102 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 7 



that had the rare book she had been searching for in Berlin, the British 

 Museum, and the Library of Congress. 



With the decataloging of material not in the Freer library subject 

 field it is planned that the future acquisitions adhere to the policy of the 

 library — to supplement the objects of art in the collections. Limited 

 stack space is another governing control. 



The most important acquisitions to the library in the past year were 

 784 books, pamphlets, and periodicals. Of these, 452 were welcome 

 gifts from individuals and exchanges from other institutions. Out- 

 standing among the purchases were Art and art industry in Siam, 

 published in two elephant-sized folios, which describe and illustrate 

 the technique of Siamese black-and-gold lacquer work; Materiaux 

 pour un corpus inscriptionum arabicarum, issued in three parts in 

 seven tomes of sixteen fascicles and as a part of the Memoires pub- 

 lished by the members of the Mission Archeologique Frangaise au 

 Caire; and the first three volumes of Dr. Siren's work on Chinese 

 painting, leading masters and principles. James Michener presented 

 the library with the large folio of Vkiyoe hang a senshu (Selected 

 masterpieces of Ukiyoe prints). Microfilms were purchased of the 

 out-of-print books to round out some of the reference materials. 



Many bibliographies were compiled ; some for publication, a few for 

 replies to letters, and many others for the objects of art in the 

 collections. 



PUBLICATIONS 



There were no publications issued during the year. Ars Orientalis 

 II was in press at the close of the year. 



REPRODUCTIONS 



The photographic laboratory made 2,510 items during the year as 

 follows: 1,924 prints, 291 negatives, 1,255 color transparencies, and 

 40 black-and-white slides. Total negatives on hand, 11,308; lantern 

 slides, 10,000 ; 121 reproductions in the round of Freer Gallery objects 

 were sold. 



BUILDING 



The general condition of the building is good. Minor repairs were 

 made when necessary throughout the year, and broken and damaged 

 skylights were replaced and waterproofed. Paint was removed from 

 the flagpole and two new coats applied. 



Installation of air-conditioning equipment in the building, begun on 

 August 6, 1956, was continued. A cooling tower was installed on the 

 north side of the roof to work in conjunction with the air-conditioning 

 equipment in the subbasement, and other major changes throughout 

 the entire building were made. 



