SECRETARY'S REPORT 5 



at work. Still others illustrate the preparation of acorn meal by 

 Hupa Indians of northern California, the processing of cassava by 

 Carib Indians in British <juiana, and Tehuelche horsemen packing 

 their belongings in moving camp. Five dioramas portray the life 

 of other Indian tribes. One of them recreates in miniature a village of 

 Lucayan Indians in the Bahamas in which the natives are excitedly 

 viewing the approach of Columbus's ships. Another diorama rep- 

 resents a simple hunting camp of the sparsely clothed, poorly housed 

 Yahgan Indians of Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost people of the 

 world. Themes of wide popular interest are interpreted in other ex- 

 hibits — such as the process of shrinking human heads employed by 

 Jivaro warriors of the Ecuadorian jungles, the construction of a 

 Pueblo Indian apartment house, and the use of shells for money in 

 native California. 



A companion hall will soon be started interpreting the lives of the 

 Eskimo and the Indians of Canada and of the United States east of 

 the Kocky Mountains. Progress was made during the year on a new 

 hall in which selected portions of the magnificent bird collection of 

 the Smithsonian can be displayed. Work has also been done on the 

 new North American mammal hall, on a hall that will show the de- 

 velopment of power machinery, and on another hall that will illus- 

 trate the cultural history of the United States. Although some of 

 the exhibits in these halls will be moved to the new building, it is 

 especially important to prepare them as soon as possible, because the 

 labor involved in each such presentation is very time-consuming, and 

 only by having modern exhibits ready to be installed in the new 

 building can maximum use be made of the improved facilities of such 

 a structure as soon as it is opened. 



During the year the public comfort rooms of the Natural History 

 Building, which had not been generally repaired since 1910, were 

 modernized. The steam supply lines of the Arts and Industries 

 Building and of the Freer Gallery of Art were replaced. This latter 

 building for the first time since its erection was thoroughly cleaned 

 inside and repainted. More than half of the exhibit halls of the 

 Arts and Industries Building were repainted. Some of the paint 

 in these rooms had peeled from the plaster, and in other places it 

 was seriously stained. The bright new colors of present-day paints 

 have done much to improve the visibility of exhibits and the attrac- 

 tiveness of the building. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT 



The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 

 1846, in accordance with the terms of the will of James Smithson, of 

 England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States 



