REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 61 



In June the French Bureau of International Exchanges informed 

 the Institution that 5 boxes forwarded to that bureau in April were 

 destroyed by fire at the Havre Railroad Station on the night of May 

 19. Another consignment, consisting of 5 boxes, forwarded in De- 

 cember 1939 to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences in Copen- 

 hagen, according to a report made by the American Scantic Line, 

 was destroyed on the dock in Bergen, Norway, by fire caused by 

 airplane bombardment on April 14, 1940. 



The above-mentioned consignments are the only shipments that 

 have been lost during the war, so far as have been reported to the 

 Institution. No doubt a few others have been lost in transit, but 

 definite information regarding the matter will not be received until 

 the end of the war. 



In April 1940 a letter was received from Dr. A. Holmberg, Chief 

 Librarian, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, stating 

 that the work performed by that Academy in distributing exchange 

 packages to Swedish correspondents henceforth would be assumed 

 by the Royal Library. 



The Smithsonian system of international exchanges between the 

 United States and foreign countries has been in operation for 90 

 years, during 72 of which the Academy of Sciences has acted as the 

 Swedish exchange distributing agency. Two other establishments, 

 which at the same time (1868) took over the distribution of packages 

 for correspondents in their countries, are still cariying on the ex- 

 change work — the Royal Norwegian University and the Royal Danish 

 Academy of Sciences. 



Shipments of exchanges to Spain, which have been held up since 

 1936, were resumed in April 1940; but, on account of the disruption 

 to shipping conditions due to the spread of the European war, it 

 was not possible to continue transmissions to that country. 



FOREIGN DEPOSITORIES OF GOVERNMENTAL DOCUMENTS 



Sets of United States governmental documents are now forwarded 

 to 104 foreign depositories, a decrease of 4 sets from last year. Sixty 

 of these depositories receive full sets and 44, partial sets. The sets 

 that were discontinued were for the Province of Buenos Aires, 

 Danzig, Liibeck, and Vienna. 



The depository in Brazil was changed from the Bibliotheca Na- 

 cional to Instituto Nacional do Livro, Rio de Janeiro. The deposi- 

 tory in, Mexico was changed from Departamento Autonomo de 

 Prensa y Publicidad to Direccion General de Informacion, Mexico, 

 D. F. The Nicaraguan depository was changed from the Superin- 

 tendente de Archivos Nacionales, Managua, to Ministerio de Relaciones 

 Exteriores, Managua. 



