SECRETARY'S REPORT 75 



The condition of exhibited material in the two buildings now con- 

 taining aeronautical displays, although far from ideal is, nevertheless, 

 a tribute to the zealous efforts of the staff and the exhibits workers. 

 Space for displays remains a pressing problem. Cases are crowded, 

 and the visiting public is constricted by the narrow aisles. The staff 

 is constantly faced with the need to decide whether to display a new 

 accession and add to the crowding, or to store it and thereby deprive 

 Museum visitors of its educational and interest value. The number 

 of accessions recorded this fiscal year is the greatest in the history of 

 the National Air Museum — more than 20 percent above the highest 

 previous year — and the number of visitors to the Aircraft Building 

 this year was a third more than the previous high count. Requests 

 to the Museum for information and service are constantly increasing, 

 although the staff has had to be reduced because of lack of funds. 

 This growing interest in the Museum certainly would seem to empha- 

 size the need for better facilities both for exhibition and informational 

 services. 



The increasing demands of administrative work in the Washington 

 office of the Museum have limited the time that could be allotted to 

 trips for the purpose of surveying and procuring material for the 

 Museum, but whenever time could be spared for such personal inves- 

 tigations, the results were always more productive and informative 

 than those achieved by correspondence alone. 



ADVISORY BOARD 



Two changes occurred in the personnel of this Board which advises 

 and assists in the administration of the National Air Museum. On 

 July 1, 1953, Rear Adm. Thomas S. Combs was succeeded by Rear 

 Adm. Apollo Soucek, representing the Chief of Naval Operations; 

 and on June 16, 1954, Maj. Gen. Laurence C. Craigie was replaced 

 by Maj. Gen. George W. Mundy, representing the Chief of Staff of 

 the Air Force. No change was made in the original civilian ap- 

 pointees, Grover Loening and William B. Stout. \Vhile members 

 of the Board have met occasionally, informally, no formal meetings 

 were called by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution during 

 the year. The members, however, have continued to help with a 

 number of Museum projects and to stimulate progressive action on 

 important developments. 



STEPHENSON BEQUEST 



Progress is being made in the matter of the bequest of George H. 

 Stephenson of Philadelphia who provided for a statue of the renowned 

 air leader Gen. William Mitchell, to be sculptured and presented to the 

 National Air Museum. After consultations with a number of 

 sculptors recommended by the Commission of Fine Arts, Bruce Moore 



