2 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 3 



for much work in biology and geology. In its collections of history 

 and technology, of aviation, and of the fine arts the Smithsonian has 

 special distinctions and responsibilities in maintaining a proper and 

 complete record of our national achievements and of preserving in 

 trust for the Nation valuable gifts from its citizens. Its expeditions 

 and researches in anthropology in our own and other American coun- 

 tries have brought to light much of the past that was hidden and have 

 preserved much that would otherwise have been lost. Its researches in 

 solar radiation continue to be a principal source of special information 

 in a field of growing practical importance. Its library of more than a 

 million and a half titles is one of the world's great repositories of 

 published scientific information and by far the greatest in the Western 

 Hemisphere. Through its extensive publication program, its inter- 

 national exchange service for scientific literature, its museum exhibits 

 and traveling exhibitions, and in the answering of thousands of indi- 

 vidual inquiries yearly the Smithsonian is surely a world center not 

 only for the increase of knowledge but for the proper diffusion of 

 exact information. 



' In some ways, this means that the Smithsonian may be thought of 

 as a living encyclopedia that is always being kept up to date. Re- 

 search workers connected with industrial development as well as 

 scientific investigators all over the country continually call upon our 

 expanding collections and records for the identification and descrip- 

 tion of plants, animals, minerals, and unknown or puzzling objects of 

 human workmanship, especially works of art, and for information 

 pertaining to our other fields of scholarly interest. 



In these first months of my service as Secretary it has become clear 

 to me that the Smithsonian has, through its more than a century of 

 service, won a special place in the hearts and minds of American citi- 

 zens from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Taking all our buildings to- 

 gether, more than 8,200,000 visitors entered our various halls last 

 year. It is reported at the USD information desk in Washington's 

 Union Station that 9 out of 10 members of the Armed Forces inquire 

 for the Smithsonian Institution. A Gallup poll of last summer, at- 

 tempting to sample the opinion of the estimated 35 million adult 

 Americans who have visited Washington at least once, indicated that 

 except for the Capitol and the White House, the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution is regarded as "the most interesting thing for a visitor to see 

 in Washington." Car and bus loads of individuals from the Pacific 

 Coast States and from every other part of the Nation come day after 

 day to the Smithsonian. These visitors are of all ages. Many of 

 them are impressionable high-school seniors on what may well be their 

 one trip to Washington. It is thus borne in upon everyone connected 

 with the Smithsonian Institution that our exhibits must be prepared 

 in such a way that they will most effectively tell these eager and 



