SECRETARY'S REPORT 7 



NINETEENTH ANNUAL JAMES ARTHUR LECTURE ON THE SUN 



In 1931 the Institution received a bequest from James Arthur, of 

 New York, a part of the income from which was to be used for an 

 annual lecture on some aspect of the study of the sun. The nine- 

 teenth Arthur lecture was delivered in the auditorium of the Natural 

 History Building on April 3, 1952, by Kear Adm. L. O. Colbert, 

 director of the Washington office of the Arctic Institute of North 

 America, formerly Director of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

 The subject of Admiral Colbert's address was "The Sun, the Moon, 

 and the Tides." This lecture will be published in full in the General 

 Appendix of the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution for 1952. 



HALL OF NAVAL HISTORY 



Special ceremonies were held on the evening of June 19, 1952, in 

 connection with the opening of the hall of naval history in the Arts 

 and Industries Building. In this new exhibit, designed and assem- 

 bled under the direction of Mendel L. Peterson, National Museum 

 curator of military and naval history, the story of American naval 

 development, from the privateer of the War of Independence to the 

 present-day battleship, is told by means of ship and other models, 

 paintings, prints, and original objects relating to celebrated naval 

 craft and leaders. Through the years collections of such material 

 have come to the Smithsonian. Now, for the first time, they are 

 exhibited as an organized whole. Outstanding ship models in the 

 collection, illustrating the advances from one war to another, are the 

 Bon Homme Richard, Constitution, Kearsage, the Olympia of Ad- 

 miral Dewey, the cruiser Wichita, and the battleship Missouri. 



Speakers at the opening ceremonies included Rear Adm. John B. 

 Heff ernan, United States Navy ; Dr. Remington Kellogg, Director of 

 the United States National Museum; and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Instiution. 



POLICING OF SMITHSONIAN BUILDINGS 



On October 24, 1951, the President approved a bill passed by the 

 Eighty-second Congress (Public Law 206) "relating to the policing 

 of the buildings and grounds of the Smithsonian Institution and its 

 constituent bureaus." Among other provisions, this act authorizes 

 the Secretary of the Institution to designate Smithsonian employees 

 as special policemen with power to enforce regulations and make 

 arrests in connection with the policing of our buildings and grounds. 

 This authorization places us in a firm position relative to the protec- 

 tion of the many thousands of visitors who come to the Institution 



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