AM 101 $6628 FISH REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AND FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS 1949 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON, D.C. © REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AND FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30 1949 (Publication 3992) UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1950 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. §. Government Printing Office ashington 25, D.C. - Price 45 cents CONTENTS Page WB IstHOLsO MI Cia lS aa Be NL Nag Ci Ee ea Ae ee Ue Tg UR ON Vv ener stave mente tye ti 8 ois ire al lbs obs ee aS 1 Presentation of the Wright Brothers’ Aeroplane of 1903 to the United StavesyNational.Musewmiti es. Veuve SB eV leal BMBRIENG Sc aes 3 ebherestalo lish ey tips Le oe) Se Do aenatass dL ieee UNSAID is Lice ok 5 WbhesBoardyOr IEE tse 44 40) MeL aonll a MANN CMAN SNC ii alee AES At ed 6 PESTIN SR TT COS BENE 5 eyo Sal pella A WlD Na A ect) Ue as LY eae 7 A DEOPEIMEIOTS Se Sin niieyein! gh) i padi tamagaee Se) nl ST LIN ela 7 DVS Eco ese Fille hh ie SM MA A ae DIS a OIC I ft dk SN 8 Sixteenth James Arthur annual lecture on the sun____.________________ 8 Summary of the year’s activities of the branches of the Institution______-_ 9 TEA 51] Oy UGE hCG) 0S een AM oe SS Eg ONO at ak 9 2, 7g a 14 LOPS) rH Aye ee a eee a age eee cee eh Me RO 15 Appendix 1. Report on the United States National Museum____________ 16 2. Report on the National Gallery of Art_.__________________ 25 3. Report on the National Collection of Fine Arts.___________ 41 4. Report on the Freer Gallery of Art_-._________.__________. 47 5. Report on the Bureau of American Ethnology____________. 55 6. Report on the International Exchange Service-____________ 89 7. Report on the National Zoological Park______..____________ 97 8. Report on the Astrophysical Observatory.________________ 109 9. Report on the National Air Museum_____________________ 114 10. Report on the Canal Zone Biological Area_______ Sa a a 126 itaReportiongthedibrary. ee Mig yu MO hoe 132 LZ Report, onnpublica tions. We in i) ae 136 Report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents.____________ 143 04 BOUL to saalyowA taradtto 1 add Jo aoxdloce aie aga Ay baal 95 4 THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION | June 30, 1949 Presiding Officer ex officio—Harry S. Truman, President of the United States. Chancellor.—F rrp M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States. Members of the Institution: Harry S. Truman, President of the United States. ALBEN W. BARKLEY, Vice President of the United States. Frep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States. GrorGE C. MarsHaAtt, Secretary of State. JoHn W. Snyper, Secretary of the Treasury. Louis Jounson, Secretary of Defense. Tom C. CuarK, Attorney General. JessE M. Donaxtpson, Postmaster General. Juuius A. Krue, Secretary of the Interior. CHARLES F. BRANNON, Secretary of Agriculture. CHARLES SAwyER, Secretary of Commerce. Maurice Tostn, Secretary of Labor. Regents of the Institution: Frep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor. ALBEN W. Bar«k Ley, Vice President of the United States. Cuinton P. ANDERSON, Member of the Senate. LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Member of the Senate. WALTER F, Grorcr, Member of the Senate. CLARENCE Cannon, Member of the House of Representatives. E. E. Cox, Member of the House of Representatives. Joun M. Vorys, Member of the House of Representatives. Harvey N. Davis, citizen of New Jersey. ArtTuHurR H. Compton, citizen of Missouri. VANNEVAR Bus, citizen of Washington, D. C. Rosert V. FLeMine, citizen of Washington, D. C. JEROME C. HunsakeEnR, citizen of Massachusetts. Executive Commitiee—RoBert V. FuEemine, chairman, VANNEVAR CLARENCE CANNON. Secretary.— ALEXANDER WETMORE, Assistant Secretary.—JouHNn E, Grar. Assistant Secretary.—J. L. Keppy. Administrative assistant to the Secretary.—LouisE M. PEARSON. Treasurer.—J. D. Howarp. Chief, editorial division. WEBSTER P. TRUE. Inbrarian.—Luina F, Cuark. Administrative accountant.—THoMaAS F. CuarK. Superintendent of buildings and labor.—L. L. OLIvER. Personnel officer.—B. T. CARWITHEN. Chief, division of publications.—L. E. COMMERFORD. Property, supply, and purchasing officer.—ANTHONY W. WILDING. Photographer.—F. B. Kmstn3ER. Busou, VI ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM Director.—A. REMINGTON KELLOGG. Chief, office of correspondence and records—HELENA M. WEISS, Editor.—Pauu H. Onuser. Assistant librarian.— ELISABETH H. Gazin. SCIENTIFIC STAFF DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY: Frank M. Setzler, head curator; A. J. Andrews, chief preparator. Collaborator in anthropology; W. W. Taylor, Jr. Division of Archeology: Neil M. Judd, curator; Waldo R. Wedel, associate curator; M. C. Blaker, scientific aid; J. Townsend Russell, honorary assistant curator of Old World archeology. Division of Ethnology: H. W. Krieger, curator; J. C. Ewers, associate curator; C. M. Watkins, associate curator; R. A. Elder, Jr., assistant curator. Division of Physical Anthropology: T. Dale Stewart, curator; M. T. Newman, associate curator. DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY: Waldo L. Schmitt, head curator; W. L. Brown, chief taxidermist; Aime M. Awl, scientific illustrator. Associates in Zoology; T. S. Palmer, W. B. Marshall, A. G. Boéving, C. R. Shoemaker, W. K. Fisher. Collaborator in Zoology: R. S. Clark. Collaborator in Biology: D. C. Graham. Division of Mammals: D. H. Johnson, associate curator; H. W. Setzer, asso- ciate curator; N. M. Miller, museum aid; A. Brazier Howell, collaborator; Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., associate. Division of Birds: Herbert: Friedmann, curator; H. G. Deignan, associate curator; Alexander Wetmore, custodian of alcoholic and skeleton collec- tions; Arthur C. Bent, collaborator. Division of Reptiles and Amphibians: Doris M. Cochran, associate curator. Division of Fishes: Leonard P. Schultz, curator; E. A. Lachner, associate curator; L. P. Woods, associate curator; D. 8. Erdman, scientific aid; W. T. Leapley, museum aid. Division of Insects: L. O. Howard, honorary curator; Edward A. Chapin, curator; R. E. Blackwelder, associate curator; W. D. Field, associate curator; O. L. Cartwright, associate curator; Grace E: Glance, associate curator; W. L. Jellison, collaborator. Section of Hymenoptera: 8. A. Rohwer, custodian; W. M. Mann, assist- ant custodian; Robert A. Cushman, assistant custodian. Section of Diptera: Charles T. Greene, assistant custodian. Section of Coleoptera: L. L. Buchanan, specialist for Casey collection. Section of Lepidoptera: J. T. Barnes, collaborator. Division of Marine Invertebrates: F. A. Chace, Jr., curator; P. L. Illg, asso- ciate curator; Frederick M. Bayer, assistant curator; L. W. Peterson, G. S. Cain, museum aids; Mrs. Harriet Richardson Searle, collaborator; Max M. Ellis, collaborator; J. Perey Moore, collaborator; Mrs. M. 8. Wilson, collaborator in copepod Crustacea. SECRETARY'S REPORT vit Division of Mollusks: Harald A. Rehder, curator; Joseph P. E. Morrison, associate curator; R. Tucker Abbott, assistant curator; W. J. Byas, museum aid; P. Bartsch, associate. Section of Helminthological Collections: Benjamin Schwartz, collabo- rator. Division of Echinoderms: Austin H. Clark, curator. DEPARTMENT OF BoTANy (NATIONAL HERBARIUM): E. P. Killip, head curator; Henri Pittier, associate in botany. Division of Phanerogams: A. C. Smith, curator; E. C. Leonard, associate curator; E. H. Walker, associate curator; Lyman B. Smith, associate curator; V. E. Rudd, assistant curator. Division of Ferns: C. V. Morton, curator. Division of Grasses: Jason R. Swallen, curator; Agnes Chase, research asso- ciate; F. A. McClure, research associate. Division of Cryptogams: E. P. Killip, acting curator; Paul S. Conger, asso- ciate curator; G. A. Llano, associate curator; John A. Stevenson, custodian of C. G. Lloyd mycological collections; W. T. Swingle, custodian of Higher Algae; David Fairchild, custodian of Lower Fungi. DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY: W. F. Foshag, head curator; J. H. Benn, exhibits preparator; Jessie G. Beach, aid. Division of Mineralogy and Petrology: W. F. Foshag, acting curator; E. P. Henderson, associate curator; G. S. Switzer, associate curator; F. E. Holden, exhibits preparator; Frank L. Hess, custodian of rare metals and rare earths. Division of Invertebrate Paleontology and Paleobotany: Gustav A. Cooper, curator; A. R. Loeblich, Jr., associate curator; David Nicol, associate curator; W. T. Allen, L. Pendleton, museum aids; J. Brookes Knight, research associate in Paleontology. Section of Invertebrate Paleontology: T. W. Stanton, custodian of Mesozoic collection; J. B. Reeside, Jr., custodian of Mesozoic collection. Division of Vertebrate Paleontology: C. L. Gazin, curator; D. H. Dunkle, asso- ciate curator; Norman H. Boss, chief exhibits preparator; W. D. Crockett, scientific illustrator; A. C. Murray, F. L. Pearce, preparators. Associates in Mineralogy: W. T. Schaller, 8. H. Perry, J. P. Marble. Associates in Paleontology: T. W. Vaughan, R. 8S. Bassler. DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES: Frank A. Taylor, head curator. Division of Engineering: Frank A. Taylor, acting curator. Section of Civil and Mechanical Engineering: Frank A. Taylor, in charge. Section of Marine Transportation: Frank A. Taylor, in charge. Section of Electricity: K. M. Perry, associate curator. Section of Physical Sciences and Measurement: Frank A. Taylor, in charge. Section of Land Transportation: S. H. Oliver, associate curator. Division of Crafts and Industries: W. N. Watkins, curator; F. C. Reed, associate curator; EH. A. Avery, museum aid; F. L. Lewton, research associate. Section of Textiles: G. L. Rogers, assistant curator. Section of Wood Technology: William N. Watkins, in charge. Section of Manufactures: F. C. Reed, in charge. Section of Agricultural Industries: F. C. Reed, in charge. VIII ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Division of Medicine and Public Health: G. S. Thomas, associate curator. Division of Graphic Arts: J. Kainen, curator; E. J. Fite, museum aid. » Section of Photography: A. J. Wedderburn, Jr., associate curator. DEPARTMENT OF HisToRy: Charles Carey, acting head curator; T. T. Belote, Museum historian. Divisions of Military Histery and Naval History: M. L. Peterson, associate curator; J. R. Sirlouis, assistant curator. Division of Civil History: M. W. Brown, assistant curator. Division of Numismatics: 8. M. Mosher, associate curator. Division of Philately: C. L. Manning, assistant curator. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART Trustees: Frep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States, Chairman. Grorce C. Marsnatu, Secretary of State. Joun W. Snypmr, Secretary of the Treasury. ALEXANDER WETMORE, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. SaMueEL H. Kress. FERDINAND LamMmotT BELIN. Duncan PHILurPs. CHESTER DALE. Paut MeEtion. President.—Samuru H. Kress. Vice President.—FERDINAND LAMMOT BELIN. Secretary-Treasurer.—HuNTINGTON CAIRNS. Director.—Davip E. FINuEy. Administrator.—Harry A. McBripe. General Counsel.— HUNTINGTON CAIRNS. Chief Curator.—JoHN WALKER. Assistant Director.—MacGILL JAMES. NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS Director.—TuHomas M. Brags. Curator of ceramics.—P. V. GARDNER. Exhibits preparator.—G. J. Martin. Assistant librarian.—Anna M. Linx. FREER GALLERY OF ART Director.—A. G. WENLEY. Assistant Director.—Joun A. Popr. Associate in Near Eastern art.—RicHARD ETTINGHAUSEN. Associate in Far Eastern art.—W. R. B. AcKER. Research associate.—Gracr Dunuam GuEst. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Director—Mattrurw W. Stiruina. Associate Director—Franx H. H. Roserts, Jr. Senior ethnologists—H. B. Coxuins, Jr., Joan P. Harrineron, W. N. Fenton. Senior anthropologists —G. R. WiuuEy, P. Drucker. Collaborators.—Frances S. Densmore, Jonn R. Swanton, A. J. Wanna, Jr. Editor.—M. Hrien Paumer. Assistant librarian.—Mirtam B. Kercuam. SECRETARY’S REPORT Ix Scientific illustrators —Epwin G. CasseDy, H. G. SCHUMACHER. Archives assistant—-M. W. TucKER. InsTITU1E OF SociaL ANTHROPOLOGY.—G. M. Foster, Jr., Director. River Bastin Surveys.—F RANK H. H. Rozserts, Jr., Director. INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE Chief —D. G. WILLIAMS. NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK Director.—Wiuu1am M. Mann. Assistant Direcior.mERNEST P. WALKER. Head Keeper.—F¥ rank O. Lowe. ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY Director.—Loyau B. ALDRICH. Assistant librarian.— MAarjJoRIE KUNZE. Division oF ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH: Chief.—Wituiam H. Hoover. Instrument makers.—ANDREW Kramer, D. G. TauBert, J. H. HaRRIson. Research associate.—CHARLES G. ABBOT. Division OF RADIATION AND ORGANISMS: Chief.—R. B. WiTHROW. Plant physiologist (physicochemical).—LEONARD PRICE. Biological aid (botany).—V. B. Eustap. NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM Advisory Board: ALEXANDER WETMORE, Chairman. Mas. Gen. GRANDISON GARDNER, U. S. Air Force. Rear Ap. A. M. Prins, U.S. Navy. Grover LOENING. Wiuuiam B. Stout. Assistant to the Secretary for the National Air Museum.—Caru W. MiTMan. Curator.—P. E. GARBER. Associate curators.—S. L. Berrs, R. C. StropeL, W. M. MALtgE. Exhibits preparator.—S. L. Potter. CANAL ZONE BIOLOGICAL AREA Resident Manager.—Jamrs ZETEK. Year eHow Alaa, Ps REA SOU: 4h Won" allt’ REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITH- SONIAN INSTITUTION ALEXANDER WETMORE FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1949 To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to submit herewith my report show- ing the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its bureaus during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949. GENERAL STATEMENT The Institution continued vigorously to pursue its program of activities in “‘the increase and diffusion of knowledge”’ as stipulated by its founder, James Smithson. The increase of knowledge is fos- tered by original scientific researches and explorations in the fields of anthropology, biology, geology, and astrophysics; the diffusion of knowledge, by publications in a number of series that are distributed free to libraries and educational institutions throughout the world, by extensive museum and art gallery exhibits, by the International Exchange Service for the world-wide interchange of scientific and governmental publications, and by a large correspondence, both national and international. I present first certain general features of the year’s activities, together with a summary of the work of the several bureaus of the Institution, to afford a concise picture of the events of the year. Next follow appendixes containing more detailed reports on each bureau, and finally there appears the financial statement of the Execu- tive Committee of the Board of Regents. The appendixes contain reports on the United States National Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the International Exchange Service, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, the National Air Museum, the Canal Zone Biological Area, the Smith- sonian library, and the publications of the Institution. ) 1 2 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 When the Smithsonian Institution began its operations more than one hundred years ago, it carried on its research programs largely by subsidizing the work of scientists not on its own staff, and by publish- ing the results of their work. As these pioneer researches expanded in scope and became somewhat stabilized, bureaus gradually grew up around the Institution, each with its own staff specializing in the work of that particular field. The value of the various activities gradually became known to the Nation, and eventually one by one they were recognized as public necessities by the Congress. Most of them are now supported largely by Government funds although re- maining under Smithsonian direction. At present, nearly all the research and exploration of the Institution is done through these bureaus, notably the United States National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the Astrophysical Observatory. As stated in last year’s report, the Institution has for many years operated under the handicap of shortages of personnel and of ade- quate housing space. I reported that the Smithsonian Institution has today the same amount of space that it had in 1911 in which to accommodate four times as many visitors and four times as many museum specimens. Much the same condition still prevails. Some slight gain was apparent in personnel in a few of the scientific divi- sions, but not sufficient for the prompt execution of essential cura- torial work and adequate research on the National collections. The crowded condition, particularly in the buildings of the National Museum, remained unalleviated. In the report of the Director of the Museum it will be noted that there is a considerable decrease in number of specimens accessioned during the year, a decrease which, he says, “may be attributed in part to the inadequacy of available storage facilities for the preservation of such materials.”’ More ade- quate building space is one of our major needs. Though hampered by space conditions it should be brought to attention that the Smithsonian Institution continues to grow and to expand its usefulness year by year. In the 5 years during which I have served as Secretary, three additional activities have been added to its responsibilities—the Canal Zone Biological Area, the National Air Museum, and the River Basin Surveys, the latter a unit of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The work of these new activities has notably augmented Smithsonian efforts toward the increase and diffusion of knowledge in widely diversified fields, as will be seen in reading the detailed reports appended hereto. The purpose in calling attention to deficiencies is to emphasize the obvious fact that a growing SECRETARY’S REPORT : 3 institution such as the Smithsonian, of so vital interest and importance to the American people, must receive increased financial support if it is to continue to meet its full obligations and to further the high ideals of its founder, James Smithson, who left his entire fortune in trust to the United States of America for the benefit of all mankind. PRESENTATION OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS’ AEROPLANE OF 1903 TO THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSHUM On December 17, 1948, the forty-fifth anniversary of the first flight by Wilbur and Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, N. C., the original aeroplane that made that historic flight became the property of the American people. At a formal ceremony in the Museum attended by many high civil and military officials the plane was presented to the United States National Museum by Milton Wright on behalf of the estate of Orville Wright. The story of the plane goes back to December 17, 1903, when the Wright Brothers were ready after several years of research and experiment to test out their gasoline-engine-powered biplane at Kitty Hawk on the coast of North Carolina. With Orville at the controls, the machine was released, and after a 40-foot run on the launching track, it lifted into the air in full flight. In Orville Wright’s own words: “The flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.” Three more flights were made the same day, but after the last flight a strong gust of wind turned the plane over, damaging it so badly that no more trials were made that year. The damaged machine and engine were sent back to the Wrights’ workshop in Dayton, and 13 years later were restored, using all the original parts available. The aeroplane was displayed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later at several aeronautical exhibitions. In 1928 Orville Wright had it sent as a loan to the Science Museum at South Kensington, London, England, where it remained on exhibi- tion until World War II. Owing to the danger of damage by bomb- ing, the plane was removed to a safe place for the duration of the war. When Orville Wright died on January 30, 1948, it was learned from papers in his files that he wished the Kitty Hawk aeroplane to be returned to the United States and placed in the National Museum. The executors of his estate conferred with officials of the Science 4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Museum and of the Smithsonian Institution, and with the generous cooperation of the British Government the actual transfer of the plane took place in November 1948. It was brought across the Atlantic to Halifax on the Mauretania, from there to Bayonne, N. J., on the Navy carrier Palau, and to Washington by Navy truck. At the formal presentation on December 17, 1948, the ceremonies were opened by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. After the invocation by Maj. Gen. Luther D. Miller, Chief of Chaplains, Department of the Army, and greetings by the Presiding Officer, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, a message from the President of the United States was read by Col. Robert B. Landry, Air Force Aide to the President. His Britan- nic Majesty’s Ambassador, Sir Oliver Franks, K. C. B., C. B. E., then spoke on “Britain and the Wright Brothers,” after which the presentation of the aeroplane was made by Milton Wright, of Dayton, Ohio, on behalf of the estate of Orville Wright. Mr. Wright told of his boyhood recollections of his uncles’ bicycle shop where the Kitty Hawk plane was fabricated, and concluded thus: “The aeroplane means many things to many people. To some it may be a vehicle for romantic adventure or simply quick transporta- tion. To others it may be a military weapon or a means of relieving suffering. To me it represents the fabric, the glue, the spruce, the sheet metal, and the wire which, put together under commonplace circumstances but with knowledge and skill, gave substance to dreams and fulfillment to hopes.” The aeroplane was accepted on behalf of the Smithsonian Institu- tion by Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, Chancellor of the Institution, and the address of acceptance was given by Vice President-Elect Alben W. Barkley, a regent of the Institution. In the course of his address Mr. Barkley expressed one thought that doubtless was in the minds of all participants in the ceremony: “It is a matter of deep regret to all of us that Orville Wright could not have been here today to see this wide public recognition of achieve- ment, and receive in person the fitting acclaim to his brother, to himself, and to their Kitty Hawk plane. We are grateful to all of those who have made it possible to bring the plane back to its native soil, and especially to the heirs of the estate of Orville Wright, for depositing the Kitty Hawk machine here where all America will have an opportunity to see it, and where all may do it fitting honor.” The Kitty Hawk aeroplane now hangs suspended from the ceiling of the north hall of the National Museum’s Arts and Industries Building, where the presentation ceremony was held. Directly back of the main entrance, the plane is the first object to meet the eyes of SECRETARY’S REPORT 5 the thousands of visitors who throng the Museum daily. As thus displayed it bears the following label: The Original WRIGHT BROTHERS’ AEROPLANE The world’s first power-driven heavier-than-air machine in which man made free, controlled, and sustained flight Invented and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright Flown by them at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina December 17, 1903 By original scientific research the Wright Brothers discovered the principles of human flight As inventors, builders, and flyers they further developed the aeroplane, taught man to fly and opened the era of aviation Deposited by the Estate of Orville Wright ° “The first flight lasted only twelve seconds, a flight very modest compared with that of birds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without being wrecked. ‘The second and third flights were a little longer, and the fourth lasted 59 seconds covering a distance of 852 feet over the ground against a 20 mile wind.’’— WILBUR and ORVILLE WRIGHT. (From Century Magazine, vol. 76, September 1908, p. 649.) This is not the final resting place of the plane, however—it is destined eventually to occupy the place of honor in the National Air Museum, the most recent bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. Preliminary plans for the Air Museum envision a special centrally located exhibit area for the Wright aeroplane of 1903, to serve as a memorial to the birth of aviation. THE ESTABLISHMENT The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 1846, according to the terms of the will of James Smithson, of England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of America “‘to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Insti- tution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” In receiving the property and accepting the trust, Congress determined that the Federal Government was without authority to administer the trust directly, and, therefore, constituted an ‘‘establishment’’ whose statutory members are ‘‘the President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the executive departments.”’ 6 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 THE BOARD OF REGENTS The following changes occurred during the year in the personnel of the Board of Regents: On January 20, 1949, Vice President Alben W. Barkley (formerly a regent by appointment from the Senate) became ex officio a member of the Board. On February 14, 1949, the following regents were appointed from the House of Representatives: Clarence Cannon of Missouri; John M. Vorys of Ohio; and E. E. Cox of Georgia to succeed Samuel K. McConnell of Pennsylvania. On March 8, 1949, Senators Leverett Saltonstall and Clinton P. Anderson were appointed to succeed Vice President Alben W. Barkley who became an ex officio member of the Board, and Senator Wallace H. White of Maine, retired. On March 10, 1949, Dr. Jerome C. Hunsaker was appointed a citizen regent from Massachusetts for the statutory term of 6 years, to succeed Frederic C. Walcott, retired. The roll of regents at the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1949, was as follows: Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, Chancellor; Vice President Alben W. Barkley; members from the Senate: Walter F. George, Clinton P. Anderson, Leverett Saltonstall; members from the House of Repre- sentatives: Clarence Cannon, John M. Vorys, E. E. Cox; citizen mem- bers: Harvey N. Davis, Arthur H. Compton, Vannevar Bush, Robert V. Fleming, and Jerome C. Hunsaker. Proceedings.—The Board of Regents held its annual meeting on January 14, 1949. Present: Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, Chancellor; Representative Clarence Cannon, Representative John M. Vorys, Dr. Arthur H. Compton, Dr. Harvey N. Davis, Dr. Robert V. Flem- ing, Secretary Alexander Wetmore, and Assistant Secretary John E. Graf. The Secretary presented his annual report covering the activities of the Institution and its bureaus, including the financial report of the Executive Committee, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1948, which was accepted by the Board. The usual resolution authorizing the expenditure by the Secretary of the income of the Institution for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1950, was adopted by the Board. It was announced that in support of the work of the Astrophysical Observatory John A. Roebling had made a further generous gift which is of major importance in carrying on these scientific investi- gations. The annual report of the Smithonsian Art Commission was pre- sented by the Secretary and accepted by the Board. A resolution was adopted to reelect the following members for 4-year terms: Archibald SECRETARY’S REPORT Vf G. Wenley, David EH. Finiey, HKugene E. Speicher, Paul Manship. The following officers were reelected for the ensuing year: Chairman, Paul Manship; vice chairman, Robert Woods Bliss; secretary, Alexander Wetmore. The Board was advised that in an attempt to recover the Gellatly art collection from the Secretary in his status of a private individual, though acting as custodian under the Smithsonian Institution, Mrs. Charlayne Gellatly’s attorneys had filed action in the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia on June 18, 1947. Under date of June 17, 1948, Judge J. McGuire rendered a decision that, in the opinion of the Court, there was no merit in Mrs. Gellatly’s claims, since it was found that there was a valid gift to the United States by the deceased, John Geilatly, before his death and before his marriage. On July 19, 1948, the attorney for Mrs. Gellatly filed notice of appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Marvin C. Taylor, special attorney, Department of Justice, represented the Institution. On the evening of March 1, 1949, an informal meeting of the Board was held at dinner in the Main Hall of the Smithsonian Building, with the Chancellor, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, presiding. At this meeting heads of the various activities under the Institution pre- sented statements relative to their work. These statements, with the ensuing discussion, provided a general view of the existing operations of the Smithsonian, particularly in the research field. FINANCES A statement on finances, dealing particularly with Smithsonian private funds, will be found in the report of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents, page 173. APPROPRIATIONS Funds appropriated to the Institution for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949, totaled $2,259,000, allotted as follows: Generaladministration. 22.200 2212 0b eS $46, 794 Nationale VMiuse mes Uy cpg on Ca ities Co Rye oe te 712, 560 Bureausof American Mthnology. 2 esi vin nos yo eens ine 71, 996 Astrophysical Observatory 22202 fe EM Ne NON se yuu ail) 101, 590 National: Collection-of-tine-Arts ss ae a ee a le 2 32, 543 imternationalybixchange Services. 2 ees eee a eae yankee 68, 938 Maintenance and operation. 22 ies 4s Osea puede Uppal eens 764, 626 Services divisions: mie oie Gas aOR N IAL TCA muah ON EAE 274, 448 NationalcAir Musemmisc.reis) gi aie ee pors ae) A 180, 285 Canali Zones Biological Ares sip ih pa oh tale i a on pl 4, 760 nV OG ee ee ee ay INS lad ls a AN RI oB 460 EN Ce Na CS ea eo ut a AU RM OR ad 2, 259, 000 858775—49—_2 8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 In addition $1,073,500 was appropriated to the National Gallery of Art, a bureau of the Institution but administered by a separate board of trustees; and $528,848 was provided in the District of Columbia appropriation act for the operation of the National Zoological Park. Besides these direct appropriations, the Institution received funds by transfer from other Federal agencies, as follows: From the State Department, from the appropriation Cooperation with the American Republics, 1949, a total of $97,900 for the operation of the Institute of Social Anthropology, including the issuance of publications resulting from its work. From the National Park Service, Interior Department, $118,500 for archeological projects in connection with River Basin Surveys. VISITORS The number of visitors to the Smithsonian buildings for the year was 2,606,104, an all-time record of attendance. This was an increase of 212,605 over the previous year’s attendance. April 1949 was the month of largest attendance with 371,871 visitors; August 1948, the second largest with 313,364. Records for the five buildings show the following number of visitors: Smithsonian, 494,880; Arts and In- dustries, 1,148,303; Natural History, 689,233; Aircraft, 198,648; Freer, 75,040. A summary of attendance records is given in table 1: TaBLE 1.