32 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921. 



ORGANIZATION AND STAFF. 



At the close of the year the Museum organization comprises, besides 

 an administrative office, 4 scientific and technical departments and 

 1 independent division, as follows: The department of anthro- 

 pology, with 4 divisions and 3 sections; the department of biology, 

 with 9 divisions and 16 sections; the department of geology, with 

 3 divisions and 3 sections; the department of arts and industries, 

 with 5 divisions and 4 sections ; and the division of history, which, 

 while independent of these departments, has not yet reached the 

 dignit}' of a department. History has one section, making a total of 

 49 recognized subdivisions of the Museum. 



The scientific staff of the Museum consisted of 1 keeper ex officio, 

 1 director, 3 head curators, 12 curators, 4 honorary curators, 6 asso- 

 ciate curators, 13 assistant curators, 23 custodians, 4 assistant custo- 

 dians, 8 aids, 10 associates, 7 collaborators, 1 philatelist, and 1 

 assistant, a total of 94 persons, of whom less than half received pay 

 from the Museiun. This by no means represents all the scientific 

 workers on the collections, for the Museum also has much regular 

 assistance from employees of various other governmental agencies in 

 Washington, particularly the Department of Agriculture and the 

 Geological Survey, in classifying and arranging, and placing on 

 exhibition the specimens in their respective fields of investigation. 



A synopsis of the work attaching to each position in the Museum 

 was prepared this year and forwarded to the Bureau of Efficiency in 

 connection with a bill before Congress on the subject of the reclassi- 

 fication of the employees of the Government. 



The changes in organization during the year were numerous. The 

 National Gallery of Art, which had for a number of years been 

 administered as the fine arts department of the Museum, became an 

 independent bureau under the Smithsonian Institution on July 1, 

 1920, through provision for its separate maintenance in the sundry 

 civil appropriation act for the year 1921. To the new bureau were 

 transferred such of the Museum's collections as had been in the 

 custody of the curator of the National Gallery of Art, consisting of 

 paintings, sculptures, and a few miscellaneous pieces. For the present 

 the gallery continues to be housed in the Natural History Building of 

 the Museum. 



Dr. William H. Holmes severed his connection with the Museum 

 on July 1, 1920, to become director of the National Gallery of Art, 

 and carries with him to his larger field the good will of the entire 

 Museum staff. Doctor Holmes has long been associated with the 

 Institution and Museum. In the latter he served as curator of 

 aboriginal pottery from 1882 to 1893, as head curator of the depart- 

 ment of anthropology from its organization in 1897 to 1902, when he 



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