Born in Boston and educated in France, Breck (1771-1862) served as president of the Athenaeum from 1845 to 1862. It was during his tenure that the cornerstone of the present Athenaeum building was laid in 1845. In 1855 the Board of Directors decided to honor Beck's service to the institution by commissioning a medallion of him by sculptor Henry Dmochowski Saunders. A political exile from Lithuania (then part of Russian Poland), Saunders lived in Philadelphia from 1853 to 1857, having developed a good reputation for creating busts, medallions and statuettes of many notable figures. His busts of Kosciuszko and Pulaski are in Washington, at the Capitol.]]>
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