8 AlfNTJAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAIfr INSTITUTION, 1940 



THE ESTABLISHMENT 



The Smithonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 

 1846, according to the terms of the will of James Smithson, of 

 England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States 

 of America "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men." In receiving the property and accepting 

 the trust. Congress determined tliat the Federal Government was 

 without authority to administer the trust directly, and, therefore, 

 constituted an "establislmient" whose statutory members are "the 

 President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of 

 the executive departments." 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS 



Changes in the Board of Regents during the year included the 

 appointment on January 4, 1940, by the Vice President, as President 

 of the Senate, of Senator Bennett Champ Clark, of Missouri, to 

 succeed Senator M. M. Logan, of Kentucky, who died October 3, 

 1939, and the appointment by joint resolution of Congress approved 

 April 5, 1940, of Vannevar Bush, of Washington, D. C, as a citizen 

 regent to succeed John C. Merriam, who resigned December 14, 1939. 



The roll of regents at the close of the year was as follows: 

 Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States, Chan- 

 cellor; John N. Garner, Vice President of the United States; mem- 

 bers fi'om the Senate — Charles L. McNary, Alben W. Barkley, 

 Bennett Champ Clark; members fi'om the House of Representa- 

 tives — Charles L. Gifford, Clarence Cannon, William P. Cole, Jr.; 

 citizen members — Frederic A. Delano, Washington, D. C. ; R. Walton 

 Moore, Virginia ; Roland S. Morris, Pennsylvania ; Harvey N. Davis, 

 New Jersey; Arthur H. Compton, Illinois; and Vannevar Bush, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Proceedings. — The annual meeting of the Board of Regents was 

 held on January 11, 1940. The regents present were Chief Justice 

 Charles Evans Hughes, Chancellor; John N. Garner, Vice President 

 of the United States; Senator Charles L. McNary; Representatives 

 Charles L. Gifford, Clarence Cannon, and William P. Cole, Jr. ; citi- 

 zen regents Frederic A. Delano, R. Walton Moore, Harvey N. Davis, 

 and Arthur H, Compton ; and the Secretary, Dr. Charles G. Abbot. 



The Board received and accepted the annual report of the Secre- 

 tary, covering activities during the year of the parent institution and 

 of the several Government branches ; the report by Mr. Delano of the 

 executive committee, covering financial statistics of the Institution, 

 and of the permanent committee, which handles matters connected 

 with the investment of the Institution's various funds; and the an- 



