SECRETARY'S REPORT 117 
are many. Therefore, there must be imposed limitations of selection 
of materials of both historical and technological significance not only 
to avoid incomprehensive public displays but also impractical housing 
requirements. The aeronautical collections will include material 
both of small and uncommonly great dimensions and weight. Ex- 
perience indicates that approximately 30 percent of the total available 
floor area of a technical museum structure is required for its mainte- 
nance and operations services and that for the safety of the visiting 
public ample passageways must be established in all exhibition areas. 
It can be readily understood that these requirements necessitate a 
compromise between the ideal and a realistic aviation museum buiding. 
Both the Advisory Board and the bureau’s staff gave careful atten- 
tion during the year to factors such as these which brought about a 
number of changes in the plans originally developed last year. 
CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES 
The curator, Paul E. Garber, reports on the year’s work as follows: 
At the beginning of the fiscal year the staff was moved into new and 
improved quarters which provided more facilities for the expanding 
personnel. Office and shop equipment were acquired, an efficient 
procedure for handling correspondence was adopted, and added space 
was allocated to the library, the reference files, and the photographic 
files. The constant efforts of the staff in the maintenance of the 
exhibits are reflected in the improvement of individual displays, but 
the extreme overcrowding in the present Aircraft Building and the 
Aeronautical Hall assigned to the bureau in the Arts and Industries 
Building has approached the danger point to both visitors and speci- 
mens. Asaresult, the addition of large exhibits has been brought to a 
standstill. Happily, the facility at Park Ridge, Ill., provides for the 
storage of material which might otherwise be lost to the Museum. 
Only by the acquisition of a permanent building for the Museum in 
the Washington area can this situation be corrected. 
EXHIBITION 
The outstanding accomplishment of the year was the receipt of the 
Wright Brothers’ aeroplane of 1903 and its exhibition and preparation 
for the presentation ceremony on December 17, 1948, the forty-fifth 
anniversary of its historic flight. The curator was assigned the 
pleasant duty of representing the Smithsonian in meeting Dr. Herman 
Shaw, Director of the Science Museum, London, and of accepting 
from him at Halifax, Nova Scotia, custody of the aeroplane, This 
was effected on November 12, and following the transfer of the aero- 
plane from the S. S. Mauretania to the Navy Carrier U.S. S. Palau, 
the curator accompanied the plane to Bayonne, N. J., saw to its re- 
loading on a Navy truck and accompanied the truck convoy to the 
