SECRETARY'S REPORT 37 



4nglim and his staff. The installation of the exhibits portraying 

 colonial life in eastern North America is proceeding satisfactorily in 

 Hall 26. Six period rooms have been installed. Of these the Reuben 

 Bliss parlor (1754) is the oldest. Among others are a late Georgian 

 colonial parlor from Sussex, Va., an early nineteenth-century school- 

 room, and a farmhouse bedroom of about 1800. 



Plans were completed in the division of mineralogy and petrology 

 for the layout of the Mineral Hall. Exhibits to illustrate the origin, 

 properties, and mode of occurrence of minerals will be prepared, in 

 addition to displays of the major minerals of the world. Outstanding 

 examples of uncut crystals of the more important gem minerals, as 

 well as series of cut and polished gems, will be utilized to make an 

 informative presentation of this phase of mineralogy. 



The hall for display of fossil plants and invertebrates will provide 

 the visitor with some concepton of what fossils are, how they are 

 preserved, and their role as geological time indicators. Reconstructed 

 assemblages of fossil animals and plants from some of the geologic 

 periods will be utilized to portray the ecological associations that made 

 possible their mode of life. 



Selection and preparation of specimens of lower vertebrates for 

 display in Hall 3 are being actively continued in the laboratory of 

 vertebrate paleontology. Associate Curator Dr. David H. Dunkle 

 was successful in his search for upper Cretaceous marine fishes in the 

 Niobrara chalk of western Kansas, and for upper Devonian fishes in 

 the fresh- water sediments of the Province of Quebec, Canada. Other 

 lower vertebrates were acquired on an exchange basis to complete the 

 developmental series in the systematic exhibits. 



A display case containing manmade diamonds sorted in compart- 

 ments in accordance with size was presented on May 3, 1956, by Dr. 

 C. G. Suits, vice president of General Electric Co., to Dr. Leonard 

 Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for inclusion 

 in the gem exhibit in the Natural History Building. At the presenta- 

 tion ceremony Dr. Suits introduced the technical team responsible for 

 the development of the process that made manufacture feasible. 



An exhibit illustrating the history of iron and steel production in 

 the United States was opened on January 11, 1956, in the Arts and 

 Industries Building by Secretary Carmichael and John C. Long, of 

 the Bethlehem Steel Co. This exhibit traces in 10 units the develop- 

 ment of the industry from the discovery of iron ore to the high- alloy 

 steels of today. Outstanding features of the exhibit are a group of 

 early artifacts from the excavations at Jamestown, Va. ; a section of 

 the massive Hudson River chain swung into place near West Point, 

 N. Y., on April 16, 1778, to prevent the British from sailing to the 

 upper river ; and rare examples of American iron and steel work from 

 the nineteenth century. 



