NATIONAL MU5LUM 



INCLUDHNG 

 THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



5„U i. t.,,k 



Proposal for wings to he (uidcd to the new National 

 Museum; from Ratlihun, 1918. The suggested building to 

 the right is )ioiv the site of an ice-skating rink across from 

 the National Archives. 



for it to be sewn up. The comments attributed to As- 

 sistant Secretary Kellogg are unprintable. It is a fact 

 that when Porter Kier became director, he had taxi- 

 dermists check into imsewing the elephant. After study- 

 ing and photographing some elephants in the zoo, they 

 reported that the African elephant's anus is hidden by 

 skin wrinkles except when actually in use. 



On April 1, 1960, an elephant-si/ed pile of dimg was 

 discovered under the animal shoith before the Mu- 

 seum opened for the day. There was considerable ag- 

 itation, compcnnided when the laborer cleaning up with 

 shovel and broom objected lo pictures. When the fuss 

 was all over, the dung turned out to f^e a superb mod- 

 eling job done in clay by a member of the exhibits staff. 

 The administration never considered this a humorous 

 event and spent a long time trying to track down the 

 model maker. 



It wascoincideni.il tliat the dedication of the elephant 

 occurred half a century after the building first opened. 

 No one mentioned the timing at the dedication cere- 

 mony. In 1966, for the celebration of the 200th anni- 

 versary of the birth of James Smithson, banners were 

 designed for each of the Institution's bureaus; the one 

 for the Museum of Natural Historv featured an ele- 

 phant. The Museimi's letterhead, more austerely, has 

 staved with a drawing of the dome. 



East and West Wings 



The east and west wings, the largest structural devel- 

 opment of the building itself since the rotunda dome 

 was completed, had existed in theory for over forty 

 years. In 1918 Rathbini gave his opinion that the great- 

 est need of tlie Smithsonian Institution was a building 

 for industrial arts and American history, and that this 

 building should be followed by construction of a sep- 

 arate National Gallery of Art. He thought, nevertheless, 



that wings for the Museum ought to be started promptly.^ 

 By the mid- 1920s, Holmes had created considerable 

 momentum toward a National Gallery of Art building. 

 While this was still far from materializing, Wetmore in 

 1928 built on hopes for the gallery in campaigning for 

 additional space for natural history. He wrote in the 

 Annual Report: 



The ultimate construction of a National Gallery of 

 Art to which the art collections will be removed 

 will free a certain amount of space in the Natural 

 History Building, but that area will be 

 automatically absorbed by the natural history 

 exhibits retired to make room for art, and will not 

 afford necessary relief. There should be added to 

 the Natinal History Building two wings, one on 

 the east and one on the west, in accordance with 

 the original plan of the architect for this structure. 

 These, with the same height as the present 

 building will give needed space for the 

 tremendously valuable research collections and will 

 relieve crowded laboratories, which in the division 

 of insects, for example, have becoine almost 

 intolerable. . . . [I]n some instances at present four 

 persons depend upon the light from a single 

 windcjw for illumination for work recjuiring 

 delicate examination, frecjuently tmder the 

 microscope. The additional floor space would also 

 afford a more logical arrangement of exhibits, a 

 remodeling of many in more modern form, which 

 cannot be attempted at present, and a relief from 

 the present crowding, which is often tiring and 

 confusing to the visitor." 



(It is ironic that Wetmore used the Division of Insects 

 as an example; thirty-five years later, when the wings 

 finally were completed, the entomologists still had the 

 least satisfactory office space.) 



Exactly the same words were repeated the following 

 year in the Annual Report on the Museum. Perhaps these 

 words were read on the Hill, or possibly the grave prob- 

 lems of slippage of the keystones of the rotunda arches 

 (discussed in Chapter 21) focused attention on the 

 building. A bill was introduced in (Congress to authorize 

 the wings, and to bring home its necessity, Secretary 

 Abbot declared the building "as crowded as a woman 

 traveler's trunk.'"" 



Whatever was the catalyst, "the Smoot-Elliott bill au- 

 thorizing the extension of the Natural History Building 

 . . . was passed without a dissenting vote. The bill was 

 approved by the president on June 19, 1930. Under 

 this authorization it is planned to add to the present 

 building so that it will extend from Ninth to Twelfth 

 Street, in general duplicating the present structure, where 

 the ground floor and third floor are given over to of- 

 fices and laboratories and the two intermediate floors 

 are devoted to exhibits.'" This concept of the wings as 

 providing a major addition to the exhibit area was quite 



102 



The Exhibits 



