SECRETARY'S REPORT 57 



full-scale exhibits will be complemented by a series of models and 

 specimens of equipment which will trace the history of railroads and 

 street railways in the United States. Associate curator John H. White 

 and exhibits designer Virginia Mahoney collaborated in the develop- 

 ment and design of this hall. 



Curator Paul V. Gardner is revising his plans for the hall of ce- 

 ramics in order to include important specimens received during the 

 year. Recently acquired 18th-century German and English porce- 

 lains, from several donors, were placed on exhibition in the Museum 

 of Natural History. 



The American Petroleum Institute continued to render valuable 

 assistance in the planning of exhibits for the new hall of petroleum. 

 A model of the first fluid catalytic cracking plant, which began opera- 

 tion at Baton Rouge, La., in May 1942 to produce high-octane gasoline 

 for the United States and its allies in World War II, was placed on 

 exhibit in the present petroleiun hall. 



The 50th anniversary of the establishment of the collection of dresses 

 of the First Ladies of the "VVliite House was marked by the instal- 

 lation of the Inaugural Ball gown and cape of Mrs. Jolin F. Kennedy. 

 The project of making the mannequins of the First Ladies appear more 

 lifelike has continued. The application of natural flesh tints to the 

 features of more than half of the group has been completed. 



Exhibits for the hall of historic Americans, planned by curator 

 Wilcomb E. Washburn in cooperation with exhibits designer Robert 

 Widder, were nearing completion at the end of the year. Assistant 

 curator Anne W. Murray continued to direct the fitting of historic 

 women's dresses and men's suits on the mannequins to be exhibited in 

 the hall of American costume. A series of 4 introductory panels has 

 been designed and 15 exhibits completed for this hall. 



The exhibits in the cultural history hall in the Museum of Natural 

 History were dismantled for transfer to the new Museum of History 

 and Technology. The woodwork and fireplaces of the period rooms 

 were carefully disassembled and moved to the new building. Twenty- 

 five exhibits have been produced for the new hall of everday life in 

 the American past, among them a series of units illustrating the 

 influences upon early American home furnishings of cultural ele- 

 ments imported by Spanish, French, British, Dutch, Flemish, Ger- 

 man, and Scandinavian settlers. Installation of this hall is under 

 the direction of curator C. Malcolm Watkins, and exhibits chief John 

 E. Anglim designed the exhibits with the assistance of Deborah 

 Bretzfelder. 



A difficult operation was successfully accomplished with the re- 

 moval of Horatio Greenough's statue of George Washington from the 

 chapel of the Smithsonian Building to the central corridor of the 



