PBOCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 93 



EMERGENCY SUPERINTENDENT OF CONSTRUCTION. 



Referring to the action of the board at the meeting of March 6, 1907, 

 in providing for a continuation of the work on the new building for 

 the National Museum under certain contingencies, the secretary 

 explained that the same necessity existed at the present, and after dis- 

 cussion the following resolution was adopted: 



Resolved, That after this date, if the superintendent of construction of the new 

 building for the National Museum, whose services are provided for in the sundry 

 civil act approved March 3, 1903, shall become incapacitated for the performance of 

 his duties when the board is not in session, the secretary of the Institution, subject 

 to the approval of the executive committee, is hereby authorized and directed to 

 personally take charge of the work of construction on behalf of the board and to dis- 

 burse appropriations made for the same, or appoint some suitable person or persons 

 to take charge of said construction and disburse such appropriations. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 



The secretary read a letter from Mr. Francis Peters Adams, brother 

 of the late Representative Robert Adams, jr., a regent of this Institu- 

 tion, acknowledging the action of the board in adopting resolutions 

 on the death of Mr. Adams. 



ESTIMATES. 



National Gallery of Art. — The secretary read as follows from sec- 

 tion 5586 of the act of August 10, 1846, organizing the Institution: 



Whenever suitable arrangements can be made from time to time for their recep- 

 tion, all objects of art and of foreign and curious research * * * shall be deliv- 

 ered to such persons as may be authorized by the Board of Eegents to receive them. 



In this connection he called attention to the following statement of 

 a special committee of the Board of Regents, and to the resolution of 

 the board adopted January 26, 1847 (S. Doc, 29th Cong., 2d sess., No. 

 211, p. 26): % 



The gallery of art, your committee think, should include both paintings and 

 sculpture, as well as engravings and architectural designs; and it is desirable to have 

 in connection with it one or more studios in which young artists might copy without 

 interruption, being admitted under such regulations as the board may prescribe. 

 Your committee also think that, as the collection of paintings and sculpture will 

 probably accumulate slowly, the room destined for a gallery of art might properly 

 and usefully meanwhile be occupied during the sessions of Congress as an exhibition 

 room for the works of artists generally; and the extent and general usefulness of 

 such an exhibition might probably be increased if an arrangement could be effected 

 with the Academy of Design, the Arts-Union, the Artists' Fund Society, and other 

 associations of similar character, so as to concentrate at the metropolis for a certain 

 portion of each winter the best results of talent in the fine arts. 



Resolved, That it is the intention of the act of Congress establishing the Institution, 

 and in accordance with the design of Mr. Sraithson as expressed in his will, that 

 one of the principal modes of executing the act and the trust is the accumulation of 