—Visitors to the Smithsonian buildings during the year ended June 30, 1949 Smith- Arts and Natural AGrcratt Freer Year and month sonian Industries | History Buildin Gallery Total Building | Building | Building 8 of Art 1948 PUL yo eee See a ER RYO 61, 529 128, 635 74, 243 24, 557 9, 510 298, 474 ATISTIS ES eee ie ae Ss 65, 412 136, 704 75, 026 26, 672 9, 550 313, 364 September ee eee 45, 178 90, 321 51, 839 18, 460 7, 269 213, 067 October eee aes ls 34, 460 66, 329 47, 962 13, 670 5, 460 167, 881 INO YG Nae ee Ne 27, 380 50, 700 39, 829 11, 833 4,415 134, 157 December... -..--------------- 18, 242 42,191 23, 419 8, 512 3, 153 95, 517 1949 CR WOR Deas 26, 748 59, 837 37, 212 11, 085 4,124 139, 006 MODEUARY = soe ee es Se! 22, 949 54, 470 35, 220 10, 842 4, 032 127, 513 Migr cht ee ie ee 25, 650 66, 814 41, 452 12, 499 5, 092 151, 507 IAD Teele ae OL ae: 64, 804 177, 144 97, 135 23, 532 9, 256 371, 871 IVI vere en TR eee iL ee a 47, 718 142, 007 88, 029 19, 653 6, 172 303, 579 DUNC se eee ad i Ne TON Le 54, 810 133, 151 77, 867 17, 333 7, 007 290, 168 Motel ies wei mate Te 494, 880 1, 148, 303 1 689, 233 198, 648 75, 040 2, 606, 104 * Not including 31,249 persons attending meetings after 4:30 p. m. SIXTEENTH JAMES ARTHUR ANNUAL LECTURE ON THE SUN In 1931 the Institution received a bequest from James Arthur, of New York, a part of the income from which was to be used for an annual lecture on some aspect of the study of the sun. SECRETARY’S REPORT 9 The sixteenth Arthur lecture was given in the auditorium of the National Museum on April 14, 1949, by Sir Harold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, the arrangements being made through Dr. S. A. Mitchell, of the Leander McCormick Observ- atory, University of Virginia. The title of Sir Harold’s lecture was, “The Determination of Precise Time,” a subject on which he is a world authority. His lecture will be published in full in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for 1949. SUMMARY OF THE YEAR’S ACTIVITIES OF THE BRANCHES OF THE INSTITUTION National Museum.—Approximately 446,000 specimens were added to the collections, for the most part as gifts or as transfers from Govy- ernment agencies, bringing the total number of catalog entries to 31,679,046. Outstanding accessions for the year included: In an- thropology, an important collection of 51 artifacts representing the work of American Indians, Eskimo of Alaska, and natives of Pacific islands, given by Georgetown University; 17 gold-embossed silver vessels given by the Government of Tibet to President Truman and in turn presented by him to the Smithsonian Institution; and valu- able skeletal remains recovered in northern Australia by Frank M. Setzler, a member of the Commonwealth of Australia-National Geo- graphic Society-Smithsonian Institution Expedition to Arnhem Land; in zoology, mammal specimens from many distant parts of the world including Northern Territory of Australia, Nepal, Malay Pen- insula, Korea, Okinawa, Philippine Islands, and New Guinea, 778 birds from Arnhem Land, Australia, and 1,164 from India and Nepal, 14,000 fishes from the Solomon Islands and the East Indies, and 5,000 from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea; in botany, 2,382 plants of Fiji, 5,854 plants of Colombia, and 2,157 plants of China; in geology, 20 kinds of minerals hitherto unrepresented in the National collec- tions, a 42-carat brazilianite gemstone, the largest ever found in Brazil, an 8,750-gram stony meteorite that fell at Girgenti, Italy, and many thousands of fossil specimens collected by staff members in various parts of the United States; in engineering and industries, the original Wright Brothers’ aeroplane of 1903, a collection of elec- trical measuring instruments, early lamps, and electronic tubes, some of them made in the 1880’s, and an exhibit showing the development of electric hearing aids; in history, a group of relics bequeathed by Gen. John J. Pershing, including uniforms, flags, and medals, a note- worthy collection of European gold and silver coins from the four- teenth to the twentieth century presented by Paul A. Straub, of New York City, and a complete set of Allied military currency pre- sented by the Department of the Army. 10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Field work was conducted in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, India and Nepal, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, New Zealand, the Canadian Arctic, nine different countries in South and Central America, and many parts of the United States. The Museum pub- lished its Annual Report, 3 Bulletins, 25 Proceedings papers, and 2 papers in the Contributions from the United States National Herbar- ium. The division of history was elevated to the status of a full department of the Museum, with five divisions—military history, naval history, civil history, numismatics, and philately. National Gallery of Art—During the year there were 1,529,568 visitors to the Gallery, an average daily attendance of 4,225. Acces- sions as gifts, loans, or deposits numbered 1,174, including 10 paint- ings and 50 prints and drawings from the estate of the late R. Horace Gallatin, and 891 prints and drawings from Lessing J. Rosenwald. Eleven special exhibitions were held at the Gallery, and two traveling exhibitions were circulated to art galleries, museums, and other organ- izations throughout the country. In response to inquiries received by the Gallery, nearly 1,000 research problems requiring reports were investigated, and advice was given regarding 233 works of art brought to the Gallery for opinion. Numerous books and articles on art sub- jects were published by staff members. New publications continued to be added to the literature available at the Gallery for purchase by the public. Some 15,000 persons attended the special tours of the Gallery, 20,000 the ‘‘Picture of the Week”’ talks, and 18,000 the lec- tures in the auditorium. The Gallery’s collections of art works has grown so fast that all available exhibition space was in use during the year. To provide for expansion, contracts have been let for the completion of 12 more galleries in unfinished areas of the Gallery building. Some 50,000 persons attended the 46 Sunday evening concerts given in the Gallery’s East Garden Court. National Collection of Fine Arts.—At the annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission of December 7, 1948, a number of paintings were accepted for the National Collection. The Commis- sion passed a resolution calling attention to the inadequacy of the present art exhibition facilities in the National Museum and recom- mending that the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution take action to provide proper space for the preservation and exhibition to the public of the National Collection of Fine Arts. Two miniatures were acquired through the Catherine Walden Myer fund. Under the provisions of the Ranger bequest, seven paintings temporarily as- signed to various art institutions were recalled for final consideration by the Smithsonian Art Commission. Two of these paintings were accepted for the National Collection, and the others were returned to the institutions to which they were originally assigned. A large SECRETARY'S REPORT 11 amount of information on art subjects was furnished to visitors in person, as well as by mail and phone. Members of the staff lectured on art topics to several organizations, and six special art exhibitions were held during the year, for most of which catalogs were furnished by the organizations sponsoring the exhibitions. Freer Gallery of Art—Additions to the collections included Chinese bronze, jade, lacquer, marble, and painting; Syrian glass; Syrian or Egyptian gold; Arabic manuscript; Persian manuscript, painting, and stone sculpture; Indian painting; and Turkish painting. The work of the professional staff was devoted to the study of new accessions and to research within the collection of Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Arabic, and Indian materials. Reports were made upon 2,563 objects and 372 photographs of objects submitted to the Gallery for examina- tion, and 369 Oriental language inscriptions were translated. The repair and restoration of the walls of Whistler’s Peacock Room were completed early in the year, and work was begun on the ceiling. Visitors to the Gallery numbered 74,846 for the year, and 1,724 came to the Gallery offices for special purposes. Sixteen groups were given instruction in the exhibition galleries by staff members, and 13 lec- tures were given in art galleries and museums, before clubs, and to various associations. Bureau of American Ethnology.—Dr. M. W. Stirling, Director of the Bureau, devoted 4 months to a continuation of his archeological work in Panam4 in cooperation with the National Geographic Society. Heretofore undescribed ceramic cultures were found at Utivé and Barriles, and much new information was obtained on the classic Chiriqui and Veraguas cultures. Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., continued to direct from Washington the very extensive operations of the River Basin Surveys, a unit of the Bureau created to rescue important archeological sites threatened by the construction of dams and the creation of river basin reservoirs. The work was done in cooperation with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclama- tion, the Army Corps of Engineers, and local organizations. Surveys of threatened sites covered 69 reservoir areas in 21 States. Since the program started, 2,107 archeological sites have been located and recorded, and of these, 456 have been recommended for excavation or testing before they are destroyed by construction work. Dr. John P. Harrington continued his revision of the Maya grammar. Toward the end of the year he went to Old Town, Maine, to pursue ethnological and linguistic studies on the Abnaki Indians. Dr. Henry B. Collins, Jr., conducted archeological excavations at Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Ruins were found of old Eskimo semisubterranean houses made of stones, whale bones, and turf, the evidence showing that the site has been occupied succes- 12 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 sively by Eskimos of both the prehistoric Dorset and Thule cultures. Dr. William N. Fenton continued his field work and library research on the Iroquois Jndians, obtaining the life history of an aged Seneca and recording Seneca rituals, prayers, and legends. Dr. Gordon R. Willey devoted the year to studying and writing up the results of previous field work. His monographic work, ‘Archeology of the Florida Gulf Coast,’’ was completed and at the close of the year was in process of being published by the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute of Social Anthropology, an autonomous unit of the Bureau, is financed by State Department funds to carry out coopera- tive training in anthropological teaching and research with the other American republics. Institute staff members, under the directorship of Dr. George M. Foster, Jr., continued to give courses in anthropology and to conduct cooperative research and field work in Brazil, Colom- bia, México, and Pert. The Bureau published its Annual Report and two Publications of the Institute of Social Anthropology. The last two volumes of the Handbook of South American Indians, volumes 5 and 6, were in press at the close of the year. International Exchanges.—The Smithsonian International Exchange Service is the official United States agency for the interchange of gov- ernmental and scientific publications between this country and the other nations of the earth. The Exchange Service handled during the year a total of 840,125 packages of publications, weighing 796,700 pounds. ‘These figures represent an increase over the previous year of 80,006 packages, but a decrease of 15,489 pounds in weight, indicat- ing by the lighter weight per package that most institutions have about completed shipment of material held up during the war. Shipments are now made to all countries except Rumania, and efforts to resume exchanges with that country are being continued. The number of sets of United States official publications sent abroad in exchange for similar publications of other countries is now 96—58 full and 38 partial sets. There are also sent abroad through the Exchange Service 81 copies of the Federal Register and 75 copies of the Con- gressional Record. National Zoological Park.—The collection was improved during the year by the addition of a number of rare animals. At the close of the fiscal year there were 3,724 specimens in the collection, an increase of 927 over the previous year. These represented 755 different species, an increase of 65. Among the rare or unusual animals received by gift, exchange, or purchase were the rare Meller’s chameleon, a spectacled bear, a pair of pigmy marmosets—smallest of all monkeys, an African two-horned rhinoceros, a pair of wombats, a pigmy ant- eater, orang-utans, and chimpanzees. The total number of creatures SECRETARY’S REPORT 13 born or hatched at the Zoo was 157—56 mammals, 62 birds, and 39 reptiles. Personnel recruitment and training for the organization progressed satisfactorily, and the most needed repairs and minor im- provements to buildings and grounds were carried out. The year’s total of visitors to the Zoo was the largest ever recorded—3,346,050, an increase of more than 300,000 over the previous year. Groups from schools, some as far away as Maine, Florida, Texas, and Cali- fornia, numbered 1,844, aggregating 93,632 individuals. Astrophysical Observatory.—Year-long tests at the three most promising sites for a new high-altitude solar observing station indicate that the best skies prevail at the Clark Mountain, Calif., site, the second-best site being Pohakuola, Hawaii. Estimates of the cost of establishing a field station on Clark Mountain, however, proved to be in excess of available funds, forcing postponement of building opera- tions. Data and tables were prepared which simplify computations at the field observing stations by eliminating the tedious curve-plotting process heretofore used in obtaining the air mass. Daily observations of the solar constant of radiation were continued at the Montezuma, Chile, and Table Mountain, Calif., stations. Intercomparisons between the substandard silver-disk pyrheliometer S. I. No. 5 and the instruments in use at Miami, Montezuma, and Table Mountain show no material changes in constants, confirming the adopted scale of pyrheliometry. Special radiation measurements started in 1945 at Camp Lee, Va., under contract with the Office of the Quartermaster General, were continued there, half of the year by the Observatory and half by the Quartermaster Board; similar measurements were also made at Miami, Fla., and at Montezuma, Chile. The work of the Division of Radiation and Organisms has been concerned chiefly with reorganizing and reequipping the laboratories. Besides new office space which has been established, five rooms are being converted into constant-condition rooms for biological experimentation, and four chemistry laboratories will be available. In addition, a photographic laboratory, an X-ray room, a cytology laboratory, an electronics laboratory, and two general laboratories are being arranged. National Air Museum.