Report of the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution 



LEONARD CARMICHAEL 



For the Year Ended June 30, 1957 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit a report showing the activ- 

 ities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its branches 

 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1957. 



GENERAL STATEMENT 



The one-hundred-and-eleventh year of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion has been marked by progress in many areas. James Smithson 

 in his will that established the Institution provided that it should be 

 concerned with both the increase and the diffusion of knowledge 

 among men. During the year covered by this report, as in previous 

 years, the institution has been active and successful in research, that 

 is, in the increase of knowledge. It has also continued to carry on 

 the diffusion of knowledge by publications, lectures, correspondence, 

 and above all by museum displays. 



Details of the research activities, publications, and other work of 

 the institution are given in later pages. In introducing the report, 

 it seems particularly fitting this year to make special reference to 

 the museum functions of the Smithsonian. Public exhibitions are 

 not part of the assigned functions of all Smithsonian bureaus. The 

 following units, however, do maintain such exhibits: The United 

 States National Museum, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the 

 Freer Gallery of Art, the National Air Museum, the National Zoolog- 

 ical Park, and the National Gallery of Art. As a group these Smith- 

 sonian units care for the great national collections of the United 

 States. Collectively, in number and quality of objects, these units as 

 part of the "Smithsonian Museum Complex" constitute one of the 

 largest and most distinguished groups of cultural and scientific col- 

 lections in the world. All these parts of the Smithsonian are alike 

 in that they are concerned with the preservation, maintenance and 

 restoration, study, and appropriate public display of their collections. 

 The National Gallery of Art and the Freer Gallery of Art were built 

 and given to the Nation by Andrew W. Mellon and Charles Lang 



