New York Public Library. Board of Trustees. Secretary.

The Secretary of the Board of Trustees is a member and officer of the Board and is responsible for the keeping of the records of the N.Y.P.L. Corporation and the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees and all its committees. Those who held the position of Secretary for the period of the records here described are: George L. Rives (1895-1902), Charles H. Russell (1902-1921), William Sloane (1921-1922), and Frank L. Polk (1923-1932).

The Board of Trustees, the governing body of the Library, was established in 1895 by an agreement that consolidated the Astor and Lenox Libraries and the Tilden Foundation into The New York Public Library. Initially there were twenty-one trustees, with seven being appointed by each of the three institutions that had been merged to form The Library. The trustees had no set terms of office; they served on the Board until they resigned, died, or were removed by a vote of the other trustees. New trustees were elected by the current members of the Board. Following the consolidation of the New York Public Library and The New York Free Circulating Library in 1901, the number of trustees was expanded to twenty-five. This included three New York City officials as ex-officio members: the Mayor, the Comptroller, and the President of the Board of Alderman.

When the Astor and Lenox Libraries consolidated with the Tilden Trust, one of the officers of the new Board of Trustees was the Secretary. The Secretary of the Board of Trustees is a member and officer of the Board and is responsible for the keeping of the records of The New York Public Library Corporation and the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees and all its committees. Those who held the position of Secretary for the period of the records here described are: George L. Rives (1895-1902), Charles H. Russell (1902-1921), William Sloane (1921-1922), and Frank L. Polk (1923-1932).