SECRETARY'S REPORT 145 



days of the company's pioneer origin, and it is agreed to place it in 

 the Museum where it can take its deserved place in the collection. 



Over 700 correspondence requests for information have been an- 

 swered during the year and 256 photographs distributed. 



The committees upon which the head curator served during the 

 year include the Brewer Trophy Committee for the National Aero- 

 nautic Association which annually chooses an outstanding person 

 who has contributed to youth education in aeronautics; the National 

 Science Fair board of judges, which selects deserving students to 

 receive higher education in science; and the Kill Devil Hills Memorial 

 Association Committee, which is planning to erect at Kitty Hawk, 

 N. C, a museum to commemorate those accomplishments of the Wright 

 Brothers that were performed at that location. 



The head curator gave several lectures during the year on various 

 phases of aeronautics, including kites, the air mail, development of 

 airports, and different aspects of the history of aeronautics ; and the 

 associate curator, Kobert Strobell, has conducted tours of the collec- 

 tion for different groups, notably the international exchange group 

 of flight cadets from 16 nations who were guests of the Civil Air 

 Patrol. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN REFERENCE MATERIAL 



Great improvement in the reference material this year was accom- 

 plished by the associate curator and two clerical assistants. This 

 material includes the Air Museum's library of books and periodicals, 

 the original correspondence and source records for specimens, exten- 

 sive data on all phases of aeronautics in the form of scaled dimensioned 

 drawings, illustrations, texts, catalogs, clippings, and excerpts from 

 correspondence in which detailed information was received or given ; 

 and the photograph file which is a numbered and cross-referenced 

 collection of mounted prints for which negatives are maintained and 

 from which prints can be supplied at cost. During the year this 

 collection has increased substantially with particular emphasis upon 

 aircraft of World War II. The process of indexing, captioning, and 

 mounting was improved so that all material received during the year 

 was indexed and filed, and the backlog reduced. Improvements were 

 also made in the system of recording accessions and specimens. 



For several years the National Air Museum has been collecting pe- 

 riodicals in an effort to establish a functional reference library. Indi- 

 vidual collections received from the National Advisory Committee for 

 Aeronautics, R. M. Kinderman, Scott Appleby, Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion duplicate stacks, and other sources remained in storage until it 

 was indicated that sufficient material was available to establish the 

 periodical library. Further impetus was given to the project when 

 it was learned that the Division of Aeronautics, Library of Congress, 



