Moxiiiiij; insect rr/srs from the deck on the loest range, second 

 floti) (Hall 27), 1962. aftet this Hall uj Invertebrates was 

 converted into 0//11 es for entomologists. 



Changes in Zoology 



Administrative changes were taking place in the De- 

 partment of Zoology. When Friedmann, who had suc- 

 ceeded Schmitt, retired in 1961, Fenner Chace served 

 as acting head for a year befoie stepping down to be- 

 come the first Senior Scientist in the Museum. He was 

 followed by Horton Hobbs, Jr., a specialist on fresh- 

 water crustaceans. Hobbs was the first scientist hired 

 from outside the Museum specificallv to be a depart- 

 ment head. Piomotion from inside, slow as it was, was 

 no longer an automatic event — a tremendous break 

 with tradition. 



Another big change within Zoology concerned the 

 entomologists. The site they had been moved to in 1962 

 was the former rug-cleaning department of Bergman's 

 Laundry, just off Georgia Avenue on Lamont Street in 

 northwest Washington, about a mile from the Museum. 

 The building was spartan but adequate, and because 

 of the kind of operation that had been run there, floors 

 were sturdy. There were no internal partitions, but the 

 entomologists were experienced in building office walls 

 from specimen cases. The move of specimens and peo- 



ple went fairly smoothly, and several people recall George 

 Steyskal of the Department of Agriculture driving his 

 car into the freight elevator, driving it off, and un- 

 loading directly onto his new desk. The entomologists 

 had 55,000 square feet of space. For the first time they 

 were able to get their collections in order and to have 

 offices fairly close to one another. 



This new space, as they had hoped, provided the 

 opportunity for growth. On July 1, 1963, the Division 

 of Insects was split off as the Department of Ento- 

 mology, and J. F. Gates Glarke became the first head. 

 The total departmental staff at that time consisted of 

 fifteen people. Twenty years later the number was sixty- 

 five, including technicians and clerical support. The 

 Department of Agriculture entomologists managed to 

 add a position or two, but their number has been nearly 

 constant. 



There were a few wisecracks at first about living in 

 a laundry, and it did not take long for this facility to 

 be christened "Lament Street" by its inhabitants. The 

 neighborhood was dangerous. No one associated with 

 the Museum ever ran into trouble, but there was con- 

 stant worry. On one occasion a murder victim was found 

 on the parking lot, and during the entomologists' ten- 

 ure several shopowners in the neighborhood were shot. 

 After a gun store was robbed, the Federal Bureau of 

 Investigation had a stakeout in the building before raid- 

 ing an apartment across the street. During the 1968 

 riots in Washington, there was considerable concern 

 for the staff and the collections, but again they came 

 to no harm. 



In 1968 and 1969 the entomologists returned to the 

 Mall. Though they originally were slated for the fifth 

 and sixth floors of the west wing, the fifth floor had 

 gone to Botany, and because of the setting-back re- 

 cjuired by the Fine Arts Commission, the sixth floor 

 was smaller than anticipated. Hall 27 on the west side 

 of the second floor, which had been used for offices, 

 was fully decked over, this time with steel plates, but 

 that proved insufficient. Hall 30 on the south side of 

 the second floor was also converted to offices and decked 

 over. The Museum entomologists currently occupy about 

 36,000 square feet, far less than at Lamont Street. They 

 have a few offices in the west wing of the main building. 



Nothing exists in a vacuum in the Museum, and one 

 action affects another. Because these two exhibit halls 

 were appropriated for offices, a partially completed hall 

 of fishes was scrapped, and a projected hall of fresh- 

 water and marine invertebrates was dropped. 



Oceanography Program 



The real driving force for growth in the Museum dur- 

 ing the early 1960s was oceanography. Using the In- 

 ternational Geophysical Year as a model, a number of 

 scientists set up an International Decade of the Oceans, 

 in a way a water-based International Biological Pro- 

 gram. After Stewart became director and Richard Cowan 



112 



The Exhibits 



