REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 15 



omies in the Institution's printing and binding. During the year 

 nine meetings were held and 100 m'anuscripts acted upon. The 

 membership of the committee is as follows : Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, 

 head curator of biology, National Museum, chairman ; Dr. George P. 

 Merrill, head curator of geology. National Museum; Dr. J. Walter 

 Fewkes, chief, Bureau of American Ethnology; Mr. N. Hollister, 

 superintendent, National Zoological Park; and Mr. W. P. True, 

 editor of the Smithsonian Institution, secretary. Toward the close 

 of the year there were added to the membership of the committee 

 Dr. Marcus Benjamin, editor of the National Museum, and Mr. 

 Stanley Searles, editor of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



LIBRARY ^ 



The service of the libraries administered under the Smithsonian 

 Institution has been continued, although with increasing difficulty 

 owing to the need for more assistants. Mr. Paul Brockett resigned 

 as assistant librarian, after 37 years with the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, in order to assume charge of the new building of the Nation'al 

 Academy of Sciences as assistant secretary and librarian. 



The additions to the libraries reached a total of 12,249, as com- 

 pared with 10,938 the past ye'ar. The number of loans was 13,326, 

 as compared with 12,076 the past year, exclusive of books lent from 

 the Smithsonian deposit in the Library of Congress. Efforts to 

 secure missing parts for including in incomplete sets resulted in the 

 receipt of 1,786. Owing to the lack of sufficient clerical help, it 

 has not been possible to have typed for the general library catalogue 

 the catalogue cards of special collections that have been prepared 

 during the year. Consequently the number of volumes catalogued 

 for the general catalogue dropped from 6,341 to 5,348. 



Probably the most important addition of the year was the Edgar 

 E. Teller collection presented by Mrs. Teller to the library of the 

 United States National Museum. The catalogue of the Europe'an 

 Historical Series of the Watts de Peyster collection is approaching 

 completion. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Since 1916 the collections in the care of the Museum have been 

 increased by two and one-fourth million specimens, and its exhibi- 

 tion space has been enlarged by the addition of the Aircraft Build- 

 ing. Unfortunately, however, the appropriations have not kept pace 

 with this rapid development, and it is now only with the greatest 

 care and economy that the actual work of the safe-keeping of the 

 collections and their classification and exhibition is carried on. 

 There is practically nothing left to care for the normal expansion 



