26 REPORT OF NATIO]SrAL. MUSEUM, 1925 



CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION AND STAFF 



In accordance with a plan to develop and coordinate the scien- 

 tific work of the various branches of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 provision was made in the annual appropriation for an additional 

 assistant secretary, and on April 1, 1925, Dr. Alexander Wetmore 

 was appointed to this post with general supervision over the Museum 

 interests of the Institution — the United States National Museum, 

 the National Gallery of Art, and the National Zoological Park. 

 Doctor Wetmore had, since December 31, 1924, held an honorary 

 appointment on the Museum staff as custodian of alcoholic and 

 skeleton collections in the Division of Birds. The appointment 

 of the assistant secretary permits W. de C. Kavenel, administrative 

 assistant to the secretary, and director of the Department of Arts 

 and Industries, to devote more time and energy to the furtherance 

 of the industrial side of the Museum, which is rapidly expanding. 



All positions in the Museum were reclassified on July 1, 1924, by 

 the Personnel Classification Board in accordance with the classifica- 

 tion act of 1923. This resulted in the raising of salary standards, 

 particularly with reference to the scientific staff. Salaries in the 

 Museum have always been low and it has been with difficulty that 

 the Museum retained its trained workers. The changed conditions 

 imder reclassification are already evident. At the end of the year 

 every position in the Museum was filled, an almost unloiown thing 

 heretofore. 



The Department of Anthropology was streng-thened by the filling 

 of several vacancies. In the Division of Ethnology, Henry B. Col- 

 lins, jr., was probationally appointed aid on AugTist 1, 1924, and 

 Herbert W. Krieger, assistant curator on August 7. At the expira- 

 tion of their probational appointments, Mr. Collins was advanced 

 to assistant curator on February 1, 1925, and Mr. Krieger to curator 

 on February 7. Miss Frances Densmore this year again served as 

 a special assistant in the Department of Anthropology for a period 

 of two months, during April and May, and continued the work begun 

 the previous year on the classification of musical instruments. Dr. 

 George Grant MacCurdy was given an honorary appointment as 

 collaborator in the department for one year from February 14, 1925. 



Neil M. Judd, curator in the Division of American Archeology, 

 who was on furlough at the beginning of the fiscal year, resumed 

 his duties on September 16, 1924. He was again granted leave with- 

 out pay on May 16, 1925, to continue for the fifth summer his archeo-' 

 logical exploration at Pueblo Bonito, N. Mex., under the auspices of 

 the National Geographic Society. With this year's expedition the 

 original five-year project will have been brought to conclusion. 



