20 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



In June, 1920, a small congressional appropriation made possible 

 the establishment of the National Gallery of Art as an independent 

 bureau under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution, in- 

 stead of being as previously a part of the Museum, the change to take 

 effect on July 1, 1920. Mr. W. H. Holmes, head curator of the 

 department of anthropology in the Museum, will become director of 

 the National Gallery at the beginning of the year. 



The Freer Gallery of Art was brought nearly to completion dur- 

 ing the year, and arrangements were made with the Office of Public 

 Buildings and Grounds for the construction of dri^^eways and the 

 improvement of the grounds around the building. The collections 

 have begun to come in from the executors of Mr. Freer's estate and 

 are being stored in the building until the installation can be begun. 



During the past year the Museum acquired a total of 216,871 speci- 

 mens, classified as follows: Anthropology, 15,254; zoology, 101,554; 

 botany, 35,211; geology and mineralogy, 22,400; paleontology, 40,000; 

 division of textiles, 1,716; mineral technology, 627; mechanical tech- 

 nology, 97; and National Gallery of Art, 12. Four hundred and 

 ninety-five lots of material were sent to the Museum for examination 

 and report by members of the staff, and 4,306 duplicate specimens 

 were distributed for educational purposes. 



The great mass of material for the Museum's collection of objects 

 relating to the World War filled the space allotted to it in the Arts 

 and Industries Building and overflowed into the Natural History 

 Building and the Aircraft Building. This great collection, made pos- 

 sible through the hearty cooperation of the War and Navy Depart- 

 ments, contains material relating to practically every phase of the 

 war, both on land and sea. The Navy furnished much interesting 

 material relating to submarine warfare and other naval activities 

 during the war, and the War Department assembled and deposited in 

 the Museum exhibits illustrating military operations in every branch 

 of the service, including the Air Service, Ordnance, Chemical War- 

 fare, Quartermaster, Engineer, Medical, and Signal Corps. A full 

 account of this valuable and instructive collection is given in the re- 

 port of the administrative assistant in charge of the Museum, in an 

 appendix to this report. 



Additions to the collections in the division of history include 226 

 complete uniforms of the types worn in the United States Army from 

 1776 to 1909; miscellaneous scientific apparatus used by Joseph 

 Henry (1799-1878) during the latter part of his life, the gift of his 

 daughter, Miss Caroline Henry; watches owned by Maj. Gen. George 

 B. McClellan, United States Army ; swords and other military relics 

 of Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke, United States Army; and many other 

 objects of historical interest and value. 



