94 ANNUAL REPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



collections of specimens and objects of natural history and of elegant art, and the 

 gradual formation of a library of valuable works pertaining to all departments of 

 human knowledge, to the end that a copious storehouse of materials of science, 

 literature, and art may be provided which shall excite and diffuse the love of learn- 

 ing among men, and shall assist the original investigations and efforts of those who 

 may devote themselves to the pursuit of any branch of knowledge. 



The secretary went on to say that the Smithsonian Institution had 

 been known for many years as mainly interested in the development 

 of scientific research, but it had been also interested in art from the 

 very beginning in connection with the museum; the development of 

 the museum had been chiefly along the lines of natural history, geol- 

 ogy, and anthropology, because its first thirty years were coincident 

 with the period in which scientific men in the United States were 

 engaged in aiding practical men in the conquest of nature. Even in 

 this period, however, the fine arts, the decorative, and the applied arts 

 had received considerable attention. 



The secretary explained that while the administration of the National 

 Gallery could very well be. carried on under the present scheme of 

 organization, it was desirable that a special advisory committee of 

 experts be formed to advise him on art matters. 



He then called attention to the item in the estimates requesting an 

 appropriation of $60,000 for adapting the large upper hall of the 

 Smithsonian building to the purposes of the National Gallery of Art. 

 He explained that since the March meeting of the board a valuable 

 collection of paintings, fifty-four in number, had been given to the 

 National Gallery by Mr. William T. Evans, of Montclair, N. J.; that 

 within a few days a number of gentlemen in Washington had pur- 

 chased and presented one of the best paintings of Max Weyl, a local 

 artist of distinction. 



It was evident that provision of quarters for the paintings was 

 pressing. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, which had courteously pro- 

 vide#space for the exhibition of the Evans collection, required the 

 place so occupied for loan exhibitions, and while the trustees had 

 expressed their willingness to care for this collection until the Insti- 

 tution could make provision for it, it was not desirable that this 

 should be long delayed. 



After discussion, the following resolutions were adopted: 



Resolved, That the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution bring to the 

 attention of the Congress the urgent need for the provision of quartei's for the 

 National Gallery of Art, and earnestly recommend the item of $60,000 submitted by 

 the secretary in the regular estimates for this purpose. 



Resolved furtJier, That the secretary be, and he is hereby, instructed to transmit to 

 the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and to the chairman 

 of the Committee on Apjiropriations of the House of Representatives a copy of these 

 resolutions. 



