24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



of another year it is expected that the last of the halls will be 

 opened. The installations, however, are to a large extent provisional 

 and much work will still remain to be clone to complete their per- 

 manent arrangement. 



By the transfer of the natural history and anthropological exhibits 

 to the new building, space has become available in the older buildings 

 for the better exhibition of the large collections of the department of 

 arts and industries. The very interesting series of objects commemo- 

 rative of eminent Americans and of important events in the history 

 of the United States; the collections illustrative of art textiles, 

 graphic arts, and ceramics, as well as firearms, electrical inventions, 

 and other technological material may now receive more attention 

 and be more adequately displayed than has heretofore been prac- 

 ticable. 



The picture gallery in the new building, constituting the National 

 Gallery of Art, continues to grow in public interest and importance. 

 A special exhibition of part of the collection of American and 

 oriental art presented to the Nation by Mr. Charles L. Freer was held 

 from April 15 to June 15. The objects displayed included 38 paint- 

 ings by Whistler, Tryon, and others, 13 Japanese paintings, 36 Chi- 

 nese paintings, a number of Chinese bronzes, one dating back to 

 1766-1122 B. C.j and examples of Chinese, Persian, and Mesopota- 

 mian pottery, ancient Egyptian glass, and Persian and Indo-Persian 

 illuminations. Mr. William T. Evans, of New York, has made 10 

 important additions to his collection of works of contemporary 

 American painters, now numbering 137 pieces by 98 artists. 



A meeting in memory of Mr. Francis D. Millet, lost in the Titanic 

 disaster, was held in the auditorium of the new building on the even- 

 ing of May 10, 1912, under the auspices of The American Federation 

 of Arts, when addresses were made by Senators Root and Lodge, and 

 others. On this occasion I called attention to the valuable services 

 rendered to the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. Millet as chairman 

 of the advisory committee of the National Gallery of Art. 



Meetings of a number of scientific organizations were held as usual 

 in the auditorium, including the usual annual April meeting of the 

 National Academy of Sciences, the annual meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute 

 of Architects, and the Red Cross conference. 



On March 28 and 29 the Washington Academy of Sciences held a 

 conversazione and an exhibition of important recent apparatus, 

 methods, and results pertaining to the scientific investigations carried 

 on by the different Government bureaus and scientific institutions of 

 Washington. 



Models and pictures of designs for the memorials to Abraham Lin- 

 coln and Commodore Perry were exhibited in several rooms of the 

 new building and attracted much public attention. 



