REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1915. 13 



arranged as to bring the public into closer relations with the objects 

 of the Museum and to give greater popularity to its rich stores, 

 through a more effective installation of its exhibits, and through the 

 accommodations afforded for displaying loan collections and for 

 meetings and lectures. 



Already filling to the extreme limit the area that can be granted it, 

 the National Gallery of Art is greatly in need of an appropriate and 

 adequate home, and, unless this be shortly provided it may be ex- 

 pected that benefactors will cease to regard it with favor, as some 

 have in the past, because of inability to take care of extensive collec- 

 tions. In view of one of the very first mandates of the fundamental 

 act, that ample provision be made for a gallery of art, it is hoped 

 that a satisfactory solution of this problem may soon be reached. 

 While on this subject it is j)leasing to note that Mr. Charles L. 

 Freer has made progress with his plans for housing at his expense 

 the rich collection of American and oriental art of which he has made 

 a present to the people of the United States. This structure, to be of 

 white marble and belong to the cluster of Museum buildmgs, is de- 

 signed solely for the above purpose, however, and will afford no 

 accommodations for other parts of the Gallery. 



With the broad subject of natural history provided for in the 

 granite building, the two other buildings become wholly available 

 for the arts and industries, with a single exception. The division of 

 plants, including the National Herbarium, has been given possession 

 of the upper story of the main section of the Smithsonian building, 

 a hall 200 feet long by 50 feet wide, with some connecting rooms. 

 This important branch has thus far been well accommodated in these 

 quarters, but it is not expected to be so for long, as the collections are 

 growing rapidly and the work is of great economic importance, es- 

 pecially in its relations to the Department of Agi-iculture, of whose 

 botanical materials it is the custodian. In other countries the na- 

 tional herbarium is given great prominence, yet nowhere else is its 

 significance as great as in this country. 



On the ground floor of the Smithsonian building are three principal 

 subdivisions of space, the great main hall, the western hall and the 

 connecting range. All of these have been assigned to the exhibition 

 of the graphic arts, but owing to the renovation of the main hall, 

 still in progress, the collections relating to this subject have been 

 placed in some disorder. Under this heading are included not only 

 the higher grades of engraving, printing and binding, but also all 

 processes of reproduction down to the methods of rapid illustration 

 resorted to by the newspapers of to-day. 



It is in the older Museum building that interest in the matter of 

 new exhibits chiefly centers, though no subjects have yet been intro- 



