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Week before last I was at a dinner and I heard Secretary work give a perfectly wonderful speech and in the course of it he gave this quote and I spoke to him later and I borrowed it because I think it's apples it for today it's very short there is no past that we can bring back to us by the longing for it there is only an eternally new now that builds itself and creates itself out of the elements of the past as the past withdraws the true desire to bring the past back to us must always be productive and creative something new and something better to me these words appear in my eyes symbolize the entire occasion. That we celebrate today this very theater and what art is more more typifies all the performing arts and the theater which is so inclusive this very theater and graced as it is by the museum which is above us on the sides of us and all around of all around us seems to me symbolically our first because one of the founding fathers principal founding fathers of Lincoln Center has always believed steadfastly in the in the importance of bringing education as part of the performing arts to Lincoln Center and I know that he will agree with me that no building that we have dedicated or will dedicated can exceed in importance this library museum of the performing arts. Ladies and gentlemen I have the privilege and it is always a privilege to me of presenting the chairman of the board of Lincoln Center Mr John D. Rockefeller the third Destructo. I. Was just a showman and Wagner. To Chapman to free haven they just gentleman this is a very happy occasion for all of us at Lincoln Center it marks another milestone in the sand as progress towards its objective of full and rounded service to the creators performers students and audiences of the arts the library and museum is the fourth unit of Lincoln Center to open but the first that represents the center's dedication to education as well as performance Villa money call the New York state the environment theater have established Lincoln Center as a stage for the finest in the performing arts this building and the Juilliard School now rising across sixty fifth Street a tangible expressions of our hope that the center will also be an important instrument for education and creative scholarship. Ten years have passed since the formation of the exploratory committee for a musical arts center who study led to the incorporation of Lincoln Center one of our earliest and most important decisions was to include education in the arts as an integral part of the proposed center. We were intrigued also by the idea of a museum devoted to the performing arts as a means of stimulating both creativity and wider public interest. The need for expert management of this unique museum and the obvious value of the library to the educational function led us to consider the New York Public Library with its outstanding collections in music drama and dance we invited the library to join Lincoln Center as a constituent and to develop and operate here a library museum of the performing arts a new institution like no other in the world our invitation was warmly received but this great library possesses more than outstanding collections it is also endowed with citizen leaders sensitive to the changing needs of our modern community and alert to new opportunities to serve the public they immediately saw the value and the challenge of a library and museum to operate in close connection with the premier performing companies who were to be followed to be fellow constituents at Lincoln Center However the library leaders could not accept our invitation without an important condition already hard pressed to finance current needs they could only accept if the funds for construction and maintenance could be forthcoming from other sources. Timely action by our city government allowed this condition to be fulfilled recognizing a situation where an important community need could not be met by private means alone the studio agreed to repurchase the site from Lincoln Center financed the construction of the library and museum. And beyond this provide funds for its expanded operations and its annual maintenance this farsighted action cleared the way for the libraries acceptance that allowed Lincoln Center to proceed with the design and construction of the building we dedicate this morning. All of us to Lincoln Center are grateful to our city officials particularly to man Wagner for taking the steps that allowed this new facility facility to be put to the service of our community the library and museum represents a dramatic example of partnership between government and private resources one that can mean so much to the development of the arts in the United States here is a case where private citizens took initiative and plan and accepted operating responsibility and where government agreed to play a vital supporting role all who are anxious about the future of the institution institutions of the arts in America can find encouragement in the pattern of partnership that this building represents on the private side of the partnership or the years of dedicated effort by the trustees and MINISTER The star of The New York Public Library under the leadership of Gilbert Chapman the board of the library responded with vision and courage to the idea of creating and managing this unique institution. The library's director Edward free hatefully and his associates have managed even while operating the world's largest urban library to green plan and develop this new service the sustained enthusiasm of both trustees and stock their professional confidence competence and steady devotion to the ideals of community service have been an inspiration to those of us who have