138 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



tenance of the bureaus or branches of the Institution developed 

 through its early activities, including the United States National 

 Museum and the National Gallery of Art, the International Ex- 

 change Service, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the National 

 Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, and the United 

 States Bureau of the International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture. The Eegents are empowered to accept gifts without action of 

 Congress in furtherance of the purposes of the Institution, and to 

 administer trusts in accord therewith. Many important researches 

 and expeditions, particularly during recent years, have also been 

 aided by special trusts provided by j)atrons of the Institution. 

 Among the most notable of these explorations, financed through pri- 

 vate donations, was the African expedition under Theodore Eoose- 

 velt, and explorations in the Far East continued for several years 

 past through the liberality of Dr. William L. Abbott. The income 

 of certain trust funds is set aside for specific purposes, as that of 

 the Frances Lea Chamberlain fund for the maintenance of the Isaac 

 Lea collections of gems and mollusks, and that of a fund established 

 by Mrs. E. H. Harriman for carrying on certain biological studies; 

 also the income of a portion of the Hodgkins fund, devoted to the 

 study of atmospheric air. 



SMITHSONIAN BUILDINGS. 



The buildings occupied by the Institution and the National 

 Museum are in the Smithsonian Park, an area of 38 acres about mid- 

 way between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. The origi- 

 nal Smithsonian building is of brownstone in twelfth century Nor- 

 man or Lombard style of architecture, 447 feet front and covering 

 about 60,000 square feet. It was completed in 1855. The adminis- 

 trative offices are here, as also several sections of the library, the 

 Museum division of plants or National Herbarium, and the divi- 

 sion of graphic arts, also the offices and library of the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology. 



Adjacent to the administrative building on the east is the Museum 

 of Industrial Arts, built of brick in modernized Romanesque style of 

 architecture, covering about 2^^ acres, and completed in 1881. Here 

 are exhibited objects relating chiefly to the arts and industries and 

 American history. 



On the north side of the park is the Museum of Natural History, 

 completed in 1911. This fine structure is of granite in modern classic 

 style with dome and columned portico. It covers an area of about 

 4 acres and in its ground floor and the three stories there are 468,118 

 square feet of floor space, one-half of which is devoted to exhibition 

 purposes, the other half being utilized for storage rooms, offices, 



