Berlin, March 6, 1926

My dear Herr Geheimrat:

I am in receipt of your letter of the first instant and thank you for your cordial invitation to me to be your guest in case I should be able to act on your suggestion of visiting the Leipzig Fair. It is not practicable for me to leave Berlin at the present time, and I may add that I visited the Leipzig Fair last autumn, when I was the guest of the authorities there.

I have also received the two pamphlets[a][1] you were good enough to send me, which I have placed on my table for reading at the earliest possible date. They look very attractive, especially the short autobiography.

As regards the negotiations with the Metropolitan Museum of Art[2], my conjecture is that if the Museum authorities are interested in your proposal, they would[b] | send an expert[c][d] to see the Goethe portraits in question. I scarcely imagine they would put much confidence in the artistic knowledge or practical judgment of American officials[e] nor could these officials, under their instructions, take any responsible part in the negotiations. I do not think the Museum has an important Germanic collection, though I have not been in close touch with it and may be mistaken. On the other hand, there is a Germanic Museum at Harvard University,[f] but I fear that this Museum would not have funds sufficient to buy the Goethe portraits. So far as money is concerned, undoubtedly the Metropolitan Museum in New York is in a better position to make purchases[g] than any other institution of the kind in America.

With renewed thanks for your very kind an hospitable invitation, I remain, Very sincerely yours

Jacob Gould Schurman