30 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1910. 



70 of the National Museum. This was prepared by the Assistant 

 Secretary, Dr. Eichard Rathbun, who has been most arduous in his 

 efforts to promote the gallery's growth. 



On the occasion of the first annual convention of the American 

 Federation of Art, held in Washington May 17-19, 1910, I had the 

 pleasure of presenting a brief account of the National Gallery, and a 

 private view of the collections was extended to the members of the 

 convention and friends on the afternoon of May 17. 



The subject is of such importance that it seems proper here to recall 

 in a general way the origin of the gallery and its present condition and 

 needs. 



In 1840, while the question of what should be done with the Smith- 

 son bequest was under consideration in Congress, a few gentlemen 

 organized the National Institute, which was in 1842 incorporated by 

 Congress for a term of twenty years, at the expiration of which its 

 collections were to be transferred to the Government. This institute 

 collected a few works of art, which were subsequently transferred to 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



The act of 1846 creating the Smithsonian Institution provides 

 that all objects of art belonging to the United States which may be 

 in the city of Washington shall be delivered to such persons as may 

 be authorized by the Board of Regents to receive them and that they 

 shall be arranged and classified in the building erected for the Insti- 

 tution. 



In 1849, under the authority of the Regents, Secretary Henry pur- 

 chased the Marsh collection of engravings and works of art. 



In 1858 the collections in the Patent Office Museum were turned 

 over to the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1862 the collections of 

 the National Institute were transferred, on the expiration of its 

 charter. These collections included a few paintings of merit and 

 sundry art objects. 



In 1879 the Catlin collection of Indian paintings was presented 

 to the Institution by Mrs. Joseph Harrison, of Philadelphia. 



A few additions were made from time to time up to 1906, but they 

 were relatively of little importance, and, with the collections already 

 in hand, were scattered about in the Smithsonian building and the 

 National Museum building erected in 1879. 



In 1903, when the will of Harriet Lane Johnston was presented 

 for probate, it was found that she had bequeathed her entire collec- 

 tion of paintings and art objects to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 

 under certain specific conditions and subject to the provision that 

 in the event of a national art gallery being established in the city 

 of Washington they should be transferred to the said National Art 

 Gallery and become the absolute property of that gallery. The Cor- 

 coran Gallery declined the bequest under the conditions, and the 



