Text: Anonymous, “Poe and the Hall of Fame,” The Sun (New York, NY), vol. LXXVII, no. 165, February 12, 1910, p. 5, col. 5

[page 5, column 5:]

POE AND THE HALL OF FAME

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ANOTHER EFFORT THIS YEAR TO GET A TABLET FOR HIM.

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Senate of the Hall Meets to Fill roles — Ex-President Elliot Again on the Board — Chancellor MacCracken on Fame's Requirements — Candidates.

The Senate of the Hall of Fame of New York University held a meeting at the a building of the university at Washington Square yesterday afternoon to All several vacancies in the electorate. Chancellor MacCracken presided.

When Charles W. Eliot resigned as president of Harvard he lost his place on the senate board, but yesterday he was reappointed as an author and scientific man, and President Lowell took a place as college president. President C. A. Duniway of Montana University and President Harry P. Judson of Chicago University also joined the senate.

Beginning on May 1 the task of picking a few more names for tablets in the Hall of Fame will begin, and the old fight to have the name of Edgar Allan Poe is likely to be gone over again. Richard Watson Gilder was one of Poe's stanchest [[staunchest]] admirers in the former fight and Grover Cleveland opposed the election. The fight will be taken up this time by the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences. of which Prof. Arthur E. Lamb of New York University and Dr. Griffen of the Botanical Gardens are moving spirits.

Poe's name received forty-two votes for fame the last time, fifty being necessary to election. His name placed nomination yesterday. There are twenty vacancies to be filled among famous Americans native birth, four of famous Americans of foreign birth and nine vacancies of famous women. Among the vacancies for women, two names are almost sure of places. They are Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frances Willard. Those who were elected to the Hall of Fame in 1905, the last election, and the number of their votes in the senate were:

Famous Americans of native birth — John Quincy Adams, 60; James Russell Lowell, 39; William Tecumseh Sherman, Madison, 506; John Greenleaf Whittier, 53. Famous Americans of foreign birth — Alexander Hamilton, 58; Louis Agassiz, 83; John Paul Jones, 55. The famous American women were: Mary 59; Emma Willard, 50; Maria Mitchell, 48.

At the time of these elections there were only 95 members in the senate and forty-eight was sufficient for election.

There are about one hundred names left over from 1905, which are still eligible and which may be voted upon.

After passing a resolution of appreciation of Edmund Clarence Stedman's work for the Hall of Fame senate adjourned until October, when the elections will be announced.

Chancellor MacCracker gave out a statement after the senate meeting was over, saying:

“The plan suggested by the late Edmund Clarence Stedman, one of the electors, for a preliminary ballot in August, to be followed by discussion of names till the final ballot on or before October, has not been approved by more than one-fourth of the electors. The chief objections are that it is not needed, because the ballot of 1905 is in part a nominating ballot for 1910 in regard to all famous Americans save those whose lives were ended between 1995 and 1900.

“The fact is overlooked by many that the 100 electors are not to name men who ought to be famous, but they are first to make up a roll, each for himself, of Americans who are already famous in the accepted sense of famous.

“The senate in submitting nominations does not assert that any name submitted is famous, but leaves this point, to the electors. who must. determine, each for himself, what name is much talked of over the continent for great achievements. The Hall of Fame is intended simply to record the general judgment of intelligent Americans at the present time. It does not try to anticipate less the judgment of the year 2000. Still does it try, as few mistakenly sincere writers charge against it, to usurp an office that is reserved for heaven and the day of final judgment.

“The constitution contemplates only the adding of from five to ten names each quinquennium. It in thought that the 100 electors will not fail to’ agree upon at least that number the present year.”