from the Service des Antiquités of the Egyptian Government that at the end of the season of 1922–23 the said Government intends to modify article 11 of the Law No. 14 of 1912 relating to the division of antiquities unearthed in Egypt by foreign excavators. The purpose of this modification, as set forth [Page 715] in the communication of the Service, is to revoke the provision under which the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in common with all other organizations excavating in Egypt, has for many years been entitled to and has received one half of the objects found in its excavations, and to give the said Service full power to retain everything thus found that it may desire for its own collections, without any obligatory division whatever, this new arrangement to become operative for the season of 1923–24, and
Whereas: The Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art would not be justified in using its funds for work in Egypt under conditions of such uncertainty as regards results of direct benefit to the Museum, be it
Resolved: That the Director of the Museum be and hereby is instructed to see that the work of its Expedition in Egypt is brought to an end as soon after the new ruling of the Service des Antiquites goes into effect as can be done consistently with the interests of the Museum.
Resolved: That a copy of these preambles and resolutions, with the seal of the Museum affixed, be forwarded to the Director-General of the Service des Antiquités through Mr. Lythgoe.
Yours respectfully,