REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 3 



ber of objects relating to the scientific career of Dr. Charles D. Wal- 

 cott, fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the gift of 

 Mrs. Walcott. A number of expeditions went out during the year 

 in the interests of the Museum's researches in anthropology, biology, 

 and geology. These were financed principally by Smithsonian pri- 

 vate funds or by the assistance of friends of the Museum. Seventeen 

 special exhibitions were held during the year under the auspices of 

 various educational, scientific, and governmental agencies. The 

 number of visitors to the several Museum buildings totaled 2,408,170, 

 an increase of 119,638 over the previous year. The Museum pub- 

 lished an annual report, 5 bulletins, and 19 Proceedings separates. 



National Gallery of Art. — The first annual report of the National 

 Gallery of Art reviews the establishment of the Gallery by joint reso- 

 lution of Congress following the munificent gift to the Nation by the 

 late Andrew W. Mellon of his great collection of art works, together 

 with funds for the erection of a gallery building and for an endow- 

 ment. The trustees announced the death of Andrew W. Mellon and 

 S. Parker Gilbert, leaving two vacancies on the board which were 

 filled by the election of Paul Mellon and Ferdinand Lammot Belin 

 as general trustees. An organization meeting of the trustees was 

 held on March 9, 1938, at which bylaws were adopted and executive 

 officers were elected as follows: Paul Mellon, president; David K. E. 

 Bruce, vice president; Donald D. Shepard, secretary and treasurer; 

 and David E. Finley, director. Executive, acquisitions, and finance 

 committees were named. At the close of the fiscal year the founda- 

 tions of the gallery were substantially completed, and it is expected 

 that the building will be completed by September 1940. A list of 

 the paintings in the Mellon collection, now in storage at the Corcoran 

 Gallery of Art, is presented in the report. 



National Collection of Fine Arts. — The National Collection of 

 Fine Arts is the name used to designate the art collections adminis- 

 tered by the Smithsonian Institution with the exception of those 

 that will be included in the National Gallery of Art, now under con- 

 struction. A bill authorizing the Institution to obtain plans for a 

 building to contain these collections and to be known as the "Smith- 

 sonian Gallery of Art" was passed at the last session of Congress. 

 The bill also authorized the President to select a site for the gallery 

 on the Mall between Fourth and Fourteenth Streets and authorized 

 the soliciting of funds for its construction and for an endowment 

 for the purchase of works of art. The seventeenth annual meeting 

 of the National Gallery of Art Commission was held on December 7, 

 1937. As the name "National Gallery of Art" has been assigned to 

 the gallery building now being erected to contain the Mellon art col- 

 lections, the name of the Commission was changed to "Smithsonian 



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