—The Air Museum was given the responsi- bility of receiving, bringing to Washington, and preparing for exhibi- tion the original Wright Brothers aeroplane of 1903, presented to the National Museum in December 1948. A storage depot to be used by the Air Museum until it has a building of its own was acquired in November 1948 in the former Douglas Aircraft plant at Park Ridge, Ill. There a field organization was installed, and the Air Museum assumed custody of the storage facility itself and the large collection of planes and other aeronautical material stored there by the U. S. Air Force for the Museum. The Advisory Board held three meetings 14 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 during the year which were devoted mainly to advancing the acquisi- tion of a building site and a suitable museum building in the Wash- ington area. The Museum expects during the coming year to sub- mit to Congress a report regarding sites and a building, the prelim- inary study of which has been prepared in cooperation with the Public Buildings Administration. Among outstanding accessions of the year were the Swoose, the historic B-17—D bomber that served through- out World War II from Bataan to the defeat of Japan, presented by the city of Los Angeles; Maj. Alford Williams’ renowned Gulfhawk-—2 presented by the Gulf Oil Co.; a Japanese Baka Bomb, or “suicide plane,” transferred by the Department of the Navy; and 10 scale models of recent types of Naval aircraft received from the manufac- turers who produced the original planes. New accessions totaled 122 objects from 40 different sources. Canal Zone Biological Area.—A new building for woodworking and carpenter shops and for living quarters for the warden-caretaker was completed during the year, the old quarters being converted into a two-room laboratory unit. Work on the new 14,000-gallon water tank was halted by heavy rains but can be completed with 2 or 3 weeks of dry weather. The most urgent needs are the fireproofing of existing buildings and the construction of a new six-room laboratory and storage building. Twenty-nine scientists representing many different organizations worked at the laboratory during the year, and their contributions have added materially to our knowledge of tropical life. Among the interesting researches were the work of Drs. Scho- lander and Walters of the Arctic Research Laboratory at Point Barrow, Alaska, on the metabolic reactions to temperature in various animals and plants in order to obtain a tropical counterpart for similar work on Arctic forms in Alaska; the studies of Drs. Clark and Soper of the Research Laboratory of Eastman Kodak on the effects of tropical conditions on photographic equipment and materials, including color film; and the Resident Manager’s own special studies, particularly the long-term termite-resistance tests. PUBLICATIONS In carrying out the diffusion of knowledge, the Institution issues eight regular series of publications and six others that appear less fre- quently. All these series, embodying the results of Smithsonian researches, are distributed free to more than a thousand libraries, both here and abroad, as well as to a large list of educational and scientific organizations. The findings of Smithsonian scientists, chiefly in the fields of anthropology, biology, geology, and astrophysics, are therefore made readily available to all through this wide free distribution. SECRETARY’S REPORT 15 A total of 71 separate volumes and pamphlets were issued during the past year. Among the outstanding publications to appear were Dr. Henry Field’s compilation in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- tions entitled “Contributions to the Anthropology of the Soviet Union,” which presents, for the first time in English, accounts of recent findings in this little-known area; a revised edition of the popu- lar handbook of the National Aircraft Collection, which is in effect a brief history of aeronautics from the mythical fiying horses of antiquity to the supersonic jet planes of today; two more volumes in the famous series of Life Histories of North American Birds, prepared by A. C. Bent, bringing to 17 the number so far issued in the series; and a paper by Jason R. Swallen on new grasses from several countries of South and Central America, in the Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. The total number of copies of publications in all series distributed during the year was 267,491. A complete list of the year’s publica- tions will be found in the report of the Chief of the Editorial Division, Appendix 12. LIBRARY Of the 57,671 publications received by the Smithsonian library during the year, 7,287 came as gifts from many different donors. Another 17,713 were periodicals mostly received in exchange for Smithsonian publications from research institutions and other scien- tific and educational organizations throughout the world. Containing the record of progress in science and technology, these periodicals are indispensable in the prosecution of the Institution’s own work. Increasingly heavy demands upon reading and reference services of the library were noted during the year, the interlibrary loans total- ing 2,619 publications to 89 different libraries. The new position of assistant librarian in charge of the Astrophysical Observatory library was filled by the promotion of an acquisitions assistant. New exchanges arranged during the year numbered 338; 6,884 volumes and pamphlets were cataloged, and 31,184 cards were added to catalogs and shelflists; 1,060 volumes were sent to the bindery, and 1,026 were repaired in the Museum. At the close of the year, the library’s holdings totaled 921,206 volumes, more than half of which are housed in the Library of Congress as the Smithsonian Deposit. Respectfully submitted. ALEXANDER Wetmorg, Secretary. APPENDIX 1 REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM Srr: I have the honor to submit the following report on the condi- tion and operations of the United States National Museum for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949. COLLECTIONS Approximately 446,000 specimens (88,000 less than last year) were incorporated into the National collections during the year and were distributed among the six departments as follows: Anthropology, 4,099; zoology, 279,621; botany, 38,708; geology, 109,499; engineering and industries, 2,610; and history, 11,104. The decrease in the number of specimens accepted for the Museum’s collections may be attributed in part to the inadequacy of available storage facilities for the preser- vation of such materials; consequently, a finer screening of collections from prospective donors is now mandatory. Most of the accessions were acquired as gifts from individuals or as transfers from Govern- ment departments and agencies. The complete report on the Museum, published as a separate document, includes a detailed list of the year’s acquisitions, of which the more important are summarized below. Catalog entries in all departments now total 31,679,046. Anthropology.—The most noteworthy additions to the archeological collections were as follows: A black-figured Attic lecythus of the fifth century, B. C., presented to President Harry S. Truman as a token of gratitude from the people of Greece and lent by the President; 11 gold-plated ornaments from Veraguas, Panam4, and 2 gold fishhooks from Colombia, a gift from Karl P. Curtis; and 47 prehistoric earthen- ware vessels from the Valley of Nasca, Pert, presented to the late Gen. John J. Pershing by former Peruvian President Augusto B. Leguia and donated by General John J. Pershing. Handicrafts and material culture of many of the world’s peoples were represented in the additions to the ethnological collections. An unusually important collection of 51 specimens representing the work of American tribes of the Great Plains and the Great Lakes, of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as of the Eskimo of Alaska, of the Igorot of the Philippine Islands, and of the Marquesans and Maori of the 1 The revised tabulation of the National collection of insects during the past year, in addition to the normal increment, has increased last year’s total by more than 4,400,000 specimens. 16 SECRETARY’S REPORT 17 Southeast Pacific, assembled over a period of more than a century, was presented by Georgetown University. President Harry S. Tru- man presented to the Smithsonian Institution 17 gold-embossed silver vessels received at the White House as a gift from the Government of Tibet in appreciation of an American gift of wireless receiving and transmitting sets made during World War II. Included are two butter lamps and stands, four teacup stands and covers, two bowls for grain offerings, one teapot, and two beer mugs, all decorated in gold-embossed designs derived from Chinese-Tibetan folklore and Buddhist religious art. A collection of 287 folk, costume, and his- torical portrait dolls, representing the native dress of peoples of many lands, was received as a bequest from the late Mrs. Frank Brett Noyes. The Don Diego Columbus mahogany table, traditionally known as the writing desk of Diego Columbus, was conditionally bequeathed by Mrs. Edith Keyes Benton. This table had been preserved for centuries in the cathedral of Santo Domingo City and was presented by Archbishop Nouel to Commander Frederick L. Benton, U.S.N., in recognition of his work in Santo Domingo during the influenza epidemic of 1918. One of the rarest of musical instruments, a musical gong, kyung, carved from white marble, was presented by Ju Whan Lee, director of the Korean Court Music Conservatory at Seoul, Korea. The largest accession received by the division of physical anthro- pology consisted of the skeletal remains recovered in northern Australia by Frank M. Setzler, a member of the Commonwealth of Australia- National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Expedition to Arnhem Land. Australian skeletal material available for study in the United States is rather limited. Four casts of African fossil primates, which illustrate certain characteristics of antecedent special- ization, were also acquired during the year. Zoology.—The collections made by the Museum staff detailed to the Arnhem Land field expedition, under the joint sponsorship of the Commonwealth of Australia, National Geographic Society, and the Smithsonian Institution, have added many previously unrepresented forms of animal life to the National collections. These collections included not only vertebrates but invertebrates as well. Accessions that enhanced the usefulness of the mammalian collec- tion came from the Northern Territory of Australia, Nepal, Malay Peninsula, Korea, Okinawa, Philippine Islands, New Guinea, and New Hampshire. Field work financed wholly or in part by the W. L. Abbott fund resulted in the addition of birds not hitherto represented in the National collection. Included among these accessions were 2,815 skins and 38 eggs of Colombian birds; 900 skins, 24 skeletons, and 2 sets of eggs of Panamanian birds; 778 bird skins, many of which were not represented in the collection, as well as 51 skeletons and 2 eggs 18 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 from Arnhem Land, Australia; and 1,164 bird skins procured by the joint National Geographic Society-Yale University-Smithsonian Institution Expedition to India and Nepal. Other accessions com- prised 611 bird skins from Nyasaland: 177 birds and 1 egg from northeastern Venezuela; 171 bird skins from Pacific War areas; and 125 bird skins from Korea. Snakes, lizards, and frogs from Arnhem Land, amphibians from Pert, reptiles and amphibians from Honduras, and a general collection from Virginia and North Carolina constituted the most important additions to the herpetological collection. The most noteworthy accessions received by the division of fishes were nearly 14,000 specimens from the Solomon Islands and the East Indies, which were presented by Dr. Wilbert M. Chapman; 14,300 from Arnhem Land; and approximately 5,000 from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, resulting from a survey sponsored by the Arabian- American Oil Co. Other important collections of fishes came from Puerto Rico, Panam4, British Columbia, and Florida. Approximately 25,000 miscellaneous: insects from South Pacific Islands came to the Museum by transfer from the U. S. Commercial Co. Among other large lots were approximately 12,000 flies; 3,500 chalcidoid wasps; 500 beetles; and some 53,000 insects transferred from the United States Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. During the year considerable significant material was added to the marine invertebrate collection, of which the most important accessions were 11,765 miscellaneous invertebrates from the Department of Zoology, University of California; 70 lots of paratypes, hypotypes, and topotypes of hydroids from the Allan Hancock Foundation, University of Southern California; 760 marine invertebrates from California and Mexicc; 709 specimens from Bahama Islands; 1,781 from Pacific Islands and California; 452 from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea; and 859 from Arnhem Land. By transfer from the Office of Naval Research, the Museum acquired 3,668 invertebrates from Point Barrow, Alaska. The United States Geological Survey transferred 568 specimens from the Marianas Islands. A rare deep-water Pleurotomaria, dredged at a depth of 160 fathoms off Natal, South Africa, and presented by Dr. Cecil von Bonde, con- stituted the most notable accession received by the division of mollusks. From other sources the division received 250 Peruvian terrestrial and fresh-water mollusks and 540 marine mollusks from Canton Island, and 150 Japanese land mollusks. Exchanges brought to the Museum approximately 1,080 shells from Spain and lesser numbers from South Africa, Italy, and Cuba. By transfer the Museum received about 1,200 mollusks obtained in the Caroline Islands from the United States Geological Survey; approximately 30,600 specimens SECRETARY'S REPORT 19. from the Naval Medical Research Institute; and 600 marine and land shells of the Solomon Islands from the Naval Medical School. Mem- bers of the staff obtained about 1,200 mollusks in Arnhem Land and some 1,500 in the region of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Botany.