SECRETARY'S REPORT 5 



new Smithsonian exhibits, every effort is made to make each presenta- 

 tion logically clear and interesting so that the visitor will stop and 

 read the explanatory labels. In this way, the Smithsonian exhibits 

 improve the visitors' basic understanding of the natural history of 

 America and of the world, of the history of many of the most impor- 

 tant human arts and sciences, and of the teclmology that has made the 

 modern world what it is. No one, for example, can go through the 

 new American Cultural History Hall without seeing in a new way how 

 Americans lived on this continent before the industrial revolution 

 and how the coming of power machines transformed the basic ways 

 of life of the Nation. 



Thus the question as to wliat visitors gain by coming to the Smith- 

 sonian can be answered briefly: They gain in an understanding of 

 the world in which they live and in their knowledge of America. 

 Patriotism is a word that is sometimes misused, but who can doubt 

 that any American citizen becomes more truly patriotic when he has 

 knowledge of the basic natural resources of his country and of how 

 these resources have been and are now used in the growth and main- 

 tenance of our modern life? 



The increase in the number of visitors who come to the Smithsonian 

 also indirectly reflects most favorably upon the basic attitudes of the 

 citizens of our Nation today. It is inspiring to watch them passing 

 in great streams through the doorways of our buildings. They come 

 in order to see important exhibits, which they know in sum total can 

 be viewed nowhere else in the world. Most of them surely leave with 

 an understanding, which they could gain in no other way, of factors 

 that have made modern life. 



Some of the new exliibit halls that are now open in the Smithsonian's 

 old Arts and Industries Building have been so constructed, by the use 

 of portable panels, that when the new Museum of History and Tech- 

 nology is completed the whole display can be moved to the new build- 

 ing without unnecessary delay. AVhen this is done, other exhibits of 

 larger dimensions not at present on display will take their place in 

 the old building. The professional staff is now working with exhibits 

 experts in the preparation of other new halls so that there will be as 

 little delay as possible in making the great new building an effective 

 museum for the public as soon as its structure is complete. 



Later pages of this report describe in detail the work done during 

 the year by the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Smith- 

 sonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Na- 

 tional Collection of Fine Arts, the National Air Museum, the Canal 

 Zone Biological Area, the International Exchange Service, the Na- 

 tional Zoological Park, and other specialized units of the Smithsonian. 



