REPORT OF THE SECRETARY \) 



SMITHSONIAN EXHIBIT AT THE CENTURY OF PROGRESS EXPOSITION, 



CHICAGO 



The general theme of the Federal exhibits at the Century of Progress 

 Exposition was the portrayal of the contributions made by govern- 

 mental agencies toward the advancement of science and the progress 

 of civilization during the past 100 years. To be in unison with this 

 theme the exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution w^as made up of two 

 parts; first, a brief pictorial account of the Institution's founding and 

 of some of its outstanding achievements in the past, and second, a 

 representation with original material of some of the current activities 

 of the Institution and its seven branches. 



The first or pictorial part of the exhibit consists of nine oil paintings, 

 40 by 30 inches in size. The first of these entitled "President Jackson 

 Notifies Congress of the Smithsonian Bequest, December 17, 1835" 

 shows President Jackson sitting at his desk in the Wliite House in the 

 act of writing a letter while his secretary and nephew, Andrew Jackson 

 Donelson, stands in the background waiting to receive the missive. 

 The second shows the building of the Smithsonian Institution as 

 completed in 1851, and the third is an air view of the portion of the 

 Mall in Washington containing the original buildings and the four 

 additional ones composing the Smithsonian group today. The six 

 remaining paintings, arranged chronologically, depict a few of the 

 many activities undertaken "for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men." The titles of these are: "Professor Henry Posts 

 Daily Weather Map in the Smithsonian, 1858", "Major PoweU 

 Descends the Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon, 1869", 

 "Secretary Langley Tries Out Aerodrome No. 5, 1895", "President 

 Roosevelt Leads Smithsonian African Expedition, 1909-10", "Astro- 

 physical Observatory Established at Montezuma, Chile, 1918 ", "Divi- 

 sion of Radiation and Organisms Established, 1929." 



The second part of the exhibit on the Institution's current activities 

 includes seven exhibition cases, an exhibit booth, and an automatic 

 lantern slide projector, distributed over the floor. Five of the exhibi- 

 tion cases contain a group of original specimens indicative of some 

 current research work in biology, geology, anthropology, ethnology, 

 and radiation. The biology exhibit, for example, tells the story of the 

 progressive experiments in evolution with the land mollusk, Cerion, 

 begun in 1912, while the exhibit on anthropology, consisting of carved 

 ivory artifacts, gives an indication of current archeological investiga- 

 tions of the prehistoric Eskimo cultures of northern Alaska and around 

 Bering Strait. The sixth case indicates very brielly the scope of the 

 National Gallery of Art, and the seventh represents the National 

 Zoological Park. For this latter exhibit the interior of the case was 

 modeled to represent a desert with real sand floor, growing cactuses, 