—As exchanges, the National Herbarium received 2,382 plants, comprising a collection made in Fiji by Dr. A. C. Smith, from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University; 5,854 plants of Colom- bia from the Facultad de Agronomia, Universidad Nacional, Medellin; and 2,157 Chinese plants from the National Szechwan University. The Division of Rubber Plant Investigations, United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, transferred 865 plants from eastern Colombia. The Oficina de Estudios Especiales, Mexico City, presented 394 Mexican grasses. A noteworthy gift of 295 ferns of Micronesia came to the Herbarium from the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, and Dr. Gunnar Degelius, University of Uppsala, presented 602 lichens from various localities. Geology — Gifts and exchanges contributed to the growth of the mineral collections. More than 20 kinds of minerals hitherto unrepre- sented in the collections were received. Forty exceptionally good examples of rare secondary uranium minerals from Katanga, Belgian Congo, as well as other unusual minerals were added to the Roebling collection. A fine collection of rare copper sulfates from Chuquicam- ata, Chile, was presented by the Chile Exploration Co. Included among the additions to the Canfield collection were a gem-quality golden beryl crystal weighing over 1,800 grams from Brazil and an unusually large zircon crystal from Australia. The Chamberlain bequest provided funds for the purchase of a 42-carat brazilianite gemstone, the largest as yet found in Brazil. An 8,750-gram stony meteorite, which fell at Girgenti, Italy, was received as a gift from Dr. Stuart H. Perry, and other meteorites were acquired either as gifts or in exchange. Several large collections of invertebrate fossils were presented to the Museum, three of the larger lots being 7,500 Middle Ordovician fossils, mostly bryozoans, from O. C. Cole, Kenyon, Minn.; 2,150 Pennsyl- vanian fossils from Robert Stark, Grapevine, Tex.; and 10,000 fossil mollusks from A. L. Bowsher. Types and paratypes of Upper Cretaceous trilobites, Tertiary mollusks, Pennsylvanian goniatites, Ordovician invertebrates, and Cretaceous Foraminifera were included in other accessions. Through funds provided by the Walcott bequest, the Museum acquired 40,000 invertebrate fossils from the Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian deposits in west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona collected by Associate Curator A. L. Bowsher and William Allen; 25,000 Paleozoic fossils from Texas and Oklahoma collected by Curator G. A. Cooper and Associate Curator A. R. 20 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Loeblich; 2,500 Middle Ordovician fossils collected by Dr. Cooper in Tennessee and Virginia; and 2,000 Permian and Jurassic ammonites and brachiopods from Sicily. As usual the year’s accessions included a number of transfers from the United States Geological Survey. A nearly complete skeleton of the Triassic phytosaur Aachaero- prosopus gregorii, from the Chinle formation near St. Johns, Ariz., excavated and transferred to the Museum by the United States Geo- logical Survey, constitutes the outstanding acquisition of the year in vertebrate paleontology. Through the Walcott funds there were received articulated skeletal remains of the condylarth Meniscotherium robustum and the complete skeleton of a large ichthyodectid fish. Outstanding gifts include specimens of the Devonian arthrodiran fish Eudinichthys terrilli, a partial skeleton of the Pleistocene jaguar Pan- thera augusta, an incomplete skull of the Pleistocene walrus Odobenus virginianus, and a portion of the skull of a Miocene tapir. The Smithsonian River Basin Surveys transferred mammalian fossils from Eocene and Oligocene deposits of Wyoming and Montana. Engineering and industries—The presentation of the historic aeroplane invented and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright and flown by them at Kitty Hawk, N. C., on December 17, 1903, was witnessed by 1,000 or more distinguished guests at the formal ceremony held in the north entrance hall of the Arts and Industries Building of the United States National Museum on December 17, 1948. The presen- tation was made by Milton Wright, of Dayton, Ohio, on behalf of the estate of Orville Wright. The Chancellor of the Smithsonian Insti- tution, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, accepted the Wright Brothers’ aeroplane on behalf of the Nation, and the formal acceptance address was delivered by Vice President-Elect Alben W. Barkley. _ A collection of electrical measuring instruments, early lamps, and electronic tubes, some of which were constructed in the 1880 decade, was presented by the Weston Electrical Instrument Corp. The Museum is indebted to the United States Signal Corps Laboratories for an exhibit illustrating radar and microwave radio-relay communi- cation. From the Cork Institute of America the section of wood technology received 100 samples and 9 photographs which illustrate the production and utilization of cork bark. Etchings and serigraphs by Forain, Margo, Velonis, Detwiller, and Kainen were added to the graphic arts collection through the Dahlgreen fund. A Marcy Sciopticon Magic Lantern, a kerosene-lamp projector, patented 1868-69, was the most interesting accession in the photographic section. The division of medicine and public health received from Telex, Inc., a number of devices that show the development of electric hearing aids. SECRETARY’S REPORT 21 History.—Several unusual items were added during the past year to the National collection of American antiques and personal relics, and of these the spirit set and silverware owned by the Maryland surveyor Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) are the oldest. A marble slab from the Temple of Wingless Victory on the Athens Acropolis, pre- sented to President Truman by a Greek delegation on March 28, 1949, as a token of gratitude from the people of Greece, was lent by the President. The most interesting additions to the costumes collection were a parasol made of pheasant feathers and an old bonnet of the type known as “‘calash.”” The outstanding accessions to the military collection were the relics bequeathed by Gen. John J. Pershing, comprising personal uniforms, presentation flags, medals, decorations, and other mementos of his military service. Forty-four portraits of World War II heroes painted by Joseph Cummings Chase were presented to the Museum by the artist. The collection of gold and silver coins, chiefly European issues dating from the fourteenth to the twentieth century, which was re- ceived as a gift from Paul A. Straub, of New York City, constitutes the most noteworthy accession acquired by the division of numismatics in recent years. A complete set, in duplicate, of Allied military currency was presented by the Department of the Army. EXPLORATION AND FIELD WORK Staff specialists in the departments of anthropology, zoology, botany, and geology were engaged during the year in field work in South, Central, and North America, New Zealand, and Australia. The four staff members—Frank M. Setzler, head curator of anthro- pology; Dr. David H. Johnson, associate curator of mammals; Herbert G. Deignan, associate curator of birds; and Dr. Robert R. Miller, associate curator of fishes—who participated in the technical work of the Commonwealth of Australia-National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Expedition to Arnhem Land under the leadership of Charles P. Mountford, returned to Washington, D. C., late in 1948 following completion of the field work. The base camp of the expedition, which had been established April 4, 1948, on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, was moved during July 1948 to Yirrkala on the beach of Arafura Sea near the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land. A third camp was established September 21, 1948, at Oenpelli on Hast Alligator River near the foot of the high Arnhem Land escarpment. The entire party returned to Darwin in November to pack the collections and field equipment for shipment to the participating institutions. 22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 During the first 3 months of 1949, Dr. T. Dale Stewart, curator of physical anthropology, was engaged in taking anthropometric meas- urements of some 200 Mayan-speaking Indians in the highlands of Guatemala. Most of this field study was carried on at Soloma in the Department of Huehuetenango, and at Santa Clara la Laguna in the Department of Solol4. A secondary project was the examination of skeletal remains at archeological sites in the highlands. As in the previous year, Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, associate curator of archeology, was detailed to the River Basin Surveys under the Bureau of American Ethnology to supervise field and laboratory operations in the Missouri Valley. The National Geographic Society-Yale Unitoriiy- Sunes Institution Expedition to India and Nepal, which was directed by S. Dillon Ripley, brought back important collections of birds and mammals from the Karnali Valley in western Nepal and the Kosi Valley in eastern Nepal—regions rarely visited by naturalists. / For 5 months during the middle of 1948, Donald S. Erdman, divi- sion of fishes, participated in a fishery survey in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea under the auspices of the Arabian-American Oil Co. At the invitation of the Plywoods-Plastics Corp., Dr. Henry W. Setzer, associate curator, division of mammals, worked in Costa Rica and obtained specimens of mammals and birds in the valleys of the Rio Estrella and the Rio Turrialba. Dr. A. Wetmore and W. M. Perrygo conducted ornithological field work in the eastern section of the Province of Panam4, Republic of Panama, a region they had not explored on previous trips. The field work of M. A. Carriker, Jr., in the Rio Sint region of northwestern Colombia, resulted in the preparation of one of the most complete collections of birds thus far obtained in the area adjacent to Panama. Charles O. Handley, Jr., temporarily employed as assistant curator of birds, departed from Washington in March 1949 under a cooperative arrangement with the Weather Bureau to study the birds and mam- mals in one area of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Botanical field projects participated in by the staff included the following: After adjournment of the Second South American Botan- ical Congress held at Tucum4n, Argentina, E. P. Killip, head curator of botany, and Dr. Lyman B. Smith, associate curator of phanero- gams, made collections in northwestern Argentina; large numbers of plants were assembled by Mr. Killip in the Santiago-Valparaiso region of Chile, and other specimens were subsequently obtained at Cali, Medellin, and Bogota, Colombia; Dr. Smith collected plants in the vicinity of Séo Paulo and Rfo de Janeiro, Brazil. Following the adjournment of the Seventh Pacific Science Congress held between February 2 and 22, 1949, Dr. E. H. Walker, associate SECRETARY’S REPORT 23 curator of phancrogams, remained in New Zealand for about 6 weeks at the invitation of the University of New Zealand to carry on botan- ical field work on the two main islands and on Stewart Island. Jason R. Swallen, curator of grasses, at the request of Dr. C. L. Lundell, director of the Texas Research Foundation, made a survey of the grasses of the Kingsville region, Texas. George A. Llano, associate curator of cryptogams, is making a special study of the ecology of the lichens of the Arctic slopes of the Brooks Mountains in northern Alaska under a project sponsored by the Arctic Institute of North America. Paul S. Conger, associate curator of diatoms, devoted 2 months during the summer of 1948 to an investigation of the ecology of diatoms at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons Island, Md. Research Associate F. A. McClure continued his field studies of American bamboos in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad. A wide variety of paleontological field work financed by the Walcott bequest enabled the staff to obtain new materials for the collections. Included among these additions are fossil fishes from the Green River Kocene beds in northeastern Utab and the Pierre Cretaceous deposits in eastern Wyoming excavated by Dr. D. H. Dunkle and A. C. Murray; Eocene mammalian fossils from the Bridger Basin in western Wyoming collected by Dr. C. L. Gazin; Paleocene mammalian fossils found by Dr. C. L. Gazin and F. L. Pearce in the San Juan Basin of northwestern Utah; Permian and Mississippian invertebrate fossils obtained by Dr. G. A. Cooper and Dr. A. R. Loeblich, Jr., in Texas and Oklahoma; Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian fossils from New Mexico and Texas collected by A. L. Bowsher and William Allen; and Jurassic microfossils from Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota obtained by Dr. A. R. Loeblich, Jr., and Dr. Ralph W. Imlay. PUBLICATIONS Thirty-one Museum publications were issued during the year: 1 Annual Report, 3 in the Bulletin series, 25 in the Proceedings, and 2 numbers of the Contributions from the United States National Her- barium. A list of these is given in the complete report on Smithsonian publications, appendix 12. Especially noteworthy are two numbers of A. C. Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds: one on the nuthatches, wrens, thrashers, and their allies, the other on the thrushes, kinglets, and their allies—completing 17 volumes in this popular series. The eighteenth is now in press. The distribution of volumes and separates to libraries and other institutions and to individuals aggregated 66,459 copies. 858775 —49—_3 24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION One important change in the organization of the United States National Museum was effected during the year. On August 16, 1948, the division of history was raised to the status of a department. Charles Carey, who received his first appointment to the Museum staff on November 2, 1920, was named acting head curator of the department of history. The functions of this department were allo- cated to five divisions—military history, naval history, civil history, numismatics, and philately. Respectfully submitted. REMINGTON KELLOGG, Director. Dr. A. WETMORE, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. APPENDIX 2 REPORT ON THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART Sir: I have the honor to submit, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, the twelfth annual report of the National Gallery of Art, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949. This report is made pursuant to the pro- visions of section 5 (d) of Public Resolution No. 14, Seventy-fifth Congress, first session, approved March 24, 1937 (50 Stat. 51). ORGANIZATION The statutory members of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art are the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secre- tary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, ex officio. The five general trustees continu- ing in office during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949, were Samuel H. Kress, Ferdinand Lammot Belin, Duncan Phillips, Chester Dale, and Paul Mellon. The Board of Trustees held its annual meeting on May 3, 1949. Samuel H. Kress was reelected President and Ferdi- nand Lammot Belin Vice President, to serve for the ensuing year. Donald D. Shepard continued to serve during the year as Advisor to the Board. All the executive officers of the Gallery continued in office during the year: Huntington Cairns, Secretary-Treasurer. David E. Finley, Director. Harry A. McBride, Administrator. Huntington Cairns, General Counsel. John Walker, Chief Curator. Macgill James, Assistant Director. The three standing committees of the Board, as constituted at the annual meeting May 3, 1949, were as follows: Executive CoMMITTEE Chief Justice of the United States, ex officio, Fred M. Vinson, Chairman. Samuel H. Kress, Vice Chairman. Ferdinand Lammot Belin. Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Alexander Wetmore. Paul Mellon. 26 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Finance CoMMITTEE Secretary of the Treasury, ex officio, John W. Snyder, Chairman. Samuel H. Kress, Vice Chairman. Ferdinand Lammot Belin. Chester Dale. Paul Mellon. ACQUISITIONS COMMITTEE Samuel H. Kress, Chairman. Ferdinand Lammot Belin, Vice Chairman. Duncan Phillips. Chester Dale. David E. Finley, ex officio. On June 30, 1949, the Government employees on the staff of the National Gallery of Art totaled 309, as compared with 312 employees as of June 30, 1948. The United States Civil Service regulations govern the appointment of employees paid from appropriated public funds. Throughout the year a high standard of operation has been main- tained by all departments of the Gallery in the protection of the Gallery’s collections of works of art and the maintenance of the Gallery building and grounds. APPROPRIATIONS For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949, the Congress of the United States appropriated for the National Gallery of Art the sum of $1,073,500 to be used for salaries and expenses in the operation and upkeep of the Gallery, the protection and care of works of art, and administrative and other expenses. This amount includes the regu- lar appropriation of $966,000, and a supplemental appropriation of $107,500. The supplemental appropriation was made to provide $4,600 to meet in part an increase in the rates for electric current, which could not be foreseen by the Gallery and estimated for at the time the 1949 budget was submitted to the Congress; and the bal- ance of $102,900 was necessary to meet the pay increases, effective July 11, 1948, amounting to $330 per annum to each employee as authorized by Public Law 900, Eightieth Congress. From these appropriations the following expenditures and encum- brances were incurred: Personal Services: oi. 625 uch a ay ar So eR $940, 100. 