Chapter 9 



Interregnum 



AFTER THE RECOVERY OF LOST SPACE, funding for 

 the Museum was of first concern. Yet, Ravencl 

 wrote, "the appropriations for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1920, remained practically the same as for the 

 past ten years — excepting those for heating and lighting 

 and for furniture and fixtures, the former being in- 

 creased to take care of the additional buildings, the 

 latter being slightly reduced from the amoiuit for sev- 

 eral years just prior to the war — notwithstanding the 

 fact that since the Natural History Building was con- 

 structed about ten years ago approximately three mil- 

 lion species have been added to the collections. This 

 alone . . . should warrant a large increase in the ap- 

 propriation for preservation of collections, from which 

 the entire staff of scientific, administrative, and exec- 

 utive branches of the service are paid, and a consid- 

 erable increase in the item for furniture and fixtures.'"' 

 The budget item for "preservation of collections" was 

 $300,000 that year. 



A year later the appropriation was $312,650, but the 

 extra sum went entirely to the newly opened Freer 

 Gallery. The United States National Museum now had 

 four buildings: Arts and Industries; the still-new Nat- 

 ural History building; the tin shed behind the Castle, 

 dignified by the name of Aircraft Building; and the 

 Freer Gallery. In 1923, with appropriations still vir- 

 tually unchanged, the Museum reported "difficulty in 

 making both ends meet. ... It is only by rigid economy 

 and by the omission of many things that should be done 

 that the year ends without a deficit. "" 



Though the country, under President Harding, had 

 returned to normality in a very large way, the Smith- 

 sonian and its buildings were not prospering. The 



Stairwell on north side of east xving, April 1984. The 

 transparencies on the window into the east court are 

 between the first and second floors. These are the last 

 remnants oj the old Hall oj Geology and Meteoritics, dating 

 from a time when this stairway was open to visitors xvho 

 went to the second floor to see the building stones, itinwrals, 

 and gems. Except for the light fixture, this view could have 

 been taken any time since 1 920. 



ficdgling Bureau of the Budget was now charged with 

 conducting the government's business, and while peo- 

 ple were waiting to see how it would operate, it did 

 constitute an immediate barrier between agency heads 

 and Congress. Secretary Walcott was a past master of 

 friendly relations with senators and congressmen, and 

 had enjoyed easy entry to the White House since the 

 time of President Cleveland, but none of that was work- 

 ing for him now. 



Grim Times for the Smithsonian 



With access to (Congress cut oft and an unsympathetic 

 administration in power, times were grim. The year 

 1 925—26 "marks a crisis in the affairs of the Institution," 

 Walcott reported. "For several years it has grown more 

 and more difficult to stretch the income from its meager 

 endowment sufficiently to cover the steadily increasing 

 costs of even the limited amount of research which can 

 be undertaken and the administration of the eight 

 growing Government bureaus. The cost of publishing 

 is more than twice that of 10 years ago, which has 

 resulted in materially decreasing the output of Smith- 

 sonian publications. . . . The Institution has tor several 

 years been undermanned, and the ordinary running 

 expenses are met only by the exercise of rigid econ- 

 omy."' Everyone seemed to use the phrase "rigid econ- 

 omy." 



As one way of raising funds, Walcott instituted the 

 Smithsonian Scientific Series; the bulk of this encyclopedic 

 work was written by statt members in the National Mu- 

 seum. Eventually the series produced some income for 

 the Institution, as did the books ot paintings of North 

 American wildfiowers by Mrs. Walcott, but not enough 

 to help substantially. Secretary Walcott then made a 

 serious attempt to increase the Smith.sonian endow- 

 ment. Consultants were hired, and Dwight Morrow 

 agreed to head the first nationwide tund-raising drive 

 in the history of the Institution. On February 1 1, 1927, 

 a major meeting was held in the Castle to start this 

 search for endowment funding. Sadly, Walcott had died 

 only two days before, and it was only because of his 

 deathbed wish that the conference went on as planned. 



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