DATE: September 10, 2000

 Database: 1100120

Subject: . Outline of remarks for Clifton Mansion exhibit opening, Baltimore: Cradle of American Philanthropy 9/10/2000; 5 p.m. "Linking the Past and the Present".
 

In his remarks, Dana Stein has set the theme for today's festivities: Altruism can prevail.
 

With the Time Line and the thoughtfully designed and presented exhibit, Sam Hopkins and the Exhibit Committee have done much of my work for me this afternoon and have spared you from a long historical treatise on philanthropy.   I am also grateful to Rob Schoberlein of the Archives staff who not only shared his expertise with the Exhibit Committee, but also lent me the manuscript of his research on benevolent activities in post-Civil War Baltimore which I hope he soon polishes for publication..
 

In many respects,  Baltimore became the cradle of American Philanthropy because of the vision of two men separated by nearly two hundred years,  Cecilius Calvert,  2nd Lord Baltimore,  and George Peabody.  Each interpreted the public good  as a joint venture between government and the governed, with particular emphasis on the duties and responsibilities of  the wealthiest of the governed.  Calvert staked his wealth on the economic future of his colony and he called on wealthy investors to join him, promising them land and religious freedom, and offering them the opportunity to govern with him
 

By 1671 Cecil Calvert, in dynamic tension with the legislative body fostered under the Charter granted to him by King Charles I, had founded a colony in which the urge to 'do good to posterity' was premised on the public assuming responsiblity for the proper administration of legacies, the reclaiming of private lands for public purposes such as schools and public improvements, and the direct involvement of the government in fostering education and economic development.  Calvert could read with considerable satisfaction the truth of  the first printed history of Maryland published by John Ogilby that year.:

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John Ogilby, 1671. from Papenfuse & Coale, Hammond Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland,
 

By the time of his death in November 1869, George Peabody had set examples of giving that would goad his friends and colleagues in Baltimore to become more generous in their benevolence than anywhere else in the United States.  By 1893, as the exhibit points out, Baltimore ranked highest on the list of philanthropic giving with 49% of her population of millionaires joining the ranks of donors to good causes.

It is well known that he gave Baltimore the Peabody Institute, intended to help heal the wounds of a bloody civil war and foster enlightened concensus:

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from Franklin Parker's George Peabody, 1971, p. 158, ca. Oct 15, 1866 opening of the Peabody

It is probably less well known that George Peabody was the catalyst that persuaded Johns Hopkins to use his fortune to endow a university and teaching hospital.  After the following advice from Peabody, Hopkins immediately made out his will and the rest is history.::

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Peabody to Johns Hopkins as quoted by Franklin Parker, p. 166; ca. April 1867 as reported by J. W. Garrett in 1883;
 
 

It is probably even less well known that without the initiative of George Peabody, it is highly unlikely that there would be a State Archives as we know it today.  At the urging of John Henry Alexander (the State paid Engineer famed for his mapping of sites for publicly funded canals and roads) Peabody financed the inventorying and copying of eleven volumes of original records relating to Maryland in English archives, which he gave to the Maryland Historical Society.   He also gave the society what was meant as a permanent publication fund of $20,000,  which resulted in the publication of some 10 volumes of still significant historical studies  and helped inspire  the State to finance the prestigious Archives of Maryland series, a series still being published on the web by the State Archives today.

Through the Peabody Institute he fostered the creation of a magnificient library, now adminstered by the Johns Hopkins University, and a wonderful art collection, now, thanks to Lt. Governor Towsend and her predecessor Lt. Governor Steinberg, owned by the State and adminstered by the State Archives.  Indeed you all are invited to an exhibit of the Treasures of the Peabody that will open next January in the new Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis.
 

George Peabody was first and foremost interested in education in all forms.  There is, in fact, a direct link between George Peabody's vision of learning and the goal of Civicworks to reach out to the poorest and the most under privileged in our society, to teach them to read and to appreciate the culture of which they are a part.
 

George Peabody's approach to giving, along with all those featured in this exhibit who were influenced by him, deserves closer scrutiny in today's world.  In many ways how he approached the business of giving was both far sighted and a cautionary tale.
 

What made Peabody different from most of his contemporaries was that he gave while living and he did so in ways that he hoped would perpetually address the objectives of his gifts.  It was an approach to giving from which Andrew Carnegie drew inspiration for the countless endowments that his even large fortune permitted.
 

Simply put, while he gave money for buildings and books, he also gave endowments for maintenance and acquisition, allowing the wisdom of the trustees and the economic fortunes of the nation to dictate the degree to which the endowments would prosper.
 

The cautionary tale, lies in the history of a number of the endowments that Peabody launched.  Too often the Trustees did not manage them well, or the objectives of the founder were lost sight of.  The Peabody Fund publications are no more, and without the considerable help of  Johns Hopkins University and the State the Peabody Institute would have suffered a similar fate.
 

The key to effective benevolence is the creation of endowed educational activities that persistently sets  aside a significant portion of any money  raised (including tax revenue)  for investment in bonds and stocks, managed carefully by respected trustees for the future benefit of the objectives of the fund.  It is a principal that perhaps ought to be extended to the functions of State Government, especially those entrusted with education and keeping alive the collective memory of our past as it exists in our historical records and such magnificent structures as this architectural monument to Johns Hopkins.
 

I promised Sam that I would be brief this afternoon.  Permit me to close by encouraging you to read the exhibit carefully and reflect on the obligation of all of usl, through giving, volunteering, and simply being good citizens, to ensure that the future of our children includes the ability to read and learn with us, about what is worth knowing and appreciating about our past.

To return to Dana Stein's opening remarks:  Altruism can prevail,

if we lead well

if we teach well

if we learn well
 

Thank you.