122 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



transferred to the Institution the $1,000,000 he had set aside for the 

 construction of the building. 



On September 23, 1916, work was formally inaugurated by Mr. 

 Rathbun, as Acting Secretary, who after a brief address reciting the 

 history of this great gift, turned over the first spadeful of earth on 

 the site selected. At this time the work of excavation for the founda- 

 tions is proceeding as rapidly as possible, and it is expected to com- 

 plete the building in two years, as estimated. 



At the time of the original offer, the collection consisted of about 

 2,300 paintings and other objects of art, but it has since been in- 

 creased to 5,346 items, including American paintings and sculptures, 

 the Whistler collection and oriental paintings, pottery, bronzes, and 

 jades from China, Japan, and other Asiatic countries. 



It is also gratifying to call attention to recent announcements 

 from Mr. Freer, that important additions are still being procured for 

 his collections in the Far East; that several distinguished experts 

 are preparing descriptive catalogues of parts of the collections; and 

 that two Japanese artists are at work mounting and making ready 

 for exhibition in the building the remarkable series of Chinese 

 paintings, constituting one of the most valuable features of this im- 

 portant donation. 



National Portrait Gallery. — The secretary called attention to the 

 desirability of adding to the National Portrait Gallery, and stated 

 that one of the best paintings extant of Joseph Henry, the first Secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution, was now in the rooms of the 

 Sergeant at Arms of the Senate; and that a painting of Benjamin 

 West, made by that great artist himself, was in the Senate library 

 committee room. He thought these should be turned over to the In- 

 stitution and suggested that a committee be appointed to take care of 

 the matter. 



After discussion, on motion. Senators Lodge and Stone were ap- 

 pointed a committee to consider the means by which these portraits 

 might be transferred to the care of the Institution. 



Bureau of American Ethnology. — The researches of the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology have been successfully prosecuted since the 

 beginning of the present fiscal year and a large body of manuscripts 

 is in hand or in process of printing. Excavation of a large pueblo 

 ruin in the Mesa Verde National Park of Colorado has been con- 

 ducted with the cooperation of the Department of the Interior; 

 field investigations have been continued among the remnant tribes 

 of southern California, the Fox Indians of Iowa, the Quileute of 

 Washington, the Iroquois of Ontario, and the Cherokee of North 

 Carolina; and the preparation of memoirs on other specific tribes, 

 as well as handbooks on general subjects of ethnology and anthro- 

 pology, are in varying stages of completeness, 



