receiver and, while viewing the exhibits, hear an interesting and 

 informative recorded commentary (lasting about thirty minutes) by 

 the curator in charge of the particular hall. Shorter talks of about 

 ten minutes, which may be selected instead by visitors who wish a 

 quick survey, were prepared by members of the Raymond Founda- 

 tion staff because they are best acquainted with the interests of the 

 casual visitor. 



Eighteen or twenty halls will eventually have the Soundtrek in- 

 stallation. The first to be equipped are the halls of American 

 Mammals (16), Reptiles, Amphibians, and Insects (18), Habitat 

 Groups of Birds (20), Prairie and Woodland Indians (5), Ancient 

 Egypt (J), and Stone Age Man (C). The multichannel radio system 

 provides a flexibility that will permit rapid change-over to foreign 

 language and other special kinds of commentary on Museum exhibits 

 when an occasion justifies it. 



SPECIAL EVENTS 



Favorable notice came from the opening ceremony of the Festival 

 of the Americas, a gala dinner and reception at the Museum at which 

 some four hundred civic, art, and business leaders of Chicago and the 

 consular corps of Pan American countries and of nations in Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa were guests of the Women's Committee of the Pan 

 American Games. A message from President D wight D. Eisenhower 

 was read by Mayor Richard J. Daley, who, with Mrs. Daley, headed 

 the reception line in Stanley Field Hall to greet the many distin- 

 guished visitors. Simultaneously with this event the Museum was 

 host to its Members at a preview of the special exhibit "Indian Art 

 of the Americas" (see pages 21, 25, 51, and 95). 



A highlight of the evening was a chamber-music concert by mem- 

 bers of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra presented in James 

 Simpson Theatre through the generosity of Mrs. J. Dennis Freund, 

 of the Women's Committee. This brought commendation from Chi- 

 cago's music critics, who lauded the concert as the finest musical 

 event of the Festival and were enthusiastic over the Theatre as "the 

 city's finest auditorium for chamber music." The enthusiasm thus 

 engendered led to another series of events: Mrs. Freund organized 

 the Free Concerts Foundation, Inc., and formed the Festival String 

 Quartet, headed by Sidney Harth, concertmaster of the Chicago 

 Symphony Orchestra, for a season of concerts that opened at the 

 Museum on December 9 and will continue with a concert each 

 month through April, 1960 (see page 21). 



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