Report of the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution 



LEONARD CARMICHAEL 

 For the Year Ended June 30, 1963 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit a report showing the activi- 

 ties and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its branches for 

 the fiscal year ended June 30, 1963. 



GENERAL STATEMENT 



James Smithson directed that the Institution f oimded by him should 

 be an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men. The 117th year of the Smithsonian Institution, covered in the 

 present report, shows notable achievements in research ; that is, in the 

 increase of knowledge. The publications, museum displays, and the 

 answering of letters requesting information have aU served during 

 the year to further the diffusion of knowledge. 



In the pages that follow, reports of the activities of each of the 

 bureaus of the Smithsonian present in some detail the story of the year. 

 Additions to the collections, publications, new exhibits, new research 

 findings, and explorations are all described. 



The year's most notable development has been the progress made 

 in the completion of the great new Museum of History and Tech- 

 nology Building. Tliis marble structure will be one of the largest 

 and one of the most modern and effective museums in the world. 

 Its 50 public exhibition halls will almost certainly be viewed each 

 year by at least 5 million visitors. The building has been planned so 

 that access to exhibits and the movement of visitors through the halls 

 will be as convenient as possible and produce a minimum of what is 

 often all too accurately called "museum fatigue." In plamiing each 

 new exhibit an effort has been made to make every display a complete 

 instructional unit. Space has also been set aside for the great study 

 collections of the Institution in the fields of histoiy and technology, 

 containing objects that are not on public exhibition but that are of 

 importance to the thousands of research scholars, specialists, and 

 collectors who come to the Smithsonian every year to learn more 

 in detail about some particular field of inquiry. 



1 



