SECRETARY’S REPORT 5 
sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of 
knowledge among men.” In receiving the property and accepting 
the trust, Congress determined that the Federal Government was 
without authority to administer the trust directly, and, therefore, 
constituted an “establishment,” whose statutory members are “the 
President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the 
executive departments.” 
THE BOARD OF REGENTS 
The current year brought the retirement of two members of the 
Board of Regents: Senator H. Alexander Smith and Representative 
John M. Vorys. At the time of the annual meeting the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives appointed Representative Frank T. Bow of 
Ohio to succeed Representative John M. Vorys. On February 5, 1959, 
the Vice President appointed Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkan- 
sas to succeed Senator H. Alexander Smith. 
The roll of Regents at the close of the fiscal year was as follows: 
Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren, Chancellor; Vice 
President Richard M. Nixon; members from the Senate: Clinton P. 
Anderson, J. William Fulbright, Leverett Saltonstall; members from 
the House of Representatives: Frank T. Bow, Overton Brooks, Clar- 
ence Cannon; citizen members: John Nicholas Brown, Arthur H. 
Compton, Robert V. Fleming, Crawford H. Greenewalt, Caryl P. 
Haskins, and Jerome C. Hunsaker. 
On the evening of January 15, 1959, preceding the annual meeting, 
an informal dinner was given in the main hall of the Smithsonian 
Building amid various exhibits showing the present-day phases of 
the work of the bureaus and departments. Dr. Richard Ettinghausen 
spoke on “Objects Dealing with Christian Themes in the Freer Gallery 
Collections”; Dr. Charles Lewis Gazin on “Eocene Mammals of the 
Bridger Formation in Southwestern Wyoming”; Dr. Vladimir Clain- 
Stefanelli on “Comparative Die Studies: A Method of Numismatic 
Investigation and Its Historical Significance”; and Edgar M. Howell 
on “Private Hermann Steiffel—Sometime Artist of the West.” 
The annual meeting was held on January 16, 1959. The Secretary 
presented his published annual report on the activities of the Institu- 
tion together with the 1958 Annual Report of the United States Na- 
tional Museum. The Chairman of the Executive and Permanent Com- 
mittees of the Board, Dr. Robert V. Fleming, gave the financial report 
for the fiscal year ended June 80, 1958. 
FINANCES 
A statement on finances, dealing particularly with Smithsonian 
private funds, will be found in the report of the executive committee 
