SECRETARY'S REPORT 7 



the month of largest attendance; April 1964 second, with 1,555,295; 

 and July 1963 third, with 1,407,858. The largest attendance recorded 

 for a single day was 104,285 on March 28, 1964. Table 1 gives a sum- 

 mary of the attendance records for the six buildings. The National 

 Zoological Park had an estimated 3,900,000 visitors during the year. 

 When this figure is added to the attendance in the Institution's build- 

 ings on the Mall, and to the 1,236,155 recorded at the National Gallery 

 of Art, the total Smithsonian attendance for fiscal 1964 aggregated 

 15,949,350. 



SMITHSON BICENTENNIAL 



The year 1965 marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of 

 James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institution, and plans 

 are in progress to observe this event in a manner that will draw interna- 

 tional attention to Smithson and the work of the establishment he 

 founded. A committee of Smithsonian staff members has been named, 

 under the chairmanship of John C Ewers, to plan the celebration and 

 make recommendations to the Secretary concerning it. Scheduled for 

 the fall of 1965, it is the intention to plan a program that will attract 

 scholars and representatives of scholarly institutions and governments, 

 from all parts of the world. 



JOSEPH HENRY PAPERS 



In collaboration with the National Publications Commission, the 

 National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical 

 Society, a project has been initiated to collect, edit, and publish the 

 Papers of Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. For at least a decade, scholars devoted to general American his- 

 tory as well as to the histoiy of science in America have felt that such 

 a documentary work would provide not only the story of this outstand- 

 ing scientist but also much of the history of the organization of science 

 in the United States, its relations with government, and its links with 

 science and scientists in Europe. The significance of Henry was 

 underlined in 1954 when the National Historical Publications Com- 

 mission named him as one of the nonpolitical Americans whose papers 

 are most worthy of publication. 



Because of the enormity of the task and the high costs involved, it is 

 impossible to say at this time how rapidly this project will move for- 

 ward. Formation of a permanent committee to organize and direct the 

 project is planned. 



