4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



then accepted the Gallery on behalf of the people of the Nation. 

 The following day the building was opened to the public, and the 

 attendance from that day to June 30 was 798,156, an average of 

 7,529 per day. Practically all the initial staff of the Gallery had 

 been employed by March 1, 1941, the number of employees on June 

 30 being 229. The first catalog of the Gallery and a booklet of 

 general information were ready for distribution at the time of the 

 public opening, as were also a book of illustrations of all the art 

 works in the collection, color reproductions, and postcards. A num- 

 ber of important prints and four paintings were accepted as gifts 

 during the year. Under the educational program of the Gallery, 

 the docent staff has been organized so that there are at least two 

 public gallery tours every day and two auditorium lectures every 

 week. A memorial tablet to the late Andrew W. Mellon, donor of 

 the Gallery, was installed in the lobby, and four marble panels were 

 set aside for the names of important donors to the Gallery. The 

 names at present carved on the panels are those of Mr. Mellon and 

 Samuel H. Kress, and the names of future donors will be added as 

 authorized by the Board of Trustees. 



National Collection of Fine Arts. — The National Collection re- 

 ceived two additions to its endowment funds during the year: 

 $5,000 from the Cornelia Livingston Pell Estate of New York, 

 and $10,000 from the Miss Julia D. Strong Estate, of Washington, 

 D. C. Three paintings were accepted for the National Collection 

 by the Smithsonian Art Commission in December 1940, and several 

 other gifts of etchings, miniatures, and paintings were deposited 

 during the year to be passed upon by the Commission at its next 

 annual meeting. Three miniatures were purchased through the 

 Catherine Walden Myer Fund. The following eight special exhibi- 

 tions were held: 48 pastels, drawings, and lithographs by Lily E. 

 Smulders; the Sixth Annual Metropolitan State Art Contest, 1940, 

 comprising 289 art works by 158 artists ; the work of William Baxter 

 Closson (1848-1926), comprising 94 oils, 40 pastels, 21 water colors, 

 112 wood engravings, and other material; 111 pastels by 17 artists, 

 exhibited by the National Society of Pastelists ; 22 water colors and 

 21 pastels by Ethel H. Hagen; 42 paintings by Alejandro Pardinas 

 under the patronage of the Cuban Ambassador; 39 caricatures by 

 Antonio Sotomayor under the patronage of the Bolivian Minister; 

 and a memorial exhibition of 17 color prints and 60 black and white 

 prints by Bertha E. Jaques (1863-1941). A new edition of the 

 Catalog of American and European Paintings in the Gellatly Collec- 

 tion was published. 



Freer Gallery of Art. — Additions to the collections included 

 Chinese bronze, Chinese jade, Arabic manuscripts, Indian and Per- 



