1953: McFadden's death (2 of 2)

I reach a basic figure of ca. $600.00 per month for running e xpenses (including wages of staff, food, light, fuel, car expenses, livestock food (to be repaid by estate?), my own part salary ($166.66), and incidentals). We have available then about enoughĥ to last us until October 1, if you agree to my suggestions about Items 1-3.

I do not know what plans you have in mind for financing us. I had understood when I left that the $10,000. bequest would be made available to us ca. July 1, and had assumed that this would then be paid into the joint account which we have in the Chase. I gather, from the bank statements up to the end of August, that this has not worked out.

It is immaterial to me whether or not we have a lump sum made available to us in the Chase account. If the estate has not made funds available, and a lump sum deposit is not feasible, I would suggest that you provide us with a monthly advance in this account, depositing it about the 20th of every month so that the bank statement will show that it is on hand for us. I would suggest that the [handwritten: amount] monthly amount should be $1000. This will provide the basic $600.00 for regularly foreseeable expenses, and a balance which will take care of extraordinary expenses, and which can build up to be used for the modest excavations which we may undertake. Special expenses (stipends of scholars, transportation to or from Curium, etc.) can be taken up separately. If the instalment plan of financing us is the one which you decide to adopt, would you please arrange to begin the instalments on Sept. 20, making the deposits in the Chase Bank account.

One further financial matter: the Curium account at the moment owes the Gordion Fund a total of $874.47. ($461.10, transportation Benson NY to Istanbul; $350.00 transportation Oberlin Athens to NY; 285.20 Turkish liras (at 4.50 to the dollar equals $63.37) for transportation of Benson from Istanbul to Ankara to Nicosia, and for transportation of GRE from Ankara to Nicosia. If estate funds are available to you, would you please make this amount available to the Gordion Fund? I should like to know when this is done, so that I can finally clear up my own Gordion accounts for the summer season.

As to other matters: the disposal of George's personal property seems to have been arousing some confusion here. Ted told me that I was not expected to concern myself with matters connected with the estate, and I have every intention of letting that dog sleep. However, I feel that it would be desirable for you to let me know exactly what items of the personal property the expedition is to retain. At the time I left I was given to understand that when the list of personal property came through from the trustees and administrators they would ask what items we wanted, and that you were planning to say we wanted it all, and that through some kind of exchange of checks or other legal hocus-pocus, it would then all become our property. I should like to be briefed on what the status is [handwritten: now]. Ted, of course, sent me the complete list during the summer, asking me to select the items the excavations really wanted and needed. This I did, leaving out those items which seemed entirely personal or of no pertinence to the … continues