"Dedicated in 1900 and designed by Stanford White, the monument was the first hall of fame in the United States. The open-air colonnade with spaces for 102 busts is located at Bronx Community College (BCC), formally home to New York University’s University Heights campus... While it is easy to dismiss the monument as outdated and identify its problematic honorees, the process through which people were elected make it and the archives documenting the election process and unveiling ceremonies for the busts valuable sources of twentieth-century cultural and political history. Every five years, at least 100 electors chosen by the NYU Senate selected the honorees, who were required to be American citizens who had 'distinguished themselves by their accomplishments in the arts, sciences and other pursuits directed toward the betterment of mankind' and been dead for at least 25 years. The public nominated the names from which the electors chose, however, and from 1900 through the 1970s Americans mounted vocal campaigns for those they found worthy. The slogan 'Every American is a Shareholder in the Hall of Fame' stressed the public nature of the election."

For more on the Hall of Fame selection process, check out this article by BCC historian Kate Culkin in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.