Open Daily 9:30–6:00, Monday Until 8:00
In 1904 the Institute created the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a prestigious inner body of its own members that modelled itself on the Académie française. The first seven members of the Academy were William Dean Howells, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Edmund Clarence Stedman, John La Farge, Mark Twain, John Hay, and Edward MacDowell. Those seven then chose eight more, and so on, until the full complement of 30, and later 50, was reached. Only after being elected to the Institute, was a member eligible for elevation to the Academy. This bicameral system of membership continued until 1993, when the Institute dissolved itself and all 250 members were enrolled in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.