REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 19 



The report of the assistant librarian, appended hereto, describes 

 the improvements recently made by the construction of steel stacks 

 in the Smithsonian building for assembling in accessible quarters 

 many general works belonging to the Government bureaus under the 

 Institution which had heretofore been widely scattered in unsuitable 

 rooms. 



LUCY T. AND GEORGE W. POORE FUND. 



In my last report I referred to a number of bequests then awaiting 

 settlement. One of these was the bequest of George W. Poore, of 

 Lowell, Mass., who died December 17, 1910, and by the terms of 

 his will made the Smithsonian Institution his residuary legatee. 

 As mentioned in my 1910 report, the estate, estimated at about 

 $40,000, is bequeathed under the condition that the income of this 

 sum should be added to the principal until a total of $250,000 should 

 have been reached, and tliat then the income only should be used for 

 the purposes for which the Institution was created. Although I 

 have heretofore called attention to Mr. Poore's reason for making 

 this bequest, it is so apt and appropriate that I will repeat it here. 

 The will says : 



I make this gift not so much because of its amount as because I hope it will 

 prove an example for other Americans to follow, by supporting and encouraging 

 so wise and beneficent an institution as I believe the Smithsonian Institution 

 to be, and yet it has been neglected and overlooked by American citizens. 



In March, 1915, the Institution received from the executors of the 

 Poore estate the first installment of the bequest, amounting to 

 $24,531.92, as noted under the head of finances. It will be known as 

 the Lucy T. and George W. Poore fund. 



THE FREER COLLECTION. 



In 1906 Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, Mich., presented to the 

 Institution about 2,300 paintings and other objects of art, and from 

 time to time since then he has supplemented that gift by further 

 generous donations until this wonderful collection now aggregates 

 4,811 pieces, including 991 paintings, engravings, lithographs, etc., 

 by American artists, and 3,820 oriental works of art, many of them 

 of high historic and intrinsic value. It was stipulated by Mr. Freer 

 in connection with the gift that the collection should remain in his 

 custody during his lifetime, and that he would provide funds for the 

 erection of a suitable building for the permanent preservation of the 

 collection. He is now considering the question of erecting such a 

 building and a committee of the Regents has been appointed "on 

 the securing of a site for the Freer Art Gallery." 



