REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



ALEXANDER WETMORE 



FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1947 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith my report showing 

 the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its 

 bureaus during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1947. Appendixes 1 to 

 12 give detailed reports of the operations of the National Museum, the 

 National Gallery of Art, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the 

 Freer Gallery of Art, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Inter- 

 national Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical 

 Observatory, the National Air Museum, the Canal Zone Biological 

 Area, the Smithsonian library, and of the publications issued under 

 the direction of the Institution. On page 162 is the financial report of 

 the executive committee of the Board of Regents. 



The purpose of the Institution, as stated in the will of its founder, 

 is "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The in- 

 crease of Icnowledge is accomplished by means of scientific research 

 and exploration, the diffusion of knowledge by its several series of 

 publications, its International Exchange Service, its museum and art 

 gallery exhibits, and various other means. As the Institution oper- 

 ates chiefly through the bureaus that have grown up around it as a 

 result of its early work, the year's research and exploration will be 

 found recorded in the reports of those bureaus, particularly the Na- 

 tional Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the Astro- 

 physical Observatory. A complete account of the year's publications 

 appears in the report of the chief of the editorial division, appendix 12. 

 The fiscal year here reported upon is the first in the Institution's 

 second century of existence. At the beginning of a new era, it is 

 gratifying to report that a large part of the normal research and field 

 work that had to be suspended during the war is now being resumed 

 and, in certain lines, expanded. This is the first annual account in 

 which appear reports on the newly established National Air Museum 

 and on the Canal Zone Biological Area, recently placed under the In- 

 stitution's administration. The number of visitors to the National 

 Museum, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the National Zoological Park 



