What with Walcott's death, Morrow's appointment as 

 ambassador to Mexico, the stock market crash and the 

 subsequent depression, the drive was a failure. 



The Passing of the First Generation 



The whole first generation of naturalists who were es- 

 tablished names in the old National Museum now began 

 to die off. Frank H. Knowlton, an eminent paleobo- 

 tanist, died in 1926. Only a few weeks after Walcott's 

 death, the mollusk expert William Healy Dall died. 

 George Merrill of Geology died in 1929; W. H. Holmes, 

 the artist-anthropologist, retired in 1932 and died in 

 1933. In evaluating careers, one historical isstie is whether 

 a person is noteworthy simply because he was an early 

 worker in a given area; but there is no doubt that all 

 these people were fhst-rank scientists. 



There were a few staff members added in the 1920s. 

 William F. Foshag had become an assistant curator of 

 mineralogy and petrology in 1919, and the following 

 year Doris M. Gochran came on as an aide in the Di- 

 vision of Reptiles and Batrachians (amphibians). Later, 

 Herbert W. Kreiger and Henry B. Collins came to the 

 I^ivision of Ethnology. Still later, "FluMiias D. Stewart is 

 listed as an aide in the Division of Physical Anthro- 

 pology; as T. Dale Stewart, he latei played an important 

 role in the history of the building. In 1928 Remington 

 Kellogg transferred horn the Biological Survey to be- 

 come an assistant curator oi manunals, and at the close 

 of the decade, Edward Henderson transferred from 

 the Geological Survey to the Division of Physical and 

 Chemical Geology. 



Since the Buieau ol the Budget had leclassified all 

 positions within the Museum in 1924, salary standards, 

 especially for scientists, weie higher, which helped the 

 Museum to attract and retain a full staff. The new 

 Secretary was Charles Greeley Abbot, who had been 

 directoiof the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. 



Alexander Wetmore 



The most noteworthy staff addition of the 1920s was 

 the ornithologist Alexander Wetmore. As a member of 

 the Biological Survey since 191 1, he knew the Museum 

 well. In 1924 the director of the National Zoo, Ned 

 HoUister, died unexpectedly. Wetmore was appointed 

 by Walcott to succeed him, but held this position for 

 only a few months. "In accordance with a plan to de- 

 velop and coordinate the scientific work of the various 

 branches of the Smithsonian Institution," read the An- 

 tiual Report, "provision was made . . . for an additional 

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

 Wetmore was appointed to this post with general su- 

 pervision over the Museum interests of the Institu- 

 tion — the United States National Museum, the National 

 Gallery of Art, and the National Zoological Park."^ Wet- 

 more was listed that year as Assistant Secretary, but the 

 following year his title reverted to the classic one, last 

 held by Rathbun, of "Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian 



Institution, in charge United States National Museum." 



Wetmore asked for assistance, and John Graf was 

 added to the Museum staff as his administrative aide, 

 although his office was in the Arts and Industries Build- 

 ing. On the rare occasions when Wetmore made an 

 unreasonable decision, the staff member concerned 

 would take it up with Graf. Of course, almost always 

 everyone did what Wetmore advised. "A tall man of 

 quietly distinguished presence and great natural mod- 

 esty,'" he did not demand respect, but he commanded 

 it. After World War I, jackets were not worn at the 

 desk, but somehow everyone put on a jacket to visit the 

 director's office. 



Departmental Rearrangements 



Some internal rearrangements had been made in the 

 Museum's departments. In 1920 a Division of Echi- 

 nodernis (starfish, for example) was formed so that 

 Austin H. CHark could become curator. Clark, who had 

 been socially and politically active in the Museum circle 

 for years, had assumed that after Walcott's death he 

 might be made director. But that never happened, and 

 Clark remained in his ground-floor office writing huge 

 monographs. An active worker, Clark was famed for 

 keeping the messiest office in the building. He never 

 filed away reprints or accession slips, btit could always 

 find what he needed. Long after Clark's official retire- 

 ment, a younger colleague went to his office to complain 

 about not being able to obtain a typewriter. According 

 to legend, Clark dug into the pile of reprints on one 

 of his tables and extracted a standard model typewriter 

 that had been completely hidden from view. Judging 

 from the dates on the reprints hiding it, the machine 

 had been covered for ten years. 



The year after Clark got his division, the Division of 

 Mc:)llusks was formed. Paul Bartsch had already been 

 promoted to the rank of ctnator, and this separation 

 occin red more at the request of other departmental 

 members than for any other reason. Bartsch was a wom- 

 anizer, yet he also taught a Sunday-school class and 

 helped instruct Boy Scouts. He wrote a great deal on 

 mollusks, and supposedly one can trace his romances 

 by the new species bearing the names of various ladies. 

 While there may not be any truth to the story that he 

 once chased a secretary onto a ledge, he did pull up 

 the skirts of one secretary, who ran screaming to Wet- 

 more. One day in 1953 when Bartsch, then in his 80s, 

 was said to be coming in for the day, an illustrator who 

 hoped to meet him was advised to keep her back to the 

 wall and her hands on her skirt. 



Lapses in the Work Ethic 



Most people worked conscientiously, but of course there 

 were lapses. Edward Henderson tells of the "hat trick" 

 of Barton Bean in the Division of Fishes. On occasional 

 mornings Bean would go to his office, turn on the lights 

 and hang up his hat and coat, and then stroll uptown 



72 



The Exhibits 



