APPENDIX 2 
REPORT ON THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the affairs 
of the National Gallery of Art for the year ending June 30, 1926. 
In the annual report of the director of the gallery for the fiscal 
year 1924-25 a list of the personnel of the staff was given, and the 
nature of their activities was briefly indicated. No noteworthy 
changes have been made during the present year. Reference was 
made to a decided falling-off in the acquirement of art works in 
recent years, a result attributed to the lack of available space for 
the accommodation of additions save of the most limited kind. 
The dire need of a gallery building was there explained, and the 
sketch plans for such a building, prepared under the direction of 
the Regents of the Institution, by Mr. Charles A. Platt, architect 
of the Freer Gallery, were discussed in some detail. The estimated 
cost of the structure, which when completed, would be worthy of 
a people who aspire to bring together in Washington a representa- 
tive collection of the art treasures of the world, is $8,000,000, 
although there appears no reason why this large expenditure, if 
approved by Congress, should not extend over a number of years. 
Such a building would not only make additions by gift and bequest 
possible, but would permit the assemblage, in association with the 
paintings and sculptures, of the collections of graphic arts, ceramics, 
textiles, etc., now installed for lack of gallery space, in several sepa- 
rate branches of the Museum. It would accommodate the National 
Portrait Gallery and the extensive collections of American history 
which now occupy nearly 80,000 feet of floor space belonging to and 
much needed by the natural sciences. 
THE GALLERY COMMISSION 
The fifth annual meeting of the National Gallery Commission was 
held in the Regents’ room of the Smithsonian Institution, December 
8, 1925. The members present were: Gari Melchers, chairman; W. 
H. Holmes, secretary; Herbert Adams, Joseph H. Gest, John E. 
Lodge, Charles L. Moore, James E. Parmelee, Edward W. Redfield, 
Edmund C. Tarbell, and C. D. Walcott. The varied activities of the 
gallery were considered, and attention was given to the accessions for 
the year, to the Ranger fund purchases and their disposition, to the 
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