REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OP THE 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



ALEXANDER WETMORE 



FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1945 



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, 1945. The first 14 pages contain a summary 

 account of the affairs of the Institution; it will be noted that many 

 activities usually included in this section are missing, wartime con- 

 ditions again having forced their suspension. 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 In- 

 ternational Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, the Astro- 

 physical Observatory, the Smithsonian library, and of the publications 

 issued under the direction of the Institution. On page 115 is the finan- 

 cial report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents. 



As stated in last year's report, Dr. Charles G. Abbot, Secretary of 

 the Institution since 1927, resigned on June 30, 1944, in order to devote 

 himself to his researches in solar radiation. Having been Assistant 

 Secretary of the Institution since 1925, by instruction of the Executive 

 Committee I took over the duties of the position as Acting Secretary 

 until the next meeting of the Board of Regents on January 12, 1945, 

 when I was elected Secretary. I am fully mindful of the honor done 

 me by the Board, as well as of the great responsibility devolving upon 

 one called upon to direct the multitudinous and varied activities of 

 such a large organization as the Institution has grown to be. 



Next year, the Smithsonian will celebrate its one-hundredth anniver- 

 sary, so that for 99 years its officials and staff have devoted their best 

 efforts to making it in very fact what the founder, James Smithson, 

 desired, namely, an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men. Starting with only the Institution proper housed 

 in a single building, the organization has developed and expanded its 

 fields of activity until it now directs six Government bureaus, as well 

 as the privately endowed Freer Gallery of Art, and occupies five 



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