REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
ALEXANDER WETMORE 
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1946 
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, 1946. The first 19 pages contain a summary 
account of the affairs of the Institution. Appendixes 1 to 10 give 
more detailed reports of the operations of the National Museum, the 
National Gallery of Art, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the 
Freer Gallery of Art, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Inter- 
national Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical 
Observatory, the Smithsonian library, and of the publications issued 
under the direction of the Institution. On page 129 is the financial 
report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents. 
I regret to have to record here the death on April 22, 1946, of the 
Chancellor of the Institution, Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone. Chief 
Justice Stone was elected Chancellor by the Board of Regents on 
January 16, 1942, to succeed the former Chief Justice Charles Evans 
Hughes, and from the day of his appointment took a keen interest in 
the Institution’s affairs. He had planned an active part in the Smith- 
sonian Centennial celebration starting on August 10, 1946, and as 
Chancellor he took several steps to insure the effective functioning of 
the Institution in the years to come. His successor should be elected 
at the next meeting of the board. 
THE ESTABLISHMENT 
The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 1846, 
according to the terms of the will of James Smithson, of England, who 
in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of America “to 
found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian 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 
1 
