SECRETARY'S REPORT 27 



studied the Paleozoic pelecypods at the Museum of Paleontology, 

 University of Michigan, June 9-14, 1957. 



The Walcott bequest also provided funds for Dr. A. E. Loeblich, Jr., 

 associate curator of invertebrate paleontology, and Dr. Hans Bolli 

 of Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad, W. I., to study the Cretaceous-Tertiary 

 boundary in Alabama and Texas and to collect foraminiferal samples 

 during July 1956. The Planktonic Foraminiferal Project Fund fi- 

 nanced Dr. Loeblich's trip to Houston, Tex., during November 1956 

 to obtain well cores from the subsurface Miocene of Texas and south- 

 ern Louisiana from the Humble Oil Co., and to New Orleans for con- 

 sultations regarding similar materials with geologists of other oil 

 companies. In furtherance of the same project Dr. Loeblich partici- 

 pated in a symposium on biostratigraphy at St. Louis, Mo., during 

 April 1957. 



The exhibition and development programs for the Museum of His- 

 tory and Technology and the Museum of Natural History necessi- 

 tated conferences with historians, scientists, and educators relative to 

 the planning and designing of interiors and contents of exhibition 

 halls. Travel to determine the worth of materials offered to the mu- 

 seum, to examine methods of exhibition and to consult with experts on 

 preservation provided the opportunity for new staff members to 

 become familiar with the practices and procedures employed in other 

 museums. 



Dr. Robert P. Multhauf, acting head curator of engineering and 

 industries, conferred on October 2 and 3, 1956, with officials of the 

 Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, N. J., and New York 

 City on the design of the exhibit of the telephone in preparation for 

 installation in the museum. Late in December 1956, he examined 

 exhibition practices in the Museum of the New York Historical 

 Society, the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, Museum of 

 Contemporary Crafts, and the commercial exhibits at Rockefeller 

 Center, all in New York City. At the request of the chairman of the 

 Crystals Section of the Committee for the Brussels Worlds Fair of 

 1958 and the Department of State, he participated in the conference 

 held at Chicago on January 14, 1957. On the two following days he 

 visited the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry to study the 

 commercial displays and the Chicago Museum of Natural History to 

 examine exhibit practices employed in the current renovation 

 program. 



During the period from March 26 to April 2, 1957, Dr. Derek J. 

 Price, consultant to the department of engineering, in his search for 

 suitable nineteenth-century chemical and physical laboratory ap- 

 paratus to illustrate the history and principles of these sciences in the 

 displays now being planned for new exhibit halls, conferred with the 



