Figurative Sculpture." The exhibition was the first organized by the National 

 Museum of African Art to travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 



May 



Publications: Major works on Plains Indians were produced by Waldo R. Wedel, 

 archaeologist emeritus, and John C. Ewers, ethnologist emeritus, both of the 

 National Museum of Natural History. Dr. Wedel 's Central Plains Prehistory: 

 Holocene Environments and Culture Change in the Republican River Basin , 

 published by the University of Nebraska Press, is the first full-scale review and 

 synthesis of central Plains prehistory. Dr. Ewers 1 Plains Indian Sculpture: A 

 Traditional Art From America's Heartland , published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution Press, is the first comprehensive look at Plains Indian sculpture. 



May 



Acquisition: An important algal herbarium was donated to the National Museum of 

 Natural History by Florida State University. Included were about 8,000 

 specimens, most of which are from the Bahamas and Florida Keys, where the 

 Smithsonian is engaged in marine biological research. 



May 



Guest lecturers: Resident Associate Program course, "Literary Evenings: Writers 

 on Writing, " featured Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurtry, Peter Benchley, 

 Martin Cruz Smith and Jean Auel. 



May 



Grant: Smithsonian Institution Libraries received three grants totaling $39,000 

 from the Atherton Seidell Endowment Fund. The grants will be used by Catalog 

 Records to publish scientific records in non-Roman alphabets, by the Smithsonian 

 Astrophysical Observatory Branch Library to acquire documentation on astronomical 

 data analysis systems, and by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Branch 

 Library to acquire microform back issues of scientific journals. 



May 



Expedition: Dr. Ernani Menez of the Oceanographic Sorting Center led a field 

 party of U.S. and Filipino scientists to Siayan Island, a remote, biologically 

 unexplored offshore area of the northern Philippines, to make collections of 

 marine plants containing active natural substances of value as anticancer drugs. 

 The expedition was jointly funded by the Smithsonian and the National Cancer 

 Institute. 



May 



Special Event: The Directorate of International Activities organized a reception 

 to recognize the establishment of a memorial fund through a gift from the estate 

 of Suzanne Liebers Erickson. The fund will support exchange visits between 

 Smithsonian staff and Danish scholars, museum professionals and students for 

 research collaboration, consultations and seminar participation. 



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