Annual Report 



of the Director 



To the Trustees: 



I have the honor to present a report of the operation of the Museum 

 for the year ending December 31, 1959. 



This was probably the year of greatest impact upon the people of 

 Chicago by the Museum since its early beginnings. Chicagoans were 

 made more aware of what the Museum is, what it does, and what it has 

 to offer the public than ever before because there were more special 

 events, more special exhibits, and more innovations than in previous 

 years, and the people of Chicago responded to these attractions. 



The silhouette illumination of the exterior of this white-marble 

 building every night since June 16 along with other public buildings 

 in the Chicago park system has drawn particular and favorable atten- 

 tion (see facing page and page 107). During the summer the Museum 

 remained open to visitors a number of evenings beyond the normal 

 hours, particularly on the evenings when public concerts were held in 

 the Grant Park bandshell (see pages 25 and 98). Toward the end of 

 the year, evening chamber-music concerts once a month were in- 

 augurated in the Museum's James Simpson Theatre (see page 23). 



During the period of the Pan American Games and the Festival 

 of the Americas, the Museum presented a special exhibit of American 

 Indian art in which the entire western hemisphere from Alaska to 

 Patagonia was represented (see page 25) . Although the basis of this 

 exhibit consisted of specimens in the Museum's collection, pieces of 



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