6 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



States and Chancellor as well as Regent of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, died on September 8, 1953. Chancellor Vinson had served as the 

 presiding officer of the Board since June 24, 1046. His enthusiastic 

 work for the welfare of the Smithsonian and his willingness to ad- 

 vance its various programs will always be remembered with gratitude 

 by all who are interested in the work of the Institution. The death 

 of Senator Robert A. Taft was also a severe loss to the Institution. 

 Senator Taft became a Regent of the Smithsonian on March 9, 1953, 

 and his untimely death occurred on July 31, 1953. During this short 

 period Senator Taft had naturally not been able to perform many 

 official acts in relation to the Smithsonian, but he had indicated his 

 desire to be of full service to the Institution. 



The Board is honored to welcome as a new member the Honorable 

 Owen J. Roberts of Philadelphia. It is my pleasure also to record 

 the appointment to the Board of Regents of Senator H. Alexander 

 Smith, of New Jersey, and the reappointment of Robert V. Fleming 

 and Vannevar Bush. 



On the evening of January 14, 1954, an informal dinner meeting 

 of the Board was held in the main hall of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. The chairman of the executive committee, Robert V. Fleming, 

 presided. The holding of this dinner on the evening before the an- 

 nual meeting of the Board is now a well-established custom at the 

 Smithsonian. At the dinner this year research reports were made 

 by a representative group of Smithsonian scientific and scholarly 

 workers. A special exhibit was also arranged to show the plans of the 

 Institution for the modernization of its exhibit halls. 



The regular annual meeting of the Board was held on January 15 

 in the Regents Room of the Institution. At this meeting the Chief 

 Justice of the United States, Honorable Earl Warren, was unani- 

 mously elected as the Chancellor of the Institution. The Secretary 

 presented his published annual report on the activities of the Institu- 

 tion and its bureaus. The financial report was presented by Robert 

 V. Fleming, chairman of the executive and permanent committees 

 of the Board, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1954. The usual reso- 

 lution was passed authorizing expenditures of the income of the In- 

 stitution for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955. 



The roll of Regents at the close of the present fiscal year was as 

 follows: Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren, Chancellor; 

 Vice President Richard Nixon; members from the Senate: Clinton 

 P. Anderson, Leverett Saltonstall, H. Alexander Smith; members 

 from the House of Representatives: Clarence Cannon, Leroy John- 

 son, John M. Vorys; citizen members: Vannevar Bush, Arthur H. 

 Compton, Robert V. Fleming, Jerome C. Hunsaker, and Owen Jose- 

 phus Roberts. 



