28 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



of the Museum is at last to receive adequate compensation, as a whole. 

 There is, however, still one lot of scientific workers whose gradings 

 must be revised to put them on an equality with similar employees 

 elsewhere, but this will doubtless soon be satisfactorily adjusted. 



The outstanding feature of this year was the addition to the 

 Museum exhibition halls of an American colonial room, the gift of 

 Mrs. Gertrude D. Eitter, as mentioned elsewhere in the report. This 

 is the first period room to be permanently installed in the Museum. 

 One of the foyer rooms in the Natural History Building has been 

 entirely transformed and now preserves the home atmosphere of the 

 early settlers of our country. 



The time has come, with the continual stream of additions to the 

 collections, when new objects can usually be displaj^ed only by with- 

 drawing from exhibition other objects, often of equal interest. The 

 installation of the colonial room necessitated the condensation of 

 the District of Columbia faunal exhibit. 



The Museum was able by curtailing its archeological exhibition 

 to materially assist the National Gallery of Art. The pressing needs 

 of the gallery for additional hanging space led to the construction of 

 a gallery 40 feet square in the west end of the east north range, 

 second floor of the Natural History Building, to accommodate the 

 nucleus of the National Portrait Gallery. This collection consists 

 of the series of paintings especially made by American artists of 

 persons prominently associated in the Versailles peace treaty — the 

 group picture of the various delegates around the council table, and 

 22 individual portraits of the distinguished leaders of America and 

 the allied nations. Designed especially for this collection, the gal- 

 lery admirably fills its purpose. 



A program of greater development for the Loeb collection of 

 chemical types was made possible this year through the accrued in- 

 terest on the Loeb fund, and includes the employment of a chemist 

 to devote his entire time to its furtherance. The advisory committee 

 on this collection was reorganized about the middle of the year to 

 provide representation of the varied governmental agencies in Wash- 

 ington interested in chemistry. The committee is now constituted as 

 follows : 



Dr. J. E. Zanetti, chairman of the division of chemistry and chemi- 

 cal technology. National Research Council, ex officio; Dr. C. A. 

 Browne, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, ex officio; Dr. S. C. Lind, chief chemist of the 

 Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, ex 

 officio; Dr. W. F. Hillebrand, Chief of the Division of Chemistry, 

 Bureau of Standards, United States Department of Commerce, ex 

 officio ; James K. Senior, representative of the committee in the 