00 Printing and binging. 02.005 oN Uo a Ne Aes een ear nnn een aie 6, 626. 95 Supplies: equipment “etews wks clio iy alk Mca 126, 739. 30 Unoblicated balances scat iano Ua kyu en nomen Onan nm 33. 75 ROG TE MLD AA ANSI ES UN AUB ce EAI OCU A RCRA 1, 073, 500. 00 SECRETARY’S REPORT 27 ATTENDANCE During the fiscal year 1949 there were 1,529,568 visitors to the Gallery, an average daily attendance of about 4,225. From March 17, 1941, the day on which the National Gallery of Art was first opened to the public, to June 30, 1949, there have been 15,070,976 visitors to the Gallery. ACCESSIONS There were 1,174 accessions by the National Gallery of Art, as gifts, loans, or deposits, during the fiscal year. Most of the paintings and a number of the prints were placed on exhibition. PAINTINGS During the fiscal year the Board of Trustees of the National Gal- lery of Art received 10 paintings from the Estate of the late R. Horace Gallatin. The paintings are as follows: Artist Title Jean-Charles @agims 6 yeo ye Nee ee oe The Windmill. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot______________- River View. Charles-Francois Daubigny_____________-_- Landscape with Figures. Diaziderlambema= ee ON CR d SAIN Forest Scene. TIMES HO Uwe Ne EY Sy SS ii me ee The Old Oak. KrancesconGuandi ss oe 20 y oboe ee Nk The Rialto Bridge, Venice. Henri-Joseph Harpignies_____.____________ Landscape. schooltor Claude) Worraing) 22 2s ae Harbor at Sunset. Jean-Francois Millet_.______._____________-_ The Bather. M@heodoresRousseaul. “2 Se eS Landscape with Boatman. A painting by Murillo, ““The Return of the Prodigal Son,” given by the Avalon Foundation, was accepted by the Board of Trustees on December 10, 1948. At the same time the Board accepted the portrait of Daniel Boardman, by Ralph Earl, from Mrs. W. Murray Crane; “Interior of a Church,’ by Pieter Neefis, from Senator Theo- dore Francis Green of Rhode Island; and two paintings, ‘‘Repose,” by John Singer Sargent, and ‘‘Head of a Girl,” by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, from Curt H. Reisinger. On December 22, 1948, the Board of Trustees accepted from Dr. G. H. A. Clowes a painting, “Allegory,’’ Venetian School about 1500, and from Vladimir Horo- witz a painting, ‘Head of a Young Girl,” by Renoir. The Board of Trustees accepted from Miss Georgia O’Keeffe on March 8, 1949, a gift of the following three paintings: Artist Title Miarsdenwblartleyei2 20) las ee Landscape No. 5. ss eH OWE TM @yehea D Yoh t = Sto ty Ni accel a A at Moth Dance. Georciav © Keeti ets 2. aii. A ud Bray ae To be selected later. 28 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 During the fiscal year, the portrait of Captain Patrick Miller by Raeburn, previously on loan, was given to the Gallery by Mrs. Dwight Davis. SCULPTURE On December 10, 1948, the Board of Trustees accepted from Stanley Mortimer, Jr., a ‘Portrait Bust of a Member of the Order of San Iago’”’ attributed to Leone Leoni, which had previously been on loan to the Gallery. At the same time the Board accepted from Miss Mildred Howells a portrait medallion of her father, William Dean Howells, and herself, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to be held for a National Portrait Gallery. PRINTS AND DRAWINGS A gift from Lessing J. Rosenwald of 309 additional prints and drawings was accepted on December 10, 1948, to be added to the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection. At the same time, two volumes of “The Georgics”’ of Virgil with 119 illustrations by Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac were accepted as a gift from the artist. This gift was inspired by an earlier gift to the Gallery of a collection of Segonzac’s prints and drawings made in memory of the late Frank Crowninshield. The Board of Trustees, during the fiscal year, received 50 prints and drawings from the collection of the late R. Horace Gallatin. On March 8, 1949, the Board accepted from Miss Georgia O’Keeffe three water colors by John Marin entitled ‘Movement, Boat and Sea, Deer Isle, Maine,” “White Mountain Country, Summer,” and “Storm over Taos, New Mexico.”’ The Board of Trustees accepted from Mr. Rosenwald on May 8, 1949, 582 additional prints and draw- ings. Received during the fiscal year from George Matthew Adams were 20 etchings by Alphonse Legros. PHOTOGRAPHS The Board of Trustees on March 8, 1949, accepted from Miss Georgia O’Keeffe a key set of photographs, consisting of about 1,500 prints, by Alfred Stieglitz. EXCHANGE OF WORKS OF ART During the fiscal year 1949 the Board accepted the offer of Chester Dale to exchange the portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Sully, which was being held for the National Portrait Gallery, for the por- trait of the Sicard David Children by Sully, which was then on loan to the Gallery. The Board also accepted the offer of Lessing J. Rosenwald to exchange the prints “Sacrifice to Priapus,’”’ by Jacopo de Barbari, “(Conversion of St. Paul,’’? by Lucas van Leyden, and SECRETARY'S REPORT 29 “Solomon Worshipping Idols,” by the Master M. Z., for superior impressions of like prints now included in the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art. WORKS OF ART ON LOAN During the fiscal year 1949 the following works of art were received on loan by the National Gallery of Art: From Artist Chester Dale, New York, N. Y.: TESVOT GUO hess ttn lity att gO 7 la eat A a Domergue. ress be Paap Wy, Tg Zuloaga. Sanusepulyedsac (ous Nas Sa ees Zuloaga. ayRubia del Abanico.. 0220 4o22 2.0553. Zuloaga. Mrs. Brooks Goddard, Paris, France (via the National Collection of Fine Arts): Musical Inspiration._.__.._....._-.-__---- Romaine Brooks Goddard. Pires aAlCoOmiy A231 iS peal pe a ey Romaine Brooks Goddard. Sketchy etka ats Le Oa a eh aA ell Romaine Brooks Goddard. DEM SROLtN AIG ie eee RE A Romaine Brooks Goddard. Alfred Stieglitz Collection: (Miss Georgia O’Keeffe, New York, N. Wo) Chimneys and Water Tower-_________-_--- Demuth. A Cow’s Skull with Red..________--__--_- O’ Keeffe. Ihinerand' Curve. jemlak oe ee O’ Keeffe. Chauncey Stillman, New York, N. Y.: AVEalberdiensi 22 seetorer Sl oo ee Pontormo. George Matthew Adams, New York, N. Y.: Srevemin Gay c/o eee re a Le Alphonse Legros. C. 8. Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal: 28 pieces of Egyptian sculpture. 3 pieces of eighteenth-century French fur- niture. 1 fourteenth-century Arabian bottle. 1 sixteenth-century Persian rug. 7 eighteenth-century French books. The Italian Government: A marble statue of David________________-_ Michelangelo. Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D. C.: 32 objects of Pre-Columbian art. LOANED WORKS OF ART RETURNED The following works of art on loan were returned during the fiscal year 1949: To Artist Chester Dale, New York, N. Y.: On the Beach________-.-...-____-..-.... Winslow Homer. Mme. Charlotte Fuerstenberg, at New York, INGRYS: SEAS ti Hsta cee sigue ue ean a a) Lah ie Cezanne. 30 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Anonymous loan: Paradisei Valleys. o) 2448 jeitse bed aeto sss John La Farge. Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D. C.: 16 objects of Pre-Columbian art. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cam- bridge, Mass.: 70 objects of Pre-Columbian art. WORKS OF ART LOANED During the fiscal year 1949, the Gallery loaned the following works of art for exhibition purposes: To Artist Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, N. Y.: Joseph Widener. so02 Woe ee BEL eee Augustus John. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IIl.: AlexanderHamiltomoewe 22 2k ele lee Trumbull. WaltianaaBhoritom ina ics oe bor se Ls Stuart. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio: Abrahan income aks ule Es Healy. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.: AMhe White Gur lece 2 eo er Oars ea Whistler. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Tex.: George Washington (Vaughan-Sinelair) _____ Stuart. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio: lackawanna Valleyasor aes oo 2 ee Inness. Fort Worth Art Association, Forth Worth, Tex.: Breezing sUip ese sa a ee Winslow Homer. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N. Y.: Captain Charles Stewart__..._._____-__-- Sully. Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, N. C.: ‘Dhomas haw sons) Seen oie Sek ne i ieee Mather Brown. Henry Baurensi: ssh yoo) Seine cer a Copley. IAN GTC Wee JC KS OMe ei a ita e. Wales aia ke nen aes Earl. Williamina Moores (2 9is 0. Ong ietan Feke General William? Moultrie. “2 oss. 02 2s Charles Willson Peale. Johny Ci Calo une 2 Sa ae eC Eee ae Rembrandt Peale. Johny baptistayAshesec yas ee es ae Stuart. Matilda; Carolines@rugers. 252000. 02020. 2 Stuart. rancis Hopkinson. 20 snes Cl) Sake a Sully. Ann Biddle Hopkinsone 222s Gain Whi s Sully. JOSiaS HAMS Gore sites a eel ed Ue Theus. William: Rogers’ sera rs me, ase eorrar Trumbull. Portraits, Inc., New York, N. Y.: Mrs Chester Dale cu veya LN Sik Bellows. Mur. (Chester: Dales sy nail yuu ayia cand Pies Bellows. Scott and Fowles, New York, N. Y.: JosephiWidene rm. 222 ae ian Ls cen eel ee Mat Augustus John. SECRETARY’S REPORT 31 EXHIBITIONS During the fiscal year 1949 the following exhibitions were held at the National Gallery of Art: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art. Exhi- bition of American paintings, featuring a group of portraits from Pocahontas to General Eisenhower. Continued from previous fiscal year, through July 11, 1948. American Folk Art. Exhibition consisting of 104 water-color renderings from the Index of American Design. July 18 to September 7, 1948. American Graphic Art from the Highteenth Century to the Present Day. Selection from the collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institu- tion, and the National Gallery of Art. September 19 to November 14, 1948. Paris the Favorable Climate. Exhibition of prints and drawings by Bonnard, Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac, and Matisse, arranged in memory of Frank Crowninshield. November 21, 1948, to January 11, 1949. Michelangelo’s ‘‘David.’’ Lent to the National Gallery of Art by the Italian Government. January 24 to June 28, 1949. Gulbenkian Collection of Egyptian Sculpture. Lent for an indefinite period to the National Gallery of Art by C. S. Gulbenkian. Opened January 30, 1949. Studies of Medieval Cathedrals. Exhibition of photographic studies lent to the National Gallery of Art by Clarence Ward, head of the Department of Fine Arts, Oberlin College. January 30 to February 13, 1949. Gulbenkian Collection of Eighteenth Century French Objects. Additions to earlier loan by C. S. Gulbenkian, on exhibition at the National Gallery of Art for an indefinite period. Opened February 20, 1949. American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art. Feb- ruary 20 to April 10, 1949. Early Italian Engraving. Exhibition of early Italian engravings, lent to the National Gallery of Art by various museums and anonymous lenders. April 17 to June 19, 1949. R. Horace Gallatin Collection. Exhibition of prints bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art by Mr. Gallatin. Opened June 26, 1949. ~ The following exhibitions were displayed in the cafeteria corridor of the National Gallery of Art during the fiscal year 1949: Whistler Prints. Rosenwald Collection; one gift of Myron A. Hofer. Con- tinued from previous fiscal year through July 18, 1948. Audubon Prints. Mrs. Walter B. James Collection. July 20 to December 12, 1948. Index of American Design. Water-color renderings of early American toys. December 13, 1948, to February 15, 1949. Index of American Design. Water-color renderings of early American furniture and textiles. February 16 to March 28, 1949. Legros Prints. George Matthew Adams Collection. March 29 to May 15, 1949. Seymour Haden Prints. Rosenwald Collection and gift of Miss Elisabeth Achelis. May 16 to June 12, 1949. Ostade Prints. Rosenwald Collection and gift of Mrs. Addie Burr Clark. Opened June 13, 1949. 32 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS Rosenwald Oollection.—Special exhibitions of prints from the Rosen- wald Collection were circulated to the following places during the fiscal year 1949: Kenneth Taylor Galleries, Nantucket, Mass.: 26 French prints. July 26 to August 23, 1948. Watkins Gallery, American University, Washington, D. C.: 26 French prints. October 13 to 30, 1948. Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, Calif.: 20 Blake prints. October 1948. Wyncote Woman’s Club, Wyncote, Pa.: 11 prints. October 17 to 23, 1948. Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J.: 9 Italian prints. October 1948. Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.: 1 Rembrandt drawing. November 1948. Museum of Modern Art, New York, N. Y.: 1 Munch print. November 1948 to January 1949. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Md.: 6 Gavarni drawings. January 22 to March 6, 1949. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Md.: 5 miniatures. January 27 to March 13, 1949. City Art Museum, St. Louis, Mo.: 17 prints. March 1949. Institute of Contemporary Arts, Washington, D. C.: 11 Klee prints. March 21 to April 22, 1949. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pa.: 3 Lehmbruck prints. May 1949. Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Canada: 67 prints. May 1949. SECRETARY’S REPORT 33 Index of American Design.—During the fiscal year 1949 exhibitions from this collection were shown at the following places: Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. Shaker Village Work Camp, Pittsfield, Mass. New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, N. Y. Damariscotta Information Bureau, Damariscotta, Maine. University of Tennessee, Tenn. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wis. City Art Museum, St. Louis, Mo. William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kan- sas City, Mo. Munson- Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, N. Y. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio. Mint Museum, Charlotte, N. C. Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Ala. Knoxville, Schenectady Museum, Schenectady, IN Ys University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. North Carolina College, Durham, N. C. Art Institute, Zanesville, Ohio. Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N. H. Stephens College, Columbia, Mo. Brown University, Providence, R. I. Fort Valley State College, Fort Valley, Ga. Washington College, Chestertown, Md. Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pa. Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, Mich. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, Tallahassee, Fla. Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, Maine. Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. Young Playways, Inc., Washington, D. C. Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Prairie View University, Prairie View, Tex. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N. Dak. American University, Washington, D. C. Rockford Art Association, Rockford, Il. Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Va. Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College, Pine Bluff, Ark. Alfred University, Alfred, N. Y. Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. St. Paul Public Library, St. Paul, Minn. Spelman College, Atlanta, Ga. Arnot Art Gallery, Elmira, N. Y. Kenneth Taylor Galleries, Nantucket, Mass. CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES The Curatorial Department accessioned 1,118 new gifts to the Gallery during the fiscal year. Advice was given in the case of 233 works of art brought to the Gallery for opinion, and 58 visits were made by members of the staff in connection with proffered works of art. Almost 1,000 research problems requiring reports were investigated in response to inquiries received by the Gallery. During the year, 16 individual lectures were given by members of the curatorial staff, both at the Gallery and elsewhere. In addition Miss Elizabeth Monegan gave a seminar at Alverthorpe, Jenkintown, Pa., for Swarth- 34 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 more College honor students; Charles Seymour, Jr., gave a course at Johns Hopkins University on Renaissance Art; and Charles M. Richards gave a survey course on art history under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. Miss Mongan also made the arrangements for Arthur M. Hind’s American lecture tour, in connec- tion with the publication of Part IJ of his ‘Early Italian Engraving,” under Gallery auspices. Mr. Seymour served on three and Miss Mongan on two art juries. Special installations were prepared for: the Michelangelo ‘‘ David” lent to the National Gallery of Art through the courtesy of the Italian Government; 28 pieces of Egyptian sculpture lent to the Gallery by C. S. Gulbenkian placed on exhibition in January 1949; and eighteenth-century furniture and books also lent by Mr. Gulben- kian. The cataloging and filing of photographs in the George Martin Richter Archive continued to make progress, with the gradual enlargement of the collection. Further activities of the department are indicated under the heading of ‘‘ Publications.” RESTORATION AND REPAIR OF WORKS OF ART Necessary restoration and repair of works of art in the Gallery’s collections were made by Stephen S. Pichetto, Consultant Restorer to the Gallery, until his death in January 1949. No successor to Mr. Pichetto has as yet been appointed, but necessary minor repairs on the works of art have been continued under the care of Mr. Pichetto’s residual staff. All work was completed in the Restorer’s studio in the Gallery, with the exception of the restoration of two paintings, work on which is being completed in the New York studio of S. 8. Pichetto, Inc. PUBLICATIONS During the year Mr. Cairns published two books, ‘‘The Limits of Art,” Pantheon Books, Inc., and ‘‘Legal Philosophy from Plato to Hegel,” Johns Hopkins Press. He also edited a volume entitled “Lectures in Criticism,” Pantheon Books, Inc., and contributed an introduction to ‘‘Kpicurus, My Master,” by Max Radin, University of North Carolina Press. He also contributed articles and reviews to the Columbia Law Review, Human Events, Saturday Review of Literature, New York Herald Tribune, Baltimore Evening Sun, Law and Contemporary Problems, The Scientific Monthly, and to the volume El] Actual Pensamiento Juridico de los Estados Unidos, Buenos Aires. A series of 12 articles on masterpieces in the Gallery, prefaced by one entitled “‘New Friends for Old Masters,” is being published by John Walker in the Ladies Home Journal. An article by Mr. SECRETARY’S REPORT 35 Walker, “‘The Art of Duplicating Great Art,” appeared in Vogue on August 15, 1948, and another, “‘ American Masters in the National Gallery,” in the National Geographic Magazine in September 1948. Mr. Walker also contributed two book reviews, the first reviewing Bernard Berenson’s ‘‘ Aesthetics and History in the Visual Arts’ — to the October 1948 Gazette des Beaux-Arts, and the second, entitled “The Philosophy of a Connoisseur,” a review of Mr. Berenson’s “Sketch for a Self-Portrait,” to the New York Times for April 24, 1949. Charles Seymour, Jr., published two articles, ‘‘Note on the Relationship between an Illustration by Travies de Villers and Daumier’s ‘Le Fardeau’,” in the Journal of the Walters Gallery for 1948, and in the Summer Bulletin of the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts the text of the address given by him for the inauguration of a group of sculpture by Georg Ehrlich in the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Printing of “‘Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art,’ a volume prepared by Mr. Seymour, was begun during the summer of 1949. Mrs. Fern R. Shapley has written two book reviews, a review of Bernard Berenson’s “‘ Aesthetics and History’? which is to be published in the next number of the College Art Journal, and one on Evelyn Sandberg-Vavala’s “‘ Uffizi Studies” published in the January 1949 Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Miss Elizabeth Mongan contributed six articles for the volume honoring Paul Sachs; an article for the Color Print Society on “Rockport,” a colored lithograph by Stella Drabkin; descriptions of 27 illuminated miniatures to Pro- fessor Faye for the second edition of Seymour de Ricci’s ‘‘Census of Manuscripts in America.”” An article on Rowlandson by David Keppel was published in the winter, 1949, number of The Art Quarterly. An article by James W. Lane entitled ‘Religious Art Exhibit’ appeared in the Interracial Review, and one on ‘‘Contemporary Religious Sculpture Exhibition” in the Catholic University Bulletin; he contributed two book reviews on ‘‘Van Eyck’s the Holy Lamb,” by Leo Van Puyvelde, and ‘“‘Robert Louis Stevenson,” by David Daiches, to the Catholic World, and one on ‘‘ American Landscape Painting,” by Wolfgang Born, to the Magazine of Art. Charles M. Richards wrote a report on a code for intermuseum loans for the American Association of Museums. An illustrated catalog of the Gulbenkian Egyptian sculpture was issued for the opening of the exhibition, and Mr. Seymour prepared a pamphlet on the Michelangelo ‘‘David,”’ which was placed on sale during its exhibition. The book of illustrations of the Mellon Collec- tion went to press in the late spring of 1949; work on the new National Gallery of Art catalog is at an advanced stage. The Publications Fund during the past fiscal year has continued to add new subjects to the supply of inexpensive color reproductions 36 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 offered to the public, including 11’’ x 14’’ color prints and color post cards. Five large collotype reproductions supplemented the already long list of subjects available. A silk-screen print of an anonymous fifteenth-century colored woodcut from the Rosenwald Collection was also published. The Gallery is continuing to meet the denen for illustrated catalogs of its various collections. The Mellon catalog is in process of publication, a third printing of the Kress catalog ordered, and a fifth edition of the Chester Dale catalog was published during the year. Two new publications were issued this year: an “‘Arts and Crafts Bibliography,” by Erwin O. Christensen, and a catalog of the ““Egyp- tian Sculpture from the Gulbenkian Collection.” A group of engraved Christmas cards was added to the usual series of color and Rosenwald subjects. Final negotiations have been made for the printing in gravure of the book, ‘Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art,” and it will be available by October 1949; the publisher now has the final manuscript for ‘‘ Made in America,” by Mr. Christensen; the Gallery received a stock of ‘“‘Popular Art in the United States,”’ also by Mr. Christensen, which will go on sale on July 4, 1949; and ‘Pictures from America,” by John Walker, will shortly be published. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM During the year approximately 15,000 persons attended the Gen- eral, Congressional, and Special Topic Tours, while over 20,000 attended the Picture of the Week. More than 18,000 came to hear the lectures and other programs in the auditorium. At least two- thirds of this lecture audience were regular attendants at these Sunday afternoon lectures. Many of them brought out-of-town visitors, and stated that this lecture series was becoming one of the Capital’s chief Sunday attractions. The motion picture, ‘‘The National Gallery of Art,’”’ continues to be popular with clubs, educa- tional organizations, and similar groups. During the past 12 months, 19 persons borrowed this film. The publication of the monthly Calendar of Events, announcing Gallery activities, including notices of exhibitions, lectures, Gallery talks, tours, and concerts was continued during the year by the Educational Department. About 3,900 of the Calendar of Events are mailed each month. LIBRARY A total of 283 books, 221 pamphlets, and 31 periodicals were given to the Gallery; 494 books, 18 pamphlets, and 282 periodicals were purchased, and 40 subscriptions to periodicals were purchased. Exchanges with other institutions included 47 books, 114 pamphlets, SECRETARY’S REPORT By 13 periodicals, and 420 bulletins. Of the 1,762 books borrowed and returned during the year, the Library of Congress lent 1,676 books to the Gallery on the usual interlibrary loan basis, and the remaining 86 books were borrowed from 25 public and university libraries. INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN During the year the Index of American Design continued to expand as the result of gifts and exchanges. Three hundred and thirty-six persons studied Index material at the Gallery; of this number, 301 were new users and 25 revisited the collection for study purposes. The use of photographs of Index drawings was increased by about 40 percent, with 1,796 photographs being sent out on loan, exchange, or purchase. Fifty exhibitions of original water-color renderings were circulated in 25 States. PRESIDENT TRUMAN’S INAUGURAL RECEPTION On January 20, 1949, the President’s Inaugural Reception was held in the National Gallery of Art. The Seventh Street ground floor and main floor lobbies were especially furnished and decorated for the occasion; the rotunda and the two garden courts were appro- priately decorated with flowers; under arrangements made by the White House staff, a platform was built in the West Sculpture Hall where the President addressed the guests who could not be received personally in the West Garden Court. ‘Three sections of the Marine Band Orchestra played during the reception. The total number of guests was approximately 8,000. CUSTODY OF GERMAN PAINTINGS On April 6, 1949, the Gallery accepted custody of the 97 paintings from Berlin museums which had been on an exhibition tour of the United States, part of the group of 202 German paintings stored in the Gallery building by the Department of the Army from December 1945 to March 1948. After the last exhibition of this collection of paintings in Toledo, Ohio, the collection was brought to Washington and stored in the Gallery for about 2 weeks pending final shipping arrangements. On April 20, 1949, the collection was delivered to the Army for return to the American Zone in Germany. The exhibition of the Berlin paintings in 13 museums throughout the United States resulted in the collection of $303,605.35 through ad- mission fees and voluntary contributions for the relief of German children in the American Zone in Germany. These funds were de- posited with the Gallery and were later disbursed in accordance with instructions received from the Department of the Army. During the tour 1,307,001 persons viewed the paintings, in addition to 964,970 38 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 who saw them during the time the paintings were on exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. CUSTODY OF GERMAN SILVER On January 7, 1949, the Gallery returned to the Department of the Army for transport to Germany the 44 sealed cases containing silver- ware and glassware and belonging to the Hohenzollern family. The cases had been stored in the Gallery since April 11, 1947. CUSTODY OF WHITE HOUSE FURNITURE On November 24, 1948, the Gallery accepted custody of certain items of paintings, sculpture, and furniture belonging to the White House for storage in the building until the repairs to the White House are completed. Shipments of these items started on December 3, 1948, and con- tinued for several days thereafter. At the present time there are 76 works of art—paintings and sculpture—stored in the Gallery’s storage rooms and 25 vanloads of furniture stored in the packing space on the main floor. The necessary arrangements for fire prevention, inspection, and fumigation have been established and are being carried out. NEW CONSTRUCTION During the past fiscal year, the Committee on the Building approved the construction in the southwest moat of a small workroom for the use of the gardening staff in maintaining and growing certain plants for the garden courts and landscaping. Later, when funds become available, it is planned to construct two small greenhouses adjacent to this workroom. The growth of the Gallery’s collections of works of art has been so rapid that all available exhibition space is now being utilized. As a matter of fact there are already several paintings which cannot be ex- hibited because there is no space in the present galleries. For this reason the Committee on the Building recommended that, to take care of the most urgent needs, the unfinished spaces 61-66 and 68-70, on the main floor, be completed as soon as funds are available. These galleries will be used for new acquisitions of paintings in the American and British schools and will also make possible some rearrangement in galleries already finished so as to make available additional space therein. The Committee on the Building also recommended that the so-called copyists’ room be finished to furnish office space for the Educational Department, which is now operating in rather cramped quarters. Funds have been generously made available from private sources to complete this work, and contracts have been entered into with Eggers SECRETARY’S REPORT 39 and Higgins, Architects, and Vermilya-Brown Company, General Contractors, for the completion of 12 galleries in these unfinished areas. The floor plan has been approved, and bids are now being taken from subcontractors. It is anticipated that actual construction will begin in August 1949 and that the work will be completed by May 1950. CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE BUILDING The usual routine work in connection with the care and maintenance of the building and its mechanical! equipment was carried on throughout the year. The three older refrigeration compressors were completely dis- mantled and overhauled, including the purge compressors. Three chilled-water pumps, including the electric motors, were completely overhauled and realigned by the mechanical staff. Twelve supply fans were cleaned and repainted to protect them against corrosion. The structural steel base for the large 400-horsepower motor driving No. 2 Worthington refrigeration machine was strengthened in order that this large motor would remain in alignment. To correct serious leaks in two of these machines, the technical staff successfully made and installed the necessary parts. The cornice metal lining at the top of the exterior wall of the building developed leaks, and approximately 50 percent of the joints in the metal lining were cleaned and soldered. In connection with the Inaugural Reception, the technical staff installed floodlights on three sides of the building, assisted the person- nel of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in the installation of a loud-speaker system on the main floor, and installed extra electric lines and water lines for the use of the caterer. The maintenance staff erected exten- sive checking facilities for the proper care of wraps. Twelve new display cases were constructed by the staff for the Gulbenkian Exhibition. Care and improvement of the Gallery grounds and other miscella- neous work progressed satisfactorily. Potted plants, totaling 2,366, which were used for decoration in the two garden courts, were grown in the southwest moat. In addition, over 350 large pots of chrysanthe- mums were also grown in this moat area, and these plants provided the decoration for the two garden courts during the months of October and November. COMMITTEE OF EXPERT HXAMINERS During the year