218 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
Lectour, the electronic guide system, was installed in 10 additional 
galleries. Several of the installations were experimental in that the 
electronic guide system was introduced in adjacent galleries. Here- 
tofore, in similar installations elsewhere and in the National Gallery 
of Art, service in adjacent galleries was deemed impractiable because 
of “crosstalk.” This problem was solved in the new installations made 
during this past fiscal year. 
The roofing over the Seventh and Fourth Street entrances and 
around the base of the dome, which had begun to deteriorate after 
19 years of service, was replaced with roofing of improved design. 
Permanent and improved floodlighting on the north portico and 
adjacent to the flagpoles replaced the temporary lighting developed 
for the 15th anniversary of the Gallery in 1956. This permanent 
floodlighting illuminates the central portion of the building on the 
north side. 
The A.D.T. Aero Fire Alarm System was extended to the registrar’s 
storeroom. 
There was continued expansion of the Gallery’s horticulture pro- 
gram with the result that extraordinary displays of flowering plants 
were available for the Christmas and Easter seasons and several im- 
portant night openings. 
LECTOUR 
Lectour was installed and used successfully in two special exhibi- 
tions, and one foreign-language broadcast was prepared for a special 
group visit. 
Lectour was used by 72,793 Gallery visitors during the fiscal year 
1959. The system is being used progressively more extensively by 
visitors, as evidenced by the fact that in the last month of the fiscal 
year 1958 the percentage of visitors using Lectour was 6.3 percent, 
whereas the latter part of this year the percentage rose to 9.7 percent. 
OTHER ACTIVITIES 
Forty Sunday-evening concerts were given during the fiscal year 
in the east garden court, including nine concerts by the National] Gal- 
lery of Art Orchestra under the direction of Richard Bales, two of 
which were made possible by the Music Performance Trust Fund of 
the American Federation of Musicians. A string orchestra under 
Mr. Bales’s direction furnished music during the opening of the Dutch 
Exhibition on October 4, 1958, and during the opening of the Wins- 
low Homer Exhibition on November 22, 1958. The National Gallery 
of Art orchestra with the Church of the Reformation cantata choir 
presented Mr. Bales’s two cantatas, “The Confederacy” and “The 
Union,” at the Watergate on July 30, 1958. On June 3, 1959, the 
National Gallery orchestra presented a concert at the Watergate in 
honor of the Governor of Casablanca (both concerts were paid for 
