8 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1947 



affects payments to members in annuity status on that date, which payments 

 will be continued by the Institution as provided by the Smithsonian Retirement 

 System. 



Beginning May 18, 1947, retirement deductions from the pay of the Smith- 

 sonian employees in question will be made at tlie rate of 5 percent (the rate of 

 the Federal Retirement System) instead of 3.5 percent (the rate of the former 

 Smithsonian Retirement System). 



Adjustment for back time on behalf of the individual members of the Smith- 

 sonian Retirement System will be determined with the approval of the executive 

 committee, as provided by resolution adopted by the Board of Regents on January 

 17, 1947. 



On June 30, the last day of the fiscal year 1947, 1 submitted to the 

 executive committee of the Board of Regents a detailed recommenda- 

 tion regarding the conversion to the Federal Retirement System, so 

 that final action on adjustment for previous service will be deferred 

 until the next fiscal year. However, all employees of the Institution 

 are now on the same footing as to retirement benefits, thus remedying 

 a situation of long standing. 



VISITORS 



An increase of 237,784 visitors to the Smithsonian buildings was 

 recorded over the previous year, the totals being 2,353,377 for 1947 

 and 2,115,593 for 1946. August 1946 was the month of largest at- 

 tendance, with 318,325 visitors; April 1947, the second largest with 

 298,724. A summary of attendance records is given in table 1 : 



Table 1. — Visitors to the Smithsonian buildings during the year ended June SO, 1947 



19i6 

 July 



August 



September. 



October 



November 



December 



1947 



January 



February 



March... 



April 



May 



June 



Total 



Smithson- 

 ian Bldg. 



51, 956 

 62,254 

 45, 152 

 32, 052 

 28,538 

 20,292 



18, 492 

 16,285 

 20,037 

 65,236 

 42, 372 

 47,292 



439, 957 



Arts and 



Industries 



Bldg. 



118,106 

 137, 857 

 93, 356 

 63,843 

 58, 667 

 34, 640 



34, 019 

 33,240 

 47,114 

 127, 665 

 111,480 

 116, 179 



976, 166 



Natural 



History 



Bldg. 



64,553 

 81, 674 

 65, 256 

 49, 016 

 42,804 

 28,335 



34, 553 

 28,329 

 37, 797 

 76,488 

 68,480 

 70,632 



1 637, 917 



Aircraft 

 Bldg. 



21, 964 

 24,005 

 18,525 

 13,428 

 13, 054 

 8,331 



8,919 

 7,876 

 11,336 

 23,541 

 19, 318 

 21,803 



192, 100 



Freer 

 Gallery 

 of Art 



10,504 

 12,535 

 9,339 

 8,939 

 7,961 

 6,865 



4,121 

 4,053 

 7,003 

 15, 794 

 11,625 



107, 237 



Total 



267, 082 

 318,325 

 221, 628 

 167,278 

 151,024 

 97,463 



100, 104 

 89,783 

 123,287 

 298, 724 

 253, 275 

 265, 404 



2, 353, 377 



1 Not including 13,943 persons attending meetings after 4:30 p. m. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC LABORATORY 



In connection with the research and exploration of the Institution, 

 there is involved a large amount of photographic work which is han- 

 dled for the Institution and its branches by the Photographic Labora- 



