SECRETARY'S REPORT 53 



At the end of the year work was begun on the construction of a 

 technical research laboratory in the west end of the building. 



The firm of Keally and Patterson, architects, of New York, com- 

 pleted a survey of the building with a view to modernization of the 

 lighting throughout, air conditioning, and effecting structural changes 

 for enlarging the library and adding much-needed office space. Plans 

 were also drawn for a proposed addition to the building. All this 

 work was preliminary in nature. 



ATTENDANCE 



The Gallery was open to the public from 9 to 4 : 30 every day except 

 Christmas Day. The total number of visitors to come in the main 

 entrance was 62,895. The weekday total was 49,893, and the Sunday 

 total 13,002. The highest monthly attendance was in July, 8,407, and 

 tlie lowest was in December, 2,281. 



There were 1,471 visitors to the office during the year. 



HERZFELD ARCHIVE 



Mrs. Charlotte Bradford, sister of the late Ernst Herzfeld, pre- 

 sented to the Herzfeld Archive additional squeezes, plans, maps, draw- 

 ings, etc., executed by Professor Herzfeld. 



STAFF ACTIVITIES 



The work of the staff members has been devoted to the study of new 

 accessions, of objects contemplated for purchase, and to general re- 

 search within the collections of Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Arabic, 

 and Indian materials. Reports, oral or written, were made upon 2,377 

 objects as follows : Belonging to private individuals, 1,552 ; belonging 

 to dealers, 705 ; at other museums, 120. In all, 289 photographs of ob- 

 jects were examined, and 242 Oriental language inscriptions were 

 translated for visitors. By request, 10 groups met in the exhibition 

 galleries for docent service by staff members; the total attendance 

 was 208. Two members of tlie staff spent parts of the year engaged in 

 research projects outside the United States as follows : 



During the summer months of 1950, Mr. Pope traveled to the Near 

 East to study the uniquely important Chinese porcelain collections in 

 Tehran and Istanbul. In Iran, additional material was examined in 

 Mashhad and Isfahan; and passing through Europe to and from the 

 Near East i^rovided an opportunity to see important Chinese ceramics 

 in museums and private collections in Bristol, Cirencester, Oxford, 

 London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Leeuwarden, as well as scattered ex- 

 amples in Rotterdam, Rome, Faenza, Venice, and Zurich. 



