REPORT OF THE SECRETARY / 



FINANCES 



A statement will be found in the report of the executive committee, 

 page 97. 



MATTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST 

 SMITHSONIAN RADIO PROGRAM 



A new means of carrying on the diffusion of knowledge was made 

 available to the Institution toward the end of the fiscal year, when 

 the Office of Education, Department of the Interior, began, as a 

 feature of the Radio Project of the Works Progress Administration, 

 a series of weekly half-hour radio broadcasts, on a Nation-wide 

 hook-up, on the activities of the Smithsonian Institution. These 

 broadcasts, which constitute an innovation in the field of educational 

 radio programs, take the form of dramatizations of the scientific 

 research, exploration, museum exhibits, and art activities carried on 

 under the Institution's direction. They form an N. B, C. blue net- 

 work feature on Sunday mornings at 11 : 30 Eastern daylight saving 

 time (red network, 11 : 30 Eastern standard time after September 

 27), and are presented through the cooperation of the National 

 Broadcasting Co. 



The first broadcast, produced on Sunday, June 7, 1936, dramatized 

 the founding of the Smithsonian Institution and the stories of some 

 of the famous exhibits in the Arts and Industries Building of the 

 United States National Museum, including Colonel Lindbergh's 

 Spirit of St. Louis^ the Star Spangled Banner, the first Atlantic cable, 

 and Alexander Graham Bell's early tdephones. This, with the 13 

 other broadcasts listed below, were to comprise the first series : 



The Smithsonian, and Famous Exhibits June 7,1936 



Scientific Explorations June 14, 1936 



The Sun June 21, 1936 



The American Indian June 28, 1936 



Costumes of Ladies of the White House July 5,1936 



Transportation July 12, 1936 



Meteorites July 19, 1936 



The Human Side of Art July 2G, 193t> 



Mammals Aug. 2, 1936 



Power Aug. 9, 1936 



The Story of Man in America Aug. 16, 1930 



Textiles Aug. 23, 1936 



Precious Stones Aug. 30, 1936 



Ship Models Sept. 6,1936 



From the beginning this program has been enthusiastically re- 

 ceived. Hundreds of letters were received at the Office of Education 

 commending the dramatized form of educational broadcast as being 

 both entertaining and instructive, and I may anticipate the next fiscal 



