6 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



VISITORS 



Visitors to the Smithsonian group of buildings during the year 

 reached an all-time high of 4,841,818, nearly 700,000 more than the 

 previous year. April 1957 was the month of largest attendance, with 

 726,290; May 1957 second, with 661,857; August 1956 third, with 

 660,567. Largest attendance for a single day was 73,141 on May 4, 

 1957, the largest number ever so recorded. On the same day 33,964 

 visitors came to the Arts and Industries Building alone. Table 1 

 gives a summary of the attendance records for the five buildings. 

 These figures, when added to the 942,196 visitors recorded at the 

 National Gallery of Art and the 3,998,546 estimated at the National 

 Zoological Park, make a total number of visitors at the Institution of 

 9,782,560. 



Table 1. — Visitors to certain Smithsonian buildings during the year ended 



June SO, 1957 



Year and month 



Smithso- 

 nian Build- 

 ing 



Arts and 

 Industries 

 Building 



Natural 

 History 

 Building 



Aircraft 

 Building 



Freer 

 Building 



Total 



1956 



July 



August 



Septemboj 



October 



November 



December 



1957 



January. 



February 



March 



ApriL. 



May 



June 



Total 



114, 497 

 112,025 

 49,928 

 38, 593 

 34,687 

 20,763 



21,964 

 30,422 

 46, 485 

 121, 295 

 110,512 

 90,492 



791, 663 



262, 770 

 310, 283 

 129, 610 

 108, 986 

 96,789 

 56,647 



64, 766 

 89, 111 

 126, 117 

 345, 873 

 303, 595 

 240, 651 



125,623 

 129, 086 

 76,206 

 68, 549 

 61, 743 

 47,983 



50,565 

 69, 457 

 91, 452 

 156,334 

 156, 318 

 126, 725 



2, 125, 198 



1, 160, 041 



84,245 

 94, 873 

 38,118 

 41,251 

 29,697 

 19, 504 



19, 744 

 34,033 

 42,306 

 88,336 

 80,141 

 80,225 



652, 473 



13, 899 

 14,300 

 8,045 

 7,769 

 7,354 

 4,754 



4,124 



5,849 

 7,776 

 14, 452 

 11,291 

 12,830 



112,443 



601,034 

 660,567 

 301,907 

 265, 148 

 230,270 

 149, 651 



151,163 

 228,872 

 314, 136 

 726,290 

 661, 857 

 550,923 



4, 841, 818 



LECTURES 



In 1931 the Institution received a bequest from James Arthur, of 

 New York City, a part of the income from which was to be used for 

 an annual lecture on some aspect of the study of the sun. The twenty- 

 fourth Arthur lecture was delivered in the auditorium of the Natural 

 History Building on the evening of April 10, 1957, by Dr. Thomas 

 Gold, professor of astronomy at Harvard University. This illus- 

 trated lecture, on the subject "Cosmic Rays from the Sun," will be 

 published in full in the general appendix of the Annual Report of 

 the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for 1957. 



Prof. George E. Mylonas, chairman of the Department of Art and 

 Archaeology at Washington University, St. Louis, and professor of 



