wt _S The United States National Museum Annual Report for the Year Ended June 30, 1958 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION June 30, 1958 United States National Museum Director: Remington Kellogg Registrar: Helena M. Weiss Office of Exhibits: Frank A. Taylor, Chief John C. Ewers, Administrative officer; John E. Anglim, supervisory exhibits spe- cialist; William L. Brown, chief zoological exhibits specialist; Rolland O. Hower, Benjamin W. Lawless, Bela 8. Bory, exhibits specialists; Joseph G. Weiner, publications writer. Museum of Natural History Acting Director: Remington Kellogg Department of Anthropology: Frank M. Setzler, head curator A. Joseph Andrews, exhibits specialist ArcHEoLocy: Waldo R. Wedel, curator Marshall T. Newman, associate cura- Clifford Evans, Jr., associate curator tor Ralph §. Solecki, associate curator ErHnotocy: Saul H. Riesenberg, acting Puystcan AntTHRopoLoGy: TT. Dale curator Stewart, curator Robert A. Elder, Jr., assistant curator Department of Zoology: Herbert Friedmann, acting head curator Mammats: David H. Johnson, curator Brros: Herbert Friedmann, curator Henry W. Setzer, associate curator Herbert G. Deignan, associate curator Charles O. Handley, Jr., associate Insrcts: J. F. Gates Clarke, curator curator Oscar L. Cartwright, associate curator Reprires AND AmpHIBIANS: Doris M. William D. Field, associate curator Cochran, curator Ralph E. Crabill, Jr., associate curator Marine INVERTEBRATES: Fenner A. Sophy Parfin, junior entomologist Chace, Jr., curator Fisues: Leonard P. Schultz, curator Frederick M. Bayer, associate curator Ernest A. Lachner, associate curator Thomas EH. Bowman, associate curato- William R. Taylor, associate curator Charles E. Cutress, Jr., associate cur Motuusxs: Harald A. Rehder, curator rator Joseph P. E. Morrison, associate cu- rator Department of Botany: Jason R. Swallen, head curator PHANEROGAMS: Lyman B. Smith, Grasses: Jason R. Swallen, curator curator Ferns: Conrad V. Morton, curator Emery C. Leonard, associate curator Cryproagams: Conrad V. Morton, acting Egbert H. Walker, associate curator curator Velva E. Rudd, associate curator Paul S$. Conger, associate curator Richard $8. Cowan, associate curator Mason EH. Hale, associate curator II Department of Geology: Gustav A. Cooper, head curator MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY: George S. Switzer, curator Edward P. Henderson, associate cu- rator Paul E. Desautels, associate curator Roy 8. Clarke, Jr., chemist VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY: C. Lewis Gazin, curator David H. Dunkle, associate curator Peter P. Vaughn, associate curator Franklin L. Pearce, exhibits specialist INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY AND Pa- LEOBOTANY: Gustay A. Cooper, curator Richard $8. Boardman, associate cu- rator Porter M. Kier, associate curator Museum of History and Technology Director: Frank A. Taylor Administrative Officer: John C. Ewers Administrative Assistant: William EK. Boyle Department of Science and Technology: Robert P. Multhauf, head curator PuysicaL Scrences: Robert P. Mul- thauf, curator MECHANICAL AND Civin ENGINEERING: Eugene §S. Ferguson, curator; in charge of Section of Tools Edwin A. Battison, associate curator, Sections of Light Machinery and Horology Robert M. Vogel, assistant curator, Sections of Heavy Machinery and Civil Engineering HLECTRICITY: W. James King, acting curator TRANSPORTATION: Howard I. Chapelle, curator; in charge of Sections of Marine Transportation and Land Transportation Kenneth M. Perry, associate curator AGRICULTURE AND Woop PrRopucts: William N. Watkins, curator; in charge of Section of Wood Products Edward C. Kendall, associate curator, Section of Agricultural Industries Mepicat Scrences: George B. Griffen- hagen, curator; in charge of Sections of Pharmaceutical History and Health John B. Blake, associate curator, Section of Medical and Dental History Department of Arts and Manufactures: Philip W. Bishop, head curator INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION: Philip W. Bishop, curator TextTILEs: Grace L. Rogers, curator CERAMICS AND Guass: Paul V. Gardner, acting curator acting GrapHic Arts: Jacob Kainen, curator Alexander J. Wedderburn, Jr., asso- ciate curator, Section of photog- raphy Fuller O. Griffith, assistant curator Department of Armed Forces History: Mendel L. Peterson, head curator Navat History: Mendel L. Peterson, curator Minirary History: Edgar M. Howell, acting curator Craddock R. curator Goins, Jr., assistant Tit Department of Civil History: Anthony N. B. Garvan, head curator Mrs. Margaret C. Clark, assistant curator PourricaL History: Wileomb E. Wash- burn, acting curator Mrs. Margaret Brown associate curator Charles G. Dorman, assistant curator Kapthor, Mrs. Anne W. Murray, assistant curator PHILATELY AND