EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM^ 1915. 9 



committee think, be usefully introduced. This would supply oppor- 

 tunity to examine samples of the best manufactured articles our 

 country affords, and to judge her gradual progress in arts and manu- 

 factures. * * * 



"The gallery of art, your committee think, should include both 

 paintings and sculpture, as well as engravings and architectural de- 

 signs; and it is desirable to have in connexion with it one or more 

 studios in which young artists might copy without interruption, be- 

 ing admitted under such regulations as the board may prescribe. 

 Your committee also think that, as the collection of paintings and 

 sculpture will probably accumulate slowly, the room destined for 

 a gallery of art might properly and usefully meanwhile be occupied 

 during the sessions of Congress as an exhibition room for the works 

 of artists generally; and the extent and general usefulness of such 

 an exhibit might probably be increased if an arrangement could be 

 effected with the Academy of Design, the Arts Union, the Artists' 

 Fund Society, and other associations of similar character, so as to 

 concentrate at the metropolis for a certain portion of each winter 

 the best results of talent in the fine arts." 



The important points in the foregoing report are (1) that it was 

 the opinion of the Regents that a museum was, requisite under the 

 law, Congi^ess having left no discretion in the matter; (2) that 

 ethnology and anthropology, though not specially named, were yet 

 as important subjects as natural history; (3) that the history of the 

 progTess of useful inventions and the collection of the raw materials 

 and products of the manufactures and arts should also be provided 

 for; (4) for the gallery of art the committee had models in existence, 

 and they proposed, pending the gathering of art collections, which 

 would of necessity be slow, to provide for loan exhibitions by co- 

 operating with art academies and societies. 



In the resolutions which were adopted upon the presentation of 

 the report, a museum was mentioned as " one of the principal modes 

 of executing the act and trust." ^ The work was to go forward as 

 the funds permitted, and, as is well known, the maintenance of the 

 Museum and the library was long ago assumed by Congress, the In- 

 stitution taking upon itself only so much of the necessary responsi- 



^ Resolved, That it is the intention of the act of Congress establishing the 

 Institution, and in accordance with the design of Mr. Smithson, as expressed 

 in his will, that one of the principal modes of executing the act and the trust 

 is the accumulation of collections of specimens and objects of natural history 

 and of elegant art, and the gradual formation of a library of valuable works 

 pertaining to all departments of human knowledge, to the end that a copious 

 storehouse of materials of science, literature, and art may be provided which 

 shall excite and diffuse the love of learning among men, and shall assist the 

 original investigations and efforts of those who may devote themselves to the 

 pursuit of any branch of knowledge. 



