SECRETARY’S REPORT > 
see clearly illustrated such great ideas as man’s use of natural re- 
sources and man’s gradual triumph in the long development of specific 
arts and sciences. 
The newly modernized exhibits of the Smithsonian cover diverse 
fields. For example, the displays of the anthropology, ethnology, and 
archeology of the New World before Columbus have been admirably 
rearranged. ‘The birds of the world are presented as important and 
beautiful in themselves and as significant elements in the economy 
of nature and in zoological science in general. <A large section is de- 
voted to the great mammals of America, showing in artistic and ac- 
curately composed habitat groups the way in which such animals as 
the bison, the wolves, and the elk lived. The geological sciences are 
presented in a new exhibition hall, which has been called the most 
notable display of its kind in the world. Here minerals, gems, and 
the new Vetlesen jade collection are most clearly displayed. But 
the minerals actually shown are not more than 3 percent of the total 
Smithsonian study collections in this field. 
For more than a century the Smithsonian Institution has been as- 
sembling unequaled collections of important items dealing with the 
history of the United States. Some of the most significant of these 
have never been displayed for the benefit of the public. Now thou- 
sands of these objects are presented in an appropriate and instructive 
manner. Typical of the display of historic materials is the hall in 
which the dresses of the First Ladies of the White House are shown, 
each in an authentic setting. In the period room in which Martha 
Washington’s dress is shown, for example, there are exhibited only 
objects that belonged to and were used by George Washington him- 
self. The halls of American military history have been transformed, 
and the displays of many of the arts and manufacturing processes 
have also been entirely made over. Among other new displays is a 
hall for the presentation of machines and products used in the 
graphic arts and one for textiles and textile machinery. In the latter 
hall a great Jacquard loom has been installed in operating condition, 
with its amazing punch-card mechanism clearly explained to the 
visitor. Another new exhibit is a complete 17th-century American 
house brought piece by piece from Massachusetts and carefully and 
authentically reerected and furnished with objects of everyday use of 
just the sort employed by early New England Colonial families. 
One indirect result of the still far from complete modernization 
program of the Smithsonian has been an increase in the use of the 
study collections of the Institution by research workers. Students 
in schools and colleges now also come in larger numbers to the new 
exhibition halls of the Institution. Some come alone or with par- 
ents and some under the supervision of teachers. In the new hails 
