Report on the United States 

 National Museum 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the condi- 

 tion and operations of the U.S. National Museum for the fiscal year 

 ended June 30, 1962 : 



COLLECTIONS 



During the year 854,135 specimens were added to the national col- 

 lections and distributed among the eight departments as follows: 

 Anthropology, 13,556; zoology, 480,003; botany, 32,236; geology, 

 115,387; science and technology, 2,363; arts and manufactures, 3,155; 

 civil history, 205,358; and armed forces history, 2,077. The largest 

 divisional acquisition was in the division of insects, which accessioned 

 a total of 417,279 specimens. Most of this year's accessions were ac- 

 quired as gifts from individuals or as transfers from Government de- 

 partments and agencies. The complete report on the Museiun, 

 published as a separate document, includes a detailed list of the year's 

 acquisitions, of which the more important are summarized below. 

 Catalog entries in all departments now total 55,817,940. 



Anthropology. — The division of archeology received by transfer 

 from the River Basin Surveys 11,334 artifacts, mainly of mid-19th- 

 century white man's manufacture, from the site of Fort Berthold, 

 N. Dak. The following important additions to the divisional Latin 

 American collections were also received: 24 pre-Spanish textiles from 

 Peru, presented by the International Business Machines Corp. ; a rep- 

 resentative group of 42 stone and bone artifacts from the early cultures 

 of the Lagoa Santa area in Minas Gerais, Brazil, presented by H. V. 

 Walter, of Belo Horizonte; and a type collection of 290 pottery and 

 stone artifacts from various cultural levels on the islands at the mouth 

 of the Amazon River, collected and donated by Drs. Clifford Evans 

 and Betty Meggers. 



As a gift from the Government of India, the division of etlinology 

 received 292 ethnological objects, including a complete assemblage of 

 dance costumes of the Kathakali religious drama of South India, tex- 

 tiles of unusual quality, and representing a wide range of tecliniques 

 and designs. Another fine ethnological collection, comprising native 

 musical instruments and a large number of shadow-theater puppets, 

 was donated by the Federation of Malaya through its National Mu- 