Posrat History: Francis J. McCall, assistant curator CuttuRAL History: C. Maleolm Wat- kins, acting curator G. Carroll Lindsay, associate curator Rodris C. Roth, assistant curator Numismatics: Vladimir Clain-Stefa- nelli, curator Mrs. Elvira Clain-Stefanelli, assistant curator Honorary Smithsonian Fellows, Collaborators, Associates, Custodians of Collections, and Honorary Curators ae Anthropology Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood, Anthro- pology Neil M. Judd, Anthropology Herbert W. Krieger, Anthropology Betty J. Meggers, Archeology W. W. Taylor, Jr., Anthropology W. J. Tobin, Physical Anthropology Zoology Paul Bartsch, Mollusks M. A. Carriker, Jr., Insects Carl J. Drake, Insects Isaac Ginsberg, Fishes D. C. Graham, Biology Horton H. Hobbs, Jr., Crayfishes A. Brazier Howell, Mammals W. L. Jellison, Insects W. M. Mann, Hymenoptera J. Perey Moore, Marine Invertebrates Carl F. W. Muesebeck, Insects Waldo L. Schmitt, Marine Invertebrates Benjamin Schwartz, Helminthology C. R. Shoemaker, Zoology R. E. Snodgrass, Insects Thomas E. Snyder, Isoptera Alexander Wetmore, Birds Mrs. Mildred Stratton Wilson, Copepod Crustacea Botany Agnes Chase, Grasses Ellsworth P. Killip, Phanerogams Floyd A. McClure, Grasses John A. Stevenson, Fungi Geology Ray $. Bassler, Paleontology Roland W. Brown, Paleobotany Preston Cloud, Invertebrate Paleon- tology J. Brookes Knight, Invertebrate Pale. ontology *John B. Reeside, Jr., Invertebrate Paleontology C. Wythe Cooke, Invertebrate Pale- W. T. Schaller, Mineralogy ontology bok) Arts and Manufactures F. L. Lewton, Textiles Tlistory Elmer C. Herber, History Carroll Quigley, History *Deceased July 1958. IV FF. W. Mekkay, Numismatics Paul A. Straub, Numismatics Annual Report of the Director United States National Museum Washington, D. C., August 15, 1958. Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a report upon the present condition of the United States National Museum and upon the work accomplished in its various departments during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1958. Very respectfully, RemiIneton KeELioae, Director, U. S. National Museum. Dr. LronarpD CARMICHAEL, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. Contents INTRODUCTION . EXHIBITS ACCESSIONS BAK CARE OF COLLECTIONS : INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH Anthropology Zoology . Botany Geoloryiewe ere ais yc Science and Technology . Arts and Manufactures Civil History air Armed Forces History PUBLICATIONS AS CORDA See Ua 0 eee Donors To THE NATIONAL COLLECTIONS . 66 bf “I ~J xI ioe) NO 86 Foo co oO O1 Architectural rendition by Hugh Ferriss of the Museum of History and Technology, now under construction, viewed from Constitution Avenue. Introduction Rapid progress in planning the building for the Museum of History and Technology permitted the date for the start of construction to be advanced to the summer of 1958. The architects for the building, McKim, Mead and White, submitted drawings for the entire building in the tentative stage, made excellent progress on the working draw- ings, and completed the specifications and drawings for the excavation and foundations. At the close of the fiscal year, temporary buildings on the site were being demolished to clear the land for ground break- ing in August. The design of the building previously approved by the Board of Regents, with the advice of the Joint Congressional Committee, was approved unanimously by the Commission of Fine Arts. The Na- tional Capital Planning Commission approved the location of the building on the site. Senator Clinton P. Anderson, Chairman, Joint Committee on Construction of a Building for the Museum of History and Technology for the Smithsonian Institution, reviewed the legis- lative history of the building and the progress made in its design in the report, submitted to the United States Senate (Senate No. 1437, 85th Congress, 2nd Session, April 16, 1958), which follows: The Joint Congressional Committee on Construction of a Building for a Museum of History and Technology for the Smithsonian Institution submits this report on the progress of the planning and construction of the building, pursuant to section 4 of Publie Law 106 (84th Cong., 69 Stat. 189). 