18 REPORT OF NATIONAL, MUSEUM, 1924 



essential to the classification of the collections. The additions to 

 the library this year comprised 1,521 volumes and 2,667 pamphlets, 

 bringing the total in the library up to 164,748 titles. The facilities 

 this year were also increased by 1,929 books procured for temporary 

 use through the cooperation of the Library of Congress and 130 

 books borrowed from other libraries. The usefulness of this library 

 is likewise not confined to the Museum. It is frequently availed of 

 by other governmental and private establishments and their workers. 

 Aside from books consulted in the reading rooms, some 4,438 books 

 were lent for use elsewhere and 6,139 books were assigned to the 

 sectional libraries maintained in connection with the various Museum 

 collections. 



The binding of books for the library was limited by the funds 

 available, as has been the case in recent years. Only 163 books 

 were bound this year. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC LABORATORY 



The photographic laboratory of the Museum made this year 

 1,472 negatives, 10,302 black and white prints, 160 sixteen-inch pan- 

 oram prints, 126 cirkut prints, 315 lantern slides, 97 enlargements, 

 8 transparencies, besides developing 624 field negatives and mount- 

 ing 12 prints. These were required in illustrating National Museum 

 and National Gallery objects for reproduction in publications and 

 for record purposes and in copying plans, diagrams, etc. 



The accommodations of the photographic laboratory were im- 

 proved, as mentioned elsewhere. By remodeling a third-story room 

 special facilities were provided for the preparation of lantern slides, 

 a provision long desired. 



BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 



Steps were taken this year toward additional housing facilities 

 for the National Collections. The executive and independent offices 

 act for 1924, approved February 13, 1923, authorizes the Regents of 

 the Smithsonian Institution to prepare preliminary plans for a suit- 

 able fireproof building with granite fronts for the National Gallery 

 of Art (including the National Portrait Gallery) and for the history 

 collections of the United States National Museum, to be erected when 

 funds from gifts or bequests are in the possession of the Regents. A 

 site for the building is designated in the Mall immediately east of 

 the Natural History Building. 



The National Gallery of Art Commission, which has had under 

 consideration for some time the adequate housing of the art collec- 

 tions, decided at a meeting on December 11, 1923, to raise by private 

 subscriptions $10,000 toward preliminary plans for this art and his- 