the United States Civil Service Commission’s Committee of Expert Examiners, composed of staff members of the Gallery, aided in the drafting of standards for Civil Service positions in which a knowledge of the history of art is a basic requirement. The 858775—49——_-4 40 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Committee also performed preliminary work in the preparation of the examination announcement for art positions which was dis- tributed by the Civil Service Commission with a closing date of April 19, 1949. From this examination registers of eligibles will be established for appointment to art positions in the Gallery and elsewhere in the Government. This will give the present incumbents, most of whom are serving indefinite war-time appointments, an opportunity to attain permanent status, and will also make available a greater number of qualified candidates. OTHER ACTIVITIES Forty-six Sunday evening concerts were given during the fiscal year, all concerts being held in the Hast Garden Court. A Mozart Festival of six concerts was given in the autumn with the highest attendance rate for the season. The five Sunday evenings in May were devoted to the Gallery’s annual American Music Festival. An estimated 50,000 persons attended these concerts. During the year the photographic laboratory of the Gallery made 17,709 prints, 1,342 black-and-white slides, 1,005 color slides, 3,873 negatives, in addition to infrared photographs, ultraviolet photographs, X-rays, and color separation negatives. A total of 3,500 copies of press releases, 128 special permits to copy paintings in the National Gallery of Art, and 117 special permits to photograph in the Gallery were issued during the year. OTHER GIFTS Gifts of books on art and related material were made to the Gallery library during the year by Paul Mellon and others. Gifts of money during the fiscal year 1949 were made by the Avalon Foundation and The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, and a cash bequest was received from the Estate of the late William Nelson Cromwell. AUDIT OF PRIVATE FUNDS OF THE GALLERY An audit of the private funds of the Gallery has been made for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949, by Price Waterhouse & Co., public accountants, and the certificate of that company on its examination of the accounting records maintained for such funds will be forwarded to the Gallery. Respectfully submitted. Huntineton Cairns, Secretary. THE SECRETARY, Smithsonian Institution. APPENDIX 3 REPORT ON THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS Srr: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi- ties of the National Collection of Fine Arts for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1949. THE SMITHSONIAN ART COMMISSION The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commis- sion was held in the Regents’ Room of the Smithsonian Building, on Tuesday, December 7, 1948. The members present were: Paul Manship, chairman; Alexander Wetmore, secretary (member, ex officio); George Hewitt Myers; George H. Edgell; Lloyd Goodrich; John Taylor Arms; Archibald G. Wenley, Gifford Beal, and Robert Woods Bliss. Thomas M. Beggs, Director of the National Collection of Fine Arts, and John E. Graf, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, were also present. The Commission recommended the reelection of Archibald G. Wen- ley, David E. Finley, Eugene E. Speicher, and Paul Manship for the usual 4-year period. The following officers were reelected for the ensuing year: Paul Man- ship, chairman; Robert Woods Bliss, vice chairman; and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, secretary. The following were reelected members of the executive committee for the ensuing year: David E. Finley, chairman, Robert Woods Bliss, and Gilmore D. Clarke. Paul Manship, as chairman of the Commis- sion, and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, as secretary of the Commission, are ex officio members of the executive committee. The Secretary summarized the status of exhibition and storage of the art objects of the National Collection of Fine Arts which at present are housed in space intended for the natural history collections in the Natural History Building. A separate building for the art collections is included in the Smithsonian building program, but funds for the development of plans have not been made available. The following resolution, offered by Mr. Goodrich, was passed unan- aimously: Resolved, That whereas the art collections in the custody of the National Collec- tion of Fine Arts are exhibited in an entirely inadequate manner, the Smithsonian Art Commission recommends that the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 41 42 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 take all action necessary to provide space and facilities necessary to the preserva- tion and proper exhibition of these art collections to the public. The formal meeting was adjourned at 11:45 at which time the mem- bers assembled in the main hall of the Smithsonian Building to pass on the works of art which had been offered during the year. The fol- lowing action was taken: Accepted for the National Collection of Fine Arts Miniature, water color on ivory, Robert Broome, by an unknown artist, and a shell cameo. Gifts of Miss Helen Munroe. Painting, Tiger and Cub, ink and water color on paper, and scroll, ink on paper, by Mr. Whang, Jang Har. Gifts of the artist as a token of friendship and gratitude to the American people from the people of Korea through the Korean Commission in Washington. Miniature, water color on ivory, My Uncle Charles, by Albert Colfs. Gift of the artist. Oil, Portrait Group (Benjamin West, Frank W. and Henry T. C. Wilkin), by Frank W. Wilkin (1791-1842). Gift of Mrs. Mabel Wiles. Oil, Thomas Moran, by Howard Russell Butler, N. A. (1856-1934). Bequest of Miss Ruth Moran. A signed palette and brushes used by Thomas Moran, and a photogravure of the artist, were included in the bequest. Oil, A Reading, by Thomas W. Dewing, N. A. (1851-1938). Henry Ward Ranger bequest. Oil, Margery and Little Edmund, by Edmund C. Tarbell, N. A. (1862-1938). Henry Ward Ranger bequest. Accepted for the National Portrait Gallery Oil, George Washington Carver, by Betsy Graves Reyneau. Gift of the George Washington Carver Memorial Committee. Accepted for the Smithsonian Institution Water color on silk, Tiger, by Ih Dang (Mr. Kim, Eun Ho). Gift of the artist. through John R. Hodge, Lieutenant General, United States Army. Oils, 44 portraits of World War II heroes, by Joseph Cummings Chase. Gift of the artist. Assigned to the Department of History February 17, 1949. DEPOSITS Oil, Portrait of Spencer Fullerton Baird, the second Secretary of the Smith- sonian Institution, by Henry Ulke (1821-1910). Purchased by the Smithsonian Institution and deposited August 6, 1948. Bronze, African Elephant Scenting Danger, by Eli Harvey. Accepted as a gift of the sculptor and deposited by the Smithsonian Institution December 9, 1948. THE CATHERINE WALDEN MYER FUND Two miniatures, water color on ivory, were acquired from the fund established through the bequest of the late Catherine Walden Myer, as follows: 68. Henry A. Coit, by John Wood Dodge (1807-1893); from Edmund Bury, Philadelphia, Pa. SECRETARY’S REPORT 43 69. Ebenezer Martin of Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, attributed to Henry Inman (1801-1846) ; from Miss Alice L. Wood, Blowing Rock, N. C. LOANS ACCEPTED Three Nymphenburg figurines were lent by Miss Cornelia Morrison, Newton, N. C., on February 7, 1949. One miniature, water color on ivory, Portrait of Elsie Clough Street, by Gerald S. Haywood, was lent by Mrs. James Walter Rickey on February 15, 1949. One oil painting, Portrait of Sr. Benito Juarez, by Tom Lea, was lent by the State Department on February 18, 1949. Two oil paintings, Portrait of the Hon. Grizel Ross, by William Hogarth, and Portrait of Gen. Sir Charles Ross, by George Romney, and one miniature, water color on ivory, Portrait of the 8th Baronet Sir Charles Ross, by E. C. Thomson, were lent by Lady Ross of Balnagown Castle, Ross-shire, Scotland, on April 4, 1949. WITHDRAWALS BY OWNERS A bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, lent by Mrs. Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1912, was withdrawn August 24, 1948, at the request of Homer Saint-Gaudens. Two oil paintings, Shoshone Falls, Idaho, and Spectres of the North, by Thomas Moran, lent by Miss Ruth B. Moran in 1923, were withdrawn October 6, 1948, by the executor of Miss Moran’s estate. An oil painting, The Nativity, by an unknown artist, lent by St. Paul’s Church in 1945, was withdrawn February 9, 1949, by the owner. Nine miniatures painted by Mrs. E. D. Sparrow when she was Mary Hall, lent by the artist in 1929, were withdrawn April 25, 1949. LOANS TO OTHER MUSEUMS AND ORGANIZATIONS The original design for the painting in the Capitol Building, West- ward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, by Emanuel Leutze, was lent to the Akron Art Institute August 17, 1948, to be included in the Freedom Train Exhibition at Akron, Ohio. (Returned October 5, 1948.) An oil painting, Portrait of Admiral William Snowden Sims, by Irving Wiles, was lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibition held in conjunction with the United States Navy, entitled “Your Navy, Its Contribution to America from Colonial Days to World Leadership,” held from October 25 through December 5, 1948. (Returned January 13, 1949.) An oil painting, Sunset, Navarro Ridge, California Coast, by Ralph Blakelock, was lent to The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N. Y., for an exhibition ‘“‘The Coast and the Sea, A Survey of American Marine A4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 Painting,” held from November 19, 1948, to January 16, 1949. (Returned February 3, 1949.) Two oil paintings, Portrait of George Washington, attributed to William Winstanley, after Gilbert Stuart, and The Signing of the Treaty of Ghent, Christmas Eve, 1814, by Sir Amédée Forestier, were lent March 22, 1949, to the Department of State to be hung in the office of the Secretary of State. An oil painting, Portrait of Andrew Jackson, by Rembrandt Peale, was lent to the Committee on Un-American Activities March 25, 1949, to be hung in its committee room for an indefinite period. THE HENRY WARD RANGER FUND Since it is a provision of the Ranger bequest that the paintings pur- chased by the Council of the National Academy of Design from the fund provided by the Henry Ward Ranger bequest, and assigned to American art institutions, may be claimed by the National Collection of Fine Arts during the 5-year period beginning 10 years after the death of the artist represented, seven paintings were recalled for action of the Smithsonian Art Commission at its meeting December 7, 1948. Two paintings, listed earlier in this report, were accepted by the Commission to become permanent accessions. The following five paintings were returned to the institutions to which they were originally assigned, or reassigned, by the National Academy of Design as indicated. No. 3. Grey Day, by W. Granville-Smith, N. A. (1870-1938), assigned to the National Gallery of Art (now National Collection of Fine Arts). No. 48. The Prodigal Son, by Horatio N. Walker, N. A. (1858-1938), assigned to the Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Delaware Park, Buffalo, N. Y. No. 56. Southaven Mill, by W. Granville-Smith, N. A., assigned to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio. No. 63. Cypripedia, by Sergeant Kendall, N. A. (1869-1938), assigned to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, Calif. No. 90. Summer, by W. L. Lathrop, N. A. (1859-1938), reassigned by the National Academy of Design to the Mary Washington College, University of Virginia, Fredericksburg, Va. The following paintings, purchased by the Council of the National Academy of Design in 1948, were assigned as follows: No. 120. Sunlight on the Waterfront, by Ferdinand E. Warren, N. A. (1899- ), to the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N. H., May 13, 1949. No. 121. Village Green, by John Pike, N. A. (1911- ), to the Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, Wash., March 15, 1949. No, 124. Lobstermen, by Andrew Winter, N. A. (1893- ), to the Mint Museum of Art, Inc., Charlotte, N. C., June 1, 1949. SECRETARY'S REPORT 45 THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS REFERENCE LIBRARY A total of 347 publications (219 volumes and 128 pamphlets) were accessioned, bringing the total National Collection of Fine Arts library accessions to 11,364. The most noteworthy gift this year was that of the Ferdinand Perret Research Library of the Arts and their Affiliated Sciences, from Fer- dinand Perret of Los Angeles, Calif. This library, a series of uniform portfolios, containing mounted reproductions of paintings and art objects, represents many years of work on the part of Mr. Perret. The volumes on painters and sculptors are arranged by schools and alphabetically according to the names of the artists. PRESERVATION In addition to much necessary repair and renovation to the per- manent collections, portraits were cleaned, restored, and revarnished for the following departments: State Department—Secretaries of State John Hay and Elihu Root, by unknown artists. Marine Corps, Department of the Navy—Generals Franklin Wharton and George Barnett, by L. H. Gebhard; George Elliott, by Richard N. Brooke; John A. Lejeune, by S. B. Baker; Archibald Henderson, by R. Le Grande Johnston, and John H. Russell, by Bjorn Egeli. United States Air Force—a minor correction was made to the uniform in the por- trait of Brig. Gen. R. E. Ramey. The portrait of Alvin C. York, by Joseph Cummings Chase, was cleaned for the Department of History, United States National Museum. INFORMATION SERVICE The requests for information of 1,422 visitors received special atten- tion, as did many similar requests by mail and phone; 332 art works were submitted for identification. The Director and Mr. Gardner, curator of ceramics, gave lectures on art topics during the year to a number of groups, including the District of Columbia Chapter of the American Association of Uni- versity Women, the art section of the Twentieth Century Club, a group of art students from the Washington Missionary College, Takoma Park, Md., the American Association of Music and Fine Arts, and the District Chapter of the National League of American Pen Women. ‘They also served as judges or as members of juries of selection and award for a number of exhibitions held in Washington. Permission was given to four persons to copy art works in the collection. 46 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS In addition to the regularly scheduled temporary exhibitions listed below, the Community Chests of America and the Louisiana State Society of Washington held special showings of paintings of timely interest in the lobby of the Natural History Building for short periods. The Federal Security Agency was assisted in a Memorial Day exhibi- tion of paintings by Leslie E. Lane under the sponsorship of the American Legion. August 7 through 29, 1948.—Exhibition of 94 portraits of Soldiers of Two World Wars, by Joseph Cummings Chase. November 7 through 28, 1948.—The Eleventh Metropolitan State Art Contest, held under the auspices of the District of Columbia Chapter, American Artist’s Professional League assisted by the Entre Nous Club, consisting of 327 specimens of paintings, sculpture, prints, ceramics, and metalcraft. A catalog was privately printed. January 12 through 30, 1949.—Exhibition of Polish Manual Arts, held under the patronage of His Excellency Jozef Winiewicz, Ambas- sador of Poland to the United States, and the auspices of The Ameri- can Federation of Arts, consisting of 131 pieces of tapestries, paintings on glass, and folk sculpture.