SECRETARY'S REPORT 37 



Bureau of Mines, the Carnegie Library and Museum, and other 

 institutions to study references on mine technology and coal- 

 cutting machinery. An examination of operations connected with 

 the preparation and shipment of various kinds of coal at the Mathies 

 Mine on the Monongahela River was useful to Mr. Houston in his 

 preparation of plans for the new Smithsonian Hall of Coal. 



At a meeting of the Agricultural History Society at Louisville, 

 Ky., E. C. Kendall, associate curator of agriculture and wood products, 

 discussed the acquisition of various farm implements to supplement 

 such collections in the Museum of History and Technology and gave 

 a paper on 18th-century American plows and their European origins. 



Dr. Anthony N. B. Garvan, head curator of civil history, made 

 several trips in connection with the preparation of a new hall, The 

 Growth of the United States. Among the institutions visited, and 

 from which valuable information and suggestions were obtained, were 

 the Hispanic Society of America in New York, the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the Ford Museum in Dearborn, 

 Mich. In May Dr. Garvan attended a meeting of the Board of the 

 Human Relations Area File in New Haven. The Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution has recently acquired a set of these valuable files and has been 

 elected to membership. This research material will be of value to 

 members of the Smithsonian staff and to other scientists in the 

 Washington area. 



Dr. Wilcomb E. Washburn, curator of political history, \'isited 

 several eastern museums and other institutions in continuance of his 

 studies of political Americana and to review exhibit techniques in 

 use elsewhere. At several historical houses he examined collections 

 referring to American historical figures, including William Henry 

 Harrison, Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, William Seward, and 

 Franklin D. Roosevelt. 



During several trips to various parts of the eastern States, C. 

 Malcolm Watkins, acting curator of cultural history, examined many 

 collections in connection with the proposed halls of the Museum of 

 History and Technology. In the Virginia State Library, in Rich- 

 mond, and in the Archives of Colonial Williamsburg, he continued 

 his research on the Marlborough site. 



John D. Shortridge, associate curator of cultural history, attended 

 the sessions of the American Musicological Society in Chicago late in 

 December. He visited the Chicago Art Institute and the Newberry 

 Library, to examine harpsichords and other musical instruments of 

 historical interest. 



Rodris C. Roth, associate curator of cultural history, went to New 

 York and New England in November to study period rooms and 

 decorative arts collections in various museums and galleries. Her 



