REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 37 



John E. Lodge, Andrew W. Mellon, Edward W. Kedfield, and Paul 

 Manship. 



The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Charles 

 L. Borie, Jr., chairman; Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., vice chairman; 

 and Dr. Charles G. Abbot, secretary; as well as the members of the 

 executive committee — Charles Moore, Herbert Adams, and George 

 B. McClellan (Charles L. Borie, Jr., as chairman of the Commis- 

 sion, and Dr. Charles G. Abbot, as secretary of the Commission, are 

 ex officio members of the executive committee). 



The following minute was adopted to express the policy of the 

 Commission in connection with its action in accepting or rejecting 

 Kanger fund paintings : 



lu reaching a decision as to the acceptance of paintings purchased from the 

 Ranger fund, it was the sense of the Commission that the artistic quality of 

 the painting in question should not necessarily be the only factor to be 

 taken into consideration. The presence of other examples of the artist's work 

 in the national collection, for example, may properly be taken into considera- 

 tion, or the desirability of a wide distribution of these paintings in the 

 permanent collections of the country. 



SPECIAL MEEllNGS 



In accordance with the request of the chairman, Mr. Borie, the 

 Commission met at the Smithsonian Institution April 6, 1937, for 

 the purpose of affording the members an opportunity of discussing 

 the acceptance by Congress of the Mellon gift under the title of the 

 National Gallery of Art, and the project for the proposed 

 Smithsonian Gallery of Art. 



The Commission's attention was also called to the desire of Mrs. 

 Mabel Johnson Langhorne, daughter of the donor of the Ealph 

 Cross Johnson collection of old masters, to name the Smithsonian 

 Institution in her will to receive certain pictures left to her by her 

 father, if the Institution thought them worthy of acceptance for 

 the national collection. 



After the adjournment of the meeting the members inspected the 

 Mellon and Langhorne collections. 



On May 11, 1937, a committee of three, appointed by Dr. Abbot 

 and Mr. Borie, consisting of Mr. Eedfield, Mr. Tarbell, and Mr. 

 Young, met at the home of Mrs. Langhorne to select the paintings 

 which eventually will come to the Institution to be closely associated 

 with the Ealph Cross Johnson gift. Almost every painting was 

 considered of such high quality that it would be a valuable addition 

 to the collection. 



THE CATHERINE WALDEN MYER FUND 



Two miniatures were acquired from the fund established through 

 the bequest of the late Catherine Walden Myer, "for the purchase of 



