2 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



Throughout the 105 years since it was established, the Smithsonian 

 Institution has seen and has been a part of the development of this 

 national attitude toward science. It has witnessed and sometimes 

 aided the establishment of many great and potent scientific agencies, 

 such as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Kesearch 

 Council, the National Bureau of Standards, the National Advisory 

 Committee for Aeronautics, and others that came into being during 

 World War II. The Institution itself has undergone many changes 

 and vicissitudes: it has survived four major wars, several panics and 

 depressions, and controversies that seemed important at the time. 

 But its one continuing purpose has been, and is, to serve science — not 

 merely American science but all science — in a way that its founder 

 Smithson might have envisioned. It has endeavored not to compete 

 but to serve as a sort of catalyst to complement and cooperate in the 

 work of other agencies, Government and non-Government alike, 

 and to support worthy projects that otherwise might languish. The 

 unique character of its status — as a privately endowed institution 

 and at the same time a ward of the United States Government — ^has 

 given it a freedom of action backed by authority that has proved 

 fortunate and has increased its usefulness. 



In the early days of its existence the Institution carried on its re- 

 search programs largely by subsidizing the work of scientists not on 

 its own staff and by publishing the results of their work. Sources of 

 such aid to American scientists were then extremely limited, and the 

 favor that this practice found can well be understood. Gradually, 

 however, the activities of the Institution became channelized as they 

 expanded, and "bureaus" grew up around the Institution, each with 

 its own staff specializing in the work of its particular field. These 

 are now ten in number, as follows : United States National Museum, 

 National Gallery of Art (with separate board of trustees). National 

 Collection of Fine Arts, Freer Gallery of Art, Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, International Exchange Service, National Zoological 

 Park, Astrophysical Observatory, National Air Museum, and Canal 

 Zone Biological Area. Most of these branches are now supported by 

 Government funds although remaining under Smithsonian direction. 

 At present, nearly all the research and exploration of the Institution 

 is done through these bureaus, notably the United States National 

 Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the Astrophysical 

 Observatory. 



Curtailment of the Government's nondefense spending since the 

 Korean crisis has prevented the Institution from proceeding with 

 some of its long-term programs, such as the modernization of museum 