9 ~ INTRODUCTION 3 This act, approved June 28, 1955, authorized appropriations of not to exceed $36 million to carry out the provisions of the act. The Supplemental Appropriation Act of 1956, approved August 4, 1955, pro- vided the Smithsonian Institution with funds for the preparation of plans and specifications for the building in the amount of $2,288,000. On January 13, 1956, the Board of Regents selected the firm of McKim, Mead & White as architects for the building. On March 16, 1956, the Government entered into a contract with this firm. On May 14, 1956, the joint committee organized and selected Senator Clinton P. Anderson as chairman, and Hon. John M. Vorys as secretary. Prior to this time, the members of the committee had each approved individually the selection of the architects. At the meeting of the joint committee, June 12, 1956, the architects presented to the committee scale models of more than 20 designs of buildings which they had developed. The committee examined these as they were successively placed on a model of the Mall, which included the Federal Triangle and other buildings bordering upon the Mall. The committee recommended that two of the designs be studied further and a subsequent report be made by the architects. The Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 1957, approved June 13, 1956, provided the remainder of the authorized funds totaling $33,712,000 for the construction of the building. At a meeting on July 16, 1956, the joint committee considered the report ot the architects on the design studies requested. The members recommended further study with particular reference to the functional use and interior arrangement of the building. The committee requested that the results be presented to the com- mittee at a meeting to be called after the convening of the 85th Congress. At a meeting held February 5, 1957, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- tion informed the joint committee that studies of the 2 schemes made by the Smithsonian staff, with the assistance of the architects, indicated that 1 scheme Detail of the Museum of History and Tech- nology, Constitution Avenue side, under eve- ning illumination. Rendition by Hugh Ferriss. 4. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT, 1958 was superior in utility. The joint committee was informed that this design also was preferred by the architects and by certain members of the Commission of Fine Arts who had had occasion to comment on it. This was also the design which had received informal preference by members of the joint committee at earlier meetings. The joint committee voted unanimously to advise the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution of the committee’s preference for this design. The building is of a rectangular shape, having an extended first floor which provides a terrace around the base of the mass containing the upper floors. The exterior walls of the building above the terrace are broken by repeated wide flat bays and recesses which relate in scale to the design of the buildings of the Federal Triangle across Constitution Avenue. The committee was informed that the National Capital Planning Commission had an opportunity to view a model of the building on the model of the Mall and had tentatively approved the proposed placement of the building on the site. After several meetings and an exchange of advices between the committee and the Regents of the Smithsonian concerning construction costs and building size, the committee on July 2, 1957, advised the Regents to plan a building of approxi- mately 13 million cubic feet, which it is estimated can be built within the appro- priated funds. It is recognized that, as planned from the first, funds for cases and related interior equipment of the building will be requested by the Smith- sonian in its annual budget estimates as such equipment is needed. The joint committee has been informed that the Regents have acted to accept the advice of the committee and that since July the architects have developed diagrammatic designs of the building and submitted further tentative drawings. The architects are now at work upon detailed drawings and procedures necessary to produce the specifications for the building. It is expected that bids for the construction of the building will be requested late in 1958. The committee is informed also that the Commission of Fine Arts meeting November 21, 1957, to view scale models of the design, were unanimously of the INTRODUCTION 5 opinion that the design is a handsome one and expressed themselves as glad to approve it as shown in the models. The National Capital Planning Commission meeting December 6, 1957, approved the location of the building on the site. Planning for the interior of the Museum also was accelerated. De- signs for most of the exhibition halls requiring special architectural treatment were completed by the Museum staff, and the architects prepared working drawings for many of them. John C. Ewers, ethnologist and administrative officer, directed the Museum staff planning of all interior areas. Eugene Kingman, Director of the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, reviewed many of the exhibition plans and contributed constructive criticism of them. The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and Technology were established as the two elements of the United States National