worked with that. Other private citizens have played an important part in creating this library and museum I think particularly of Shelby Colum Davis who has generously contributed one million dollars This single gift covered costs of construction that were beyond the city's appropriation it was announced last week that the directors of Lincoln Center in grateful recognition of this Gift have designated that the museum they named the Shelby Colum Davis Museum of the performing arts it is appropriate that future generations. Whose lives will be enriched by this museum will be able to identify the individual whose contribution more than any other help to bring it to reality finally our warm thanks and commendation are to be extended to the architects the distinguished of Skidmore Owings and now and particularly to Gordon one shot their building speaks for itself it is smaller than the others at Lincoln Center but in every way they're equal in quality. Not to be forgotten Mr Bowen shots other contributions to the architecture of the center he has been one of the panel of six distinguished American architects who have endeavored to design a center of separate but harmonious buildings worthy to stand before the world as a symbol of our country's regard for the odds Mr Byrne John after has contributed importantly to this historic collaboration for this as well as the handsome Library and Museum he deserves our gratitude today we celebrate not the completion of a new venture but rather its launching we do so with confident expectation that the Library and Museum this unique instrument of service to the arts and the public this temple of education as well as performance this product of partnership between government and private citizens will in the years ahead justify the efforts of all who have brought it to this moment of beginning thank you. I've. Thank you Mr Rockefeller. Reference has been made in most complementary terms by Mr Rockefeller to the two who will speak to us next I would just like to say for those of us who are on the professional side of the sun we have experienced the most remarkable cooperation and understanding from the library professional staff and from the lay leaders as well. In introducing the president of the library to you I must say that he was so quick to understand the complementary nature of the facility that we have here the performing arts world in which we as professionals function we have already been using this library it is a magnificent facility we are really know no bounds to our enthusiasm for it we think it is absolutely unique which means it is one of a kind and I have great pleasure in presenting to you the president of the public library Mr Gilbert Chapman thank. You Emma Rockwell. I think all of you will agree that the library museum has the finest backyard of any. And then a building in the city of New York and here you are in it and we want to thank the directors of the Repertory Theater for allowing us to be here today these days are very exciting ones on the New York Public Library and none could really be more exciting than. Today because this is both the and the beginning we have been working on this project now for over eight years and a great deal of time energy and imagination as going into it and I'm sure that when you see it later in the morning you will agree with me that it is unique there is no other institution in the world like it because you will find here a combination of visual audio and objects placed in such ways that you can enjoy the beauty of all three at one time now this combination has been made possible. By another combination the combination of private and public funds the New York Public Library and the City of New York have in effect combined to create this great site that you will see and it has been done because we have had over the period of many years a fine relationship with the city and with the people who run the city and I cannot help but stand here and thank today Mayor Wagner who I've worked with now for almost his whole term of office and who has been a great help and aid to the New York Public. And there is one other person that I must speak up to and that is John Rockefeller for if it was not for John we would not be standing here today his determination. To create Lincoln Center and to have the library museum in Lincoln Center is the reason that we are here John. Many many people have contributed beyond the call of duty and I would like to refer to a few of them because they have given us things which have enhanced tremendously the can tell of all of the library and museum and the public and private parts. First we have the Vincent asked to Gallery which Mrs asked agave in memory of her husband who both of Mrs Astor and her husband before trustees of the library and John Jacob Astor and matter of fact was the first beneficiary of the library the A.C.L. family has given us what we call audio drums that you will see scouted through the museum and the library which can be used by anybody it in the library who would go to a shelf and pick up a record they want to hear go over sit down in a comfortable chair and listen to that record or if they prefer they can switched over to a program concert that will be constantly going throughout the library. