REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



C. G. ABBOT 



FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1937 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith my report show- 

 ing the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and 

 the Government bureaus under its administrative charge during the 

 fiscal year ended June 30, 1937. The first 24 pages contain a sum- 

 mary account of the affairs of the Institution, and appendixes 1 to 

 10 give more detailed reports of the operations of the National Mu- 

 seum, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the Freer Gallery of 

 Art, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the International Ex- 

 changes, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observa- 

 tory, the Division of Radiation and Organisms, the Smithsonian 

 library, and of the publications issued under the direction of the 

 Institution. On page 119 is the financial report of the executive com- 

 mittee of the Board of Regents. 



OUTSTANDING EVENTS 



The most notable event of the year was the establishment of the 

 new National Gallery of Art as a bureau of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, the result of the munificent gift by Andrew W. Mellon of 

 his great art collection and funds exceeding $10,000,000 for the con- 

 struction of a suitable gallery building. 



The equipment of the National Zoological Park was greatly im- 

 proved by the completion, under a P. W. A. grant, of three new 

 exhibition buildings, a machine shop, a garage, and new heating 

 and electric installations. Dr. W. M. Mann, Director of the Zoo, 

 headed the National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Ex- 

 pedition to Sumatra for the purpose of obtaining specimens of the 

 interesting animals of that region for the National Zoo. The ex- 

 pedition was still in the field at the close of the year, but reports in- 

 dicate a highly successful trip. 



In the Division of Radiation and Organisms, notable advances 

 have been made in the studies of photosynthesis, phototropism, and 

 the reactions of ultraviolet rays on plant growth. 



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