Museum. Frank A. Taylor was appointed Director, Museum of History and Technology. Congress appropriated funds for the design and the preparation of working drawings for the construction of additions to the Natural History Building. The architects, Mills, Petticord and Mills, sub- mitted tentative drawings with a model of the building and made Architectural rendition showing the existing building of the Museum of Natural History, viewed from Constitution Avenue, with the proposed new wings added. PT HORRABRA [OT 6 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT, 1958 excellent progress with the working drawings. The Museum com- mittee for the planning of the wings, under the chairmanship of Dr. T. Dale Stewart, together with the individual curators, all under the personal direction of Dr. Remington Kellogg, Assistant Secretary and Director of the United States National Museum, compiled a detailed program of requirements which contributed essentially to the rapid progress of the plans. The Commission of Fine Arts approved the design of the building as shown in the architects’ model, and the Na- tional Capital Planning Commission approved the location of the wings on the site. Throughout the year’s planning of the two building projects, the Public Buildings Service of the General Services Administration con- tributed valuable advice and assistance in advancing, coordinating, and approving the plans. Leonard L. Hunter, Assistant Commissioner for Design and Construction, gave wise counsel and _ professional direction to the progress of the work through its various technical stages and presented the buildings before the approving agencies. Many of his colleagues gave the work their valued attention. John E. Cudd, architect of the Public Buildings Service, assigned as laison to the Smithsonian Institution, contributed greatly to all phases of the two projects, assembling data on requirements, advising the Museum staff on the arrangement of their planned facilities, and assisting the architects in arranging discussions and obtaining decisions on many questions of design and procedures. Funds Allotted From the funds appropriated by Congress to carry on the operations of the Smithsonian Institution and its bureaus during the fiscal year 1958, the sum of $2,491,144 was obligated by the United States National Museum for the preservation, increase, and study of the national collections of anthropological, zoological, botanical, and geo- logical materials, as well as materials illustrative of engineering, industry, graphic arts, and history (this amount includes sums expended for the program of exhibits modernization). Exhibits No aspect of the museum’s varied activities illustrates so concretely as does the exhibits program the results that can be achieved through the cooperative efforts of many talented individuals. Into this complex program are channeled the specialized knowledge and skills of curators, designers, reviewing specialists, artists and technicians, and of museum aids and service personnel. The results certainly testify to the quality of this cooperation and augur well for the future progress of this activity, for public interest in—and enthusiasm for— the modernized halls that have been reopened has been most satisfy- ing. During this fifth year of the continuing modernization program were opened the hall of health, the hall of North American Indians and Eskimos, the second of two halls portraying native peoples of the Americas, and the hall of military history. Eleven halls have now been renovated and two were nearing completion at year’s end. Under the over-all coordination and supervision of the exhibits committee of which Dr. Herbert Friedmann is chairman, the renova- tion program continues to move forward with John E. Anglim, chief exhibits specialist, in charge of the design and preparation of exhibits, ably assisted by Rolland O. Hower, exhibits specialist, and William L. Brown, chief taxidermy exhibits specialist in the Museum of Natural History, and Benjamin W. Lawless, in charge of exhibits work for the Arts and Industries Building. Design of the new halls has been greatly aided by Eugene EK. Witherell, director of the architectural and structural division of the Public Buildings Service and the General Services Administration and Harry T. Wooley, design architect of that agency. The development of exhibit plans for the Museum of History and Technology, being coordinated by John C. Ewers, administrative officer, has thus far resulted in the completion of 22 hall designs, blue- prints of which have been furnished the architects so that all built-in features may be specified in their working drawings for the building. The next step in exhibits development involves the planning of indi- vidual exhibit units for design and production, and