94 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 6 



and all plants, trees, and shrubs appear to be doing well and are main- 

 taining steady growth. 



Work on the installation of the long-needed air-conditioning system 

 to safeguard the collections has begun. 



ATTENDANCE 



The Gallery was open to the public from 9 to 4 : 30 every day except 

 Christmas day. The total number of visitors to come in the main en- 

 trance was 94,276. The highest monthly attendance was in April, 

 12,972, and the lowest was in December, 3,209. 



There were 2,172 visitors to the office for the following purposes : 



For general information 855 



To submit objects for examination 367 



To see staff members ^ — 162 



To take photographs in tbe court or exhibition galleries 157 



To study in library 228 



To see building and installations 37 



To examine or borrow slides 20 



To sketch in galleries 16 



To use Herzfeld Archive 4 



To see objects in storage : 



Far Eastern paintings 106 



Far Eastern metalwork 20 



Far Eastern pottery 39 



Far Eastern jade, lacquer, wood, ivory, etc 20 



Near Eastern paintings 9 



Near Eastern metalwork 12 



Near Eastern pottery 3 



Near Eastern glass, bookbindings, etc 6 



Christian art (Washington Mss.) 23 



American art 196 



AUDITORIUM 



The series of illustrated lectures was continued as follows: 



1955 



October 18. Dr. Aschwin Lippe, Assistant Curator of Far Eastern Art, Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art, New York. "Early Chinese Paintings 

 in Formosa." Attendance, 110. 



November 15. Dr. Sherman E. Lee, Curator of Oriental Art, Cleveland Museum 

 of Art. "Kamakura Art in Japan." Attendance, 193. 

 1956 



January 17. Dr. Oleg Grabar, Assistant Professor in Islamic Art, University 

 of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "Umayyad Art, the Art of an 

 Empire." Attendance, 171. 



February 14. Prof. William F. Albright, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 

 "The Art and Architecture of the Age of Solomon." Attend- 

 ance, 242. 



