SECRETARY'S REPORT 19 



studies. Lederle Laboratories contributed tliron<]:h F. L. Murphy 

 a test tube of some of the original soil from which aureomycin was 

 isolated, and five petri dishes prepared by Dr. Duggar, the discoverer 

 of aureomycin. The Sanborn Co. presented through James L. Jenks, 

 Jr., an electrocardiograph used for taking the first electrocardiogram 

 of a white (beluga) whale, and Dr. Paul Dudley White added the 

 harpoon electrode used in these studies on the whale. 



History. — An interesting accession, a gift of Walter Voigt, was a 

 one-horse open sleigh of the Colonial period with the date "1769" 

 carved in the center back panel under a painted pine-tree decoration. 

 Tradition associates the sleigh with Gen. George Washington and 

 his New Jersey campaign of the Revolutionary War. As a gift to 

 the national collection of dresses of the First Ladies of the Wliite 

 House, Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower presented her pink-silk inaugural- 

 ball gown. Mrs. Eisenhower also presented her wedding dress of ecru 

 lace to the collection of American period costumes. By donation 

 from ISIiss Margaret Bream four early American hats and bonnets in 

 a band box of the early nineteenth century were added to the collec- 

 tion of period costumes. Mrs. Elmer R. Shepherd gave to this col- 

 lection two early nineteenth-century Quaker bonnets and three gauze 

 undercaps. Specimens of furniture and room accessories for use in 

 the series of period rooms of the White House were given by Awbrey 

 N. Shaw and Mrs. W. Murray Crane. 



A large collection of German insignia of the period of World War 

 II was presented by William A. Hambley, Jr. A valuable and rare 

 powder horn of 1762 was received from Mrs. Stella Crooks and Miss 

 Ethel Crooks. 



x\n outstanding accession in the division of numismatics was an 

 Indian peace medal of Andrew Johnson dated 1865, presented by 

 Miss Lucia K. Williams. 



A total of 2,341 stamps was received as a transfer from the Post 

 OfRce Department. Of considerable importance were the transfers 

 from the Internal Revenue Service of 57,955 revenue stamps, die 

 proofs, and plate proofs. Gifts of major importance were made by 

 John R. Boker, Jr., Ralph A. Schoenfeld, Ernst Ix)wenstein, Philip 

 Ward, Jr., and Arthur F. Black. 



EXPLORATION, HELDWORK, AND RELATED TRAVEL 



During September and later in the year 1953, Dr. T. Dale Stewart, 

 curator, and Dr. Marshall T. Newman, associate curator, division of 

 physical anthropology, excavated a number of skeletons from a pre- 

 historic Indian ossuary on the farm of Bernward Juhle on Nanjemoy 

 Creek, near Ironsides, Charles County, Md. 



In response to a request made by United States Naval Medical 