curators’ plans for four halls have advanced to this stage. The production labora- tory which, under Bela S. Bory, is preparing modernized exhibits for the Arts and Industries building, will create these exhibits for the Museum of History and Technology. Meanwhile the modernization program has been coordinated with the development of exhibits o 3) U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT, 1958 for the new museum so that exhibits installed in the Arts and Industries building may be readily transferred to the Museum of History and Technology when that structure is completed. During the year Joseph George Weiner, publications writer, assumed responsibility for the editing of all exhibits labels, Eugene Kingman, director of the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebr., aided both curators and designers as exhibits planning consultant, and in May, Carroll Lusk, museum lighting specialist of Richmond, Va., began a period of service as exhibits lighting consultant. Anthropology On the evening of December 8, 1957, Mrs. Mabel A. Byrd, adminis- trative assistant to the director of the museum and herself of Seneca Indian descent, cut a ribbon to open formally the second Indian hall to the public. In the dedication ceremony Dr. Leonard Carmichael paid tribute to the many farsighted men and women who, over a period of a century and a half, collected the ethnological specimens displayed in this hall. With an adjoining hall depicting the Indians of California, the Southwest, and Latin America, renovated in 1955, this completes the modernization of exhibits interpreting the ethnology of the Americas. Exhibits in this hall portray the traditional cultures of the Eskimos and of the Indians of the Subarctic region, the Eastern Woodlands, POLAR ESKIMO THE NORTHERNMOST PEOPLE OF THE WORLD EXHIBITS 9 INDIAN AND €SHIMO INGENUITY The New World peoples showed’ a high degree of imagination and skill in using the resources of their environment. At the conjunction of the two halls dealing with the Native Peoples of the Americas stands this map mural, painted by exhibits specialist Frank Dobias. It illustrates the high degree of imagination and skill shown by the Indians and Eskimos in using the resources of their environment. < An Eskimo family, one of the old ethnic groups given a new setting in the renovated hall of North American Indians and Eskimos. This is the second of the two halls constituting the Museum's treatment of the Native Peoples of the Americas. te ‘ ae oe : Capt. John Smith trading with the Powhatan Indians on the James River. This life group was originally made for a Smithsonian exhibit in the 1907 James- town Exposition at Norfolk, Va. Examples of woodland Indian craftsman- ship are displayed in the new hall. Everyday life of a typical Plains Indian family is portrayed by the central feature of the new hall—an authentic Arapaho tipi, over 80 years old, originally shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. < The feather headdress worn by the Plains Indian has been adopted by many tribes for ceremonial wear. UP, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT, 1958 Exhibits on Indian warfare range from the handsomely carved wooden helmets of the Northwest Coast Indians (top right) to the Winchester rifle belonging to Chief Sitting Bull (top left, bottom of case}. The displays show many aspects of the daily life of the various cultural groups, such as the farm implements of the river valley farmers of the Plains (bottom left), as well as of their exotic customs, such as the potlatch of the Northwest Coast Indians (bottom right). EXHIBITS nN 479802—58 14 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT, 1958 the Great Plains, the Northwestern Plateau and the North Pacific Coast, pointing out these peoples’ uses of the natural resources of their respective environments in their daily lives, their arts and crafts, and their religious ceremonies. Among the historically significant objects on display are Sitting Bull’s rifle, a war club collected by the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the Great Wampum Belt symbolizing the union of mid-western tribes formed by the Shawnee chief Tecumseh to halt the advance of white settlement. A feature of this hall is a life-size group which portrays the home life of an average Arapaho Indian family about 75 years ago. While the warrior and his wife entertain visitors inside a completely furnished tipi—which stands more than 17 feet high on a pole foundation coy- ered with 14 buffalo skins carefully pieced and sewn together—the children play with their toys outside, and a woman prepares pemmican from dried meat and wild cherries. Other life-size groups depict Polar Eskimos hunting seal and Powhatan Indians trading with Captain John Smith on the James River in 1607.