20 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



American good-will flyer Scm Frcmcisco, a White-Stanhope steam 

 automobile of 1901-2, a collection of ancient and modern watch and 

 clock movements presented by the New Haven Clock Co., an auto- 

 matic gingham loom of the latest type presented by the Crompton 

 & Knowles loom works, and the apparatus used in receiving the first 

 photoradiogram across the Atlantic on November 27, 1924, when a 

 picture of President Coolidge was sent from London and received in 

 New York City in the office of the Radio Corporation of America, 

 by whom this apparatus was deposited in the Museum. The division 

 of history received an interesting series of relics of Rear Admiral 

 Charles D. Sigsbee, given by Mrs. Nellie C. Gunther, and a number 

 of ancient Roman and modern European and oriental coins deposited 

 by the Treasury Department. 



The Museum took part during the year in numerous field expedi- 

 tions in this countr}^ and abroad, through which large and important 

 collections were brought back for study and exhibition. A brief 

 account of these will be found in the report on the Museum appended 

 hereto. The auditorium and lecture rooms of the Museum were 

 used for 115 meetings of governmental agencies, scientific bodies, 

 and other associations and societies. The number of visitors to the 

 Museum totaled 1,413,286 for the year, an increase of 260,000 over 

 the previous year. There were published 10 volumes and 59 separate 

 papers, and 111,405 copies of Museum publications were distributed. 



NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 



The need of an adequate National Gallery building is more urgent 

 than ever. Present quarters occupied by the gallery in the Natural 

 History Building of the National Museum are grossly inadequate 

 and are much needed by the Museum. 



At the seventh annual meeting of the National Gallery of Art 

 Commission, a resolution was adopted favoring the assemblage at 

 some future date of the purchases made from the Henry Ward 

 Ranger fund since its establishment, now numbering nearly 70, in 

 order to enable the commission to make a selection of such works as 

 the gallery desires to claim. 



Lists of the art works offered to the gallery during the year and 

 accepted by the commission and of the accessions to the gallery col- 

 lections during the year, subject to the approval of the advisory 

 committee of the commission, will be found in Appendix 2. 



Four special exhibits were held in the gallery during the year: 

 A collection of portraits by Bernard Osterman; the annual exhibit 

 of the Society of Washington Artists; a collection of paintings by 



