164 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES 



The Curatorial Department accessioned 476 gifts to the Gallery 

 during the fiscal year 1954. Advice was given regarding 290 works 

 of art brought to the Gallery for expert opinion, and 38 visits to 

 other collections were made by members of the staff for either expert 

 opinion or in connection with offers of gifts. About 1,500 inquiries 

 requiring research were answered verbally and by letter. John 

 Walker gave an address at the Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, on the 

 occasion of the opening of the Samuel H. Kress Collection in that 

 museum. Mr. Walker also gave a talk on the X-raying of paintings 

 during the intermission period of the regular Sunday evening con- 

 cert broadcast at the Gallery. A recording was made of an inter- 

 view with Mr. Walker and a member of the staff of the Columbia 

 Broadcasting System regarding the Edgar William and Bernice 

 Chrysler Garbisch Collection and this interview was broadcast na- 

 tionally. Perry B. Cott gave a lecture on Renaissance Portrait 

 Medals at Smith College. Charles M. Richards conducted two 

 courses in art history under the auspices of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. He also gave lectures to six different local groups on 

 "Bruegel," "Van Eyck," and the subjects "Taste" and "Contempo- 

 rary Art." Miss Elizabeth Mongan assisted with seminar courses 

 for Beaver College and Swarthmore College. She gave a lecture on 

 medieval manuscripts and one on "Scherzi from the 18th Century" 

 to two clubs. She also served on a panel discussion of modern art 

 at the Springside School. Perry B. Cott and William P. Campbell 

 were judges of an art exhibition at St. John's Church, Glyndon, Md. 



Erwin O. Christensen, as a representative of the Gallery, attended 

 the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums at Santa 

 Barbara, Calif., in the spring. Miss Katharine Shepard, as secre- 

 tary of the Washington Society, Archaeological Institute of America, 

 was a delegate to the general meeting of the Institute in New York. 

 At the invitation of the Cultural Division of the Bonn Government, 

 Mr. Richards went to Germany in February for six weeks. He also 

 visited museums, private collections, and universities and discussed 

 problems of exhibition and installation with the personnel of the 

 various institutions. 



Mr. Richards mounted an exhibition at Arden House in connection 

 with Columbia University's 200th Anniversary. Mr. Campbell se- 

 lected and supervised the installation of some 850 reproductions of 

 Gallery paintings in the new domiciliary building of the U. S. Sol- 

 diers' Home, Washington, D. C. 



Special installations were prepared for the exhibition of Pre- 

 Columbian gold, from the Museum of the Bank of Bogota, under 

 the direction of Mr. Cott. He also supervised the installation of new 

 vitrines for the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian art. 



