SECRETARY’S REPORT 5 
England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of 
America “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith- 
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 
There was no change during the current year in the membership 
of the Board of Regents. The roll of Regents at the close of the fiscal 
year was as follows: Chief Justice of the United States Earl War- 
ren, Chancellor; Vice President Richard M. Nixon; members from 
the Senate: Clinton P. Anderson, Leverett Saltonstall, H. Alex- 
ander Smith; members from the House of Representatives: Overton 
Brooks, Clarence Cannon, John M. Vorys; citizen members: John 
Nicholas Brown, Arthur H. Compton, Robert V. Fleming, Crawford 
H. Greenewalt, Caryl P. Haskins, and Jerome C. Hunsaker. 
The informal dinner meeting of the Board, preceding the annual 
meeting, was held on the evening of January 16, 1958, in the main 
hall of the Smithsonian Building. Here various exhibits were dis- 
played showing phases of present-day projects. Dr. G. Arthur 
Cooper spoke on brachiopods as a key to the past, Dr. Anthony N. 
B. Garvan talked about colonial silver, Dr. Ralph S. Solecki spoke 
on “The Discovery of the First Neanderthals in Mesopotamia,” and 
Archibald G. Wenley compared the Far Eastern collections in the 
Freer Gallery of Art with those abroad. 
The regular annual meeting of the Board was held on January 
17, 1958. The Secretary presented his published annual report on 
the activities of the Institution together with the 1957 annual report 
of the United States National Museum. Dr. Robert V. Fleming, 
chairman of the executive and permanent committees of the Board, 
gave the financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1957. 
FINANCES 
A statement on finances, dealing particularly with Smithsonian pri- 
vate funds, will be found in the report of the executive committee of 
the Board of Regents, page 223. 
APPROPRIATIONS 
Funds appropriated to the Institution for its regular operations for 
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1958, totaling $6,102,319 were obligated 
as follows: 
