Ernest J. Arnold, who once directed the affairs of the Russell Charitable Trust (one of the earliest members of the Southeastern Council of Foundations), died recently at the age of 96. His death turned my thoughts to the subject of memory and history………………. The foundation world is now rapidly moving into a period during which many grant makers will be celebrating their 50th, 75th, and 100th anniversaries. These road markers have the potential to be important events, because they will provide an opportunity to rediscover founding values as well as to highlight the importance to the American way of organized philanthropy ………………..I still am kicking myself because I never took the time to drive to North Carolina and ask Ernest to share his recollections about those days when philanthropy was just beginning to gain a recognizable toehold in the South. Many of the organizational minutes and correspondence from those times are probably crated up somewhere, but not the memories of the people who were there “at the creation.” All of which is to say that I hope you won’t make the same mistake………………..I urge all foundations to begin the task of assembling the records—but especially the memories—of how they came into being. Start by interviewing the donors and board members and staff who were there. Seeing the present through the lens of history and the past can be enormously instructive………………..Not everything you learn will be necessarily positive. I still recall a luncheon conversation I once had with the elderly donor of a family foundation. I asked him why he had created his foundation, anticipating an answer that would cite some noble religious or civic motivation. “Oh hell,” he responded, “I did it to avoid paying taxes.” But, you know, that’s important history too………………..However, I suspect that those of you who take seriously my encouragement to capture the stories that constitute your foundations’ histories will uncover a wealth of positive and even inspirational material. And when you do, please find ways to share it with the widest possible audience of your fellow citizens. As I have sermonized before, charitable behavior is not genetically-driven. If we are to keep the philanthropic spirit alive in our country, we must continue to remind each other about its significance for the preservation of our democracy.