American Academy of Arts and Letters and an annual exhibition of works by newly elected members and recipients of honors and awards. A permanent exhibit of the recreated studio of composer Charles Ives was opened in 2014. The auditorium is sought out by musicians and engineers wishing to record live because the acoustics are considered among the city's finest. Hundreds of commercial recordings have been made there. The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters was formed from three parent organizations. The first, the American Social Science Association, was founded in 1865, at Boston. The second was the National Institute of Arts and Letters, which
American Academy of Arts and Sciences Lucian Michael Freud, Galina Ulanova, Werner Heisenberg, Alec Guinness and Sebastião Salgado. Astronomer Maria Mitchell was the first woman elected to the Academy, in 1848. The current membership encompasses over 4,900 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members, including more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners. The current membership is divided into five classes and twenty-four sections. Class I – Mathematical and Physical Sciences Class II – Biological Sciences Class III – Social Sciences Class IV – Arts and Humanities Class V – Public affairs, business, and administration The Academy carries out nonpartisan policy research by