8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1948 
figure. This large increase was due in part to the crowds attracted 
by the paintings from the Berlin museums, which were shown at the 
Gallery for more than a month in the spring of 1948. During the 
showing, the attendance totaled 964,970, which is believed to be a world 
record for museums or art galleries for a comparable period of time. 
Accessions to the Gallery for the year numbered 1,360, including 113 
portraits presented by the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable 
Trust, 8 paintings by fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian and 
German artists presented by Mrs. Ralph Harmon Booth, and 199 
additional prints and drawings given by Lessing J. Rosenwald. Nine 
special exhibitions were held at the Gallery, and two traveling ex- 
hibitions were circulated to art galleries and museums throughout 
the country. <A book of illustrations on the painting and sculpture 
in the Widener Collection was issued, and additional fine-quality 
color reproductions of paintings in the Gallery were made available 
to the public. Many thousands attended the Gallery’s special tours 
and lectures, and a calendar of events was mailed out to more than 
3,000 persons a month. The Sunday evening concerts at the Gallery 
were continued with undiminished popularity, 47 such concerts being 
given before capacity audiences during the year. 
National Collection of Fine Arts—Ruel P. Tolman, Director, re- 
tired during the year and was succeeded by Thomas M. Beggs, Assist- 
ant Director, formerly professor of art at Pomona College, Claremont, 
Calif. At the annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission 
on December 2, 1947, four oil paintings were accepted for the National 
Collection. Four miniatures, water color on ivory, were acquired 
through the Catherine Walden Myer fund. A number of art works 
were lent to other organizations for use in connection with special 
exhibitions. Six paintings were purchased from the Henry Ward 
Ranger fund and assigned to various art institutions. Any such 
purchase may be claimed by the National Collection during the 5-year 
period beginning 10 years after the artist’s death, and two paintings 
by Bruce Crane were so claimed during the year. Photographic 
prints and post cards of art works in the National Collection are 
available for the public, and large numbers were sold during the year. 
Nine special exhibitions were held under the auspices of the National 
Collection of Fine Arts, for most of which catalogs were made avail- 
able by the organizations holding the exhibitions. 
Freer Gallery of Art—Additions to the collections included Chinese 
bronze, ivory, lacquer, painting, and pottery; and Persian manuscript, 
painting, and pottery. The work of the professional staff was de- 
voted to the study of new accessions and to general research within 
the collections of Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Persian, and Indian ma- 
terials. Reports were made upon 3,498 objects and 1,108 photographs 
of objects submitted for examination. The very delicate task of re- 
