4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 39 



struction by the close of the year ; the total cost, it is estimated, will 

 be more than $15,000,000. 



National Collection of Fine Arts. — The exhibition gallery of the 

 National Collection was closed during the last 4 months of the year 

 for renovation. Weak plaster was replaced, the woodwork painted, 

 and the walls covered with rubber-backed monk's cloth. The eight- 

 eenth annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission was held 

 on December 6, 1938, and four art works submitted during the year 

 were accepted for the National Collection. Two miniatures were 

 acquired through the Catherine Walden Myer fund. Six special 

 exhibitions were held as follows: The Eberstadt collection of 260 

 naval historical prints; architectural exhibition of photographs of 

 representative buildings of the post-war period; 200 prints by 

 graphic artists. Federal Art Project, Works Progress Administra- 

 tion ; 76 water-color paintings of the flora of the Isthmus of Panama 

 by Marie Louise Evans; 173 water-color sketches of wild flowers 

 of various national parks by Mary Vaux Walcott; 56 oil paintings, 

 38 drawings, 4 water colors, and 3 pastels by Joel J. Levitt. 



Freer Gallery of Art. — Additions to the collections included 

 Chinese bronze, jade, and paintings; an Arabic manuscript; and 

 East Indian painting. Curatorial work was devoted to the study 

 of these new acquisitions and to other Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, 

 Persian, East Indian, and Armenian manuscripts or art objects either 

 already in the collection or submitted for purchase. In addition, 

 information on 1,386 similar objects and 586 photographs of objects 

 was furnished to the owners, who wished to know their identity, 

 provenance, quality, date, meaning of inscriptions, etc. Changes 

 in exhibition involved a total of 71 objects. The total number of 

 visitors for the year was 102,936. An illustrated lecture on "Essen- 

 tials in Chinese Painting" was given by Dr. Osvald Siren, Curator 

 of Oriental Arts, National Museum, Stockholm, on March 15, 1939. 

 Eighteen groups were given instruction in the various rooms, and 

 six groups were given decent service in the exhibition galleries. 



Bureau of American Ethnology. — ^Mr. Stirling. Chief of the Bu- 

 reau, directed an archeological expedition to southern Veracruz, 

 Mexico, in cooperation with the National Geographic Society, which 

 financed the expedition. Nine major stone monuments were ex- 

 cavated, and a large collection of ceramics and figurines was ob- 

 tained. The most interesting discovery was a stone monument 

 inscribed with an initial-series date. Dr. Swanton continued his 

 field and office work connected with his study of De Soto's route, 

 and completed his report as chairman of the United States De Soto 

 Expedition Commission. The 400-page report was published in 

 May 1939 as a House document. Dr. Harrington continued his 



