OPERATIONS OF THE YEAR. 



DEATH OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY IN CHARGE OF MUSEUM. 



It is with profound sorrow that I record the death at his home 

 in the city of Washington, on July 16, 1918, of Dr. Richard Rathbun, 

 Assistant Secretary of the 'Smithsonian Institution since 1897 and, 

 as such, in charge of the United States National Museum since 1898. 



Out of respect to his memory the flags on the buildings of the 

 Institution were carried at half-mast until after the interment of his 

 remains in Rock Creek Cemetery on July 18. Business was sus- 

 pended in the offices and the public exhibition halls were closed on 

 the day of his funeral. 



This is not the place to give an adequate review of the work of 

 Doctor Rathbun as a man of science, or to recall his contributions 

 to the upbuilding of the institution with which he was so long con- 

 nected. I may be permitted, however, to express here my sense of 

 bereavement in the passing of a man whose friendship and personal 

 and official confidence I was permitted to enjoy. Coming to the 

 Museum from the Bureau of Fisheries in 1902 to assist Doctor Rath- 

 bun in the administrative work of the Museum, our official associa- 

 tion here, as in that Bureau, was long and exceedingly cordial. 



During Doctor Rathbun's disability and after his decease, the ad- 

 ministration of the Museum devolved upon the writer as next in 

 authority. 



On November 1, 1918, the position of Assistant Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution in charge of the United States National 

 Museum was discontinued and the writer was placed in charge of 

 the administrative affairs of the Museum, with the title of Adminis- 

 trative Assistant to the Secretary. In addition to the general 

 duties of the above assignment, he was designated Director of Arts 

 and Industries in the Museum. 



WAR ACTIVITIES. 



As mentioned in the last report, the Board of Regents of the In- 

 stitution, at the request of the President of the United States, closed 

 the Natural History Building to the public on July 16, 1918, thus 

 enabling the Museum to furnish the Bureau of War Risk Insurance 

 of the Treasury Department with 138,600 square feet of space for 

 office purposes on the ground and two exhibition floors. This was 

 done with the understanding that the Museum would be vacated 