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation made it possible for the library to take collection of almost one hundred thousand records out of the basement and forty second Street to catalog them and make them available so that you can go now to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical archives and sit there and hear practically the full gamut of recorded sound since it started sixty some years ago. He. Had share fun for children gave us the money to make and build the heck sure overall what you will see on the mezzanine in the children's library and which we are sure will make a great contribution to what we can do in the education of the young in the performing arts. And I dition we are now. Having two other wonderful things happen a group of people have organized the Tuscany memorial archives which will have when completed microfilms of all the original musical manuscripts of the great composers before they were altered by a string of conductors over the years it will go back and it is a veil and they will be available to see how they were originally written. Thank And then in our dance collection through the generosity of the wrong Robins we are beginning to assemble and will assemble fail most of the dance so that we will have a very complete collection of dance films which will be available to the public up in the research floor. I hope this is only the beginning and I know that it is only the beginning of the things that will be added to this collection to make it even greater than it is today and thank you very much for listening for her. Thank you very much Mr Chapman in the last few weeks I have read several interview various reporters with the mayor asking him in what way he hoped his administration would be remembered for his remarks were always gracious of course and to me they or exceedingly modest because he never mentioned Lincoln Center because it seems to me that one of the glories of his administration will be is the fact that Lincoln said it was begun during his administration and largely completed during his administration it is a great privilege and honor for us to have him here today as we open this fine new facility to the public mail Wagner thank you for have much to so many and ladies and gentlemen. First of all I mean you know I say that I was interviewed on tape yesterday and I did claim that some here in Lincoln so. Much. And I appreciate you mentioning the fact that some people. Announced my last name Wagner's and as a matter of fact this is a true story the first time I ran for mayor in one nine hundred fifty three friend of mine who was my aunt my outfit in the Army overseas came in from Detroit he said this was absolutely true we got into a taxi capital of white. Have Fielden was during the campaign and he asked a cab driver who was going to vote for and he said I'm going to vote for Wagner and he said why and he said My daughter was married two weeks ago and they played some of his music at home made it. That. Seriously it is a signal for me to participate in this dedication of the library and museum of the performing arts is truly a cultural asset for the enjoyment of all of the people in our city and it is fitting that these marvelous results is on now being opened for public use in appreciation under the administration of the New York Public Library through public and private contributions New Yorkers have made this treasure house of theater music and dance material as possible the city of New York as you know has provided some seven million dollars toward the eight point zero five million dollars total construction cost of the library and museum question of this building and that addition in the appropriated some two hundred eighty seven thousand and capital costs for the land and three hundred thousand for the central mechanical plant including the heating and air conditioning and towards the operation of this facility the city is contributing some one million dollars from the sixty five sixty six expense budget the library includes as we know the general circulation section making the vast collection of materials fully accessible to the public. And a New York Public Library card is the only golden key necessary to open the beauty and creativity of this collection freely to all we are witnessing I believe the opening of a building which is far more than an ordinary library or museum although it has the advantages of traditional libraries and museums. The general library I understand contains some sixty thousand volumes and twelve thousand record albums for the enjoyment of music and drama and this there is a special children's library as we were told and the Hechsher over for children's performances of many sorts there is a scholar's research library containing materials on theater music and dance including as we've heard the Rodgers and Hammerstein archives of recorded sound and through the generous contribution. Of Shelby Cullum Davis and again I express the city's appreciation to Shelby Cullen Davis the exhibits of the various galleries in the building will contain a series of delights to the eye and mind these exhibits range from stage to design to circuses and a fascinating Panorama which in compas is many facets of the performing arts through a creative a ray of display techniques the Lincoln Center complex is surely one of the major achievements in the history of New York City just that it forms one of the greatest cultural developments in the world. And I want to extend once again my warmest congratulations. To Mr Chapman and Mr Free half hour for the major addition which the Library and Museum makes to Lincoln Center and of course New Yorkers old their continuing gratitude to Mr William Schuman The president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and to our good and fine friends to John D. Rockefeller the board chairman and so it is a great pleasure to be here today as mayor and as a humble New Yorker and it will be an even greater pleasure than I know for all of us to make many return visits to the library and museum of the performing arts and I know that millions of New Yorkers share my enthusiasm for and anticipation. Of this opening I thank you for it. Thank you very much Mayor like that.