James Myers, age 15, of New Bedford, Mass., for his question:

WHERE IS THE GREAT AMERICAN HALL OF FAME?

The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is a building located on the Bronx Community College campus of the City University of New York. It is located on University Heights, high above and overlooking the Harlem River.

The Hall of Fame was built in 1901 to honor Americans who have made special contributions to the welfare or culture of the United States.

The idea for the Hall of Fame came from the chancellor of New York University, Henry MacCracken. He thought it would be a wonderful idea that would give patriotic and educational inspiration to all citizens of the United States. A foundation was started in 1900 and a $100,000 contribution from a woman named Helen Miller Gould made a new building possible. The benefactor, who later became Mrs. Finley J. Shepard, also later increased the building gift to $250,000.

Stanford White, the famous architect, designed the hall. It is a 630 foot long semicircular colonnade. The building was dedicated in 1901 and the first 29 bronze portrait busts by distinguished American sculptors were unveiled for all to see.

Here are the first 29 great Americans: John Adams, John James Audubon, Henry Ward Beecher, William Ellery Channing, Henry Clay, Peter Cooper, Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Farragut, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Ulysses S. Grant, Asa Gray, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Thomas Jefferson, James Kent and Robert E. Lee.

Also Abraham Lincoln, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Horace Mann, John Marshall, Samuel F.B. Morse, George Peabody, Joseph Story, Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, Daniel Webster and Eli Whitney.

People who have been dead for 25 years can be nominated to the Hall of Fame. The nomination may be made by any citizen of the United States. The final choice is made by a committee of electors, at least one from each state, who are appointed by the director of the Hall of Fame.

Nominations can be sent to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, 1009 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.

The committee for the Hall of Fame is made up of nearly equal numbers of seven groups: university or college executives: historians or professors of history or literature; scientists: authors, educators and artists; prominent men and women; high public officials; and national or state justices.

Originally only men born in the United States were qualified for election. Later the rule was changed to include any man or woman who is either a native born or naturalized citizen.

Here are a few of the additional Great Americans who have been added to the Hall of Fame through the years: Clara Barton, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington Carver, Theodore Roosevelt, Alexander Graham Bell, Susan B. Anthony, Walt Whitman. James Whistler, John Paul Jones, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Thomas Edison.