Chapter 14 



"Modem Times" 



THEOPENlN(;{)F I HE Museum of History and Tech- 

 nology in 1964 marked a major change in the 

 course of the Smithsonian Institution. It coincided with 

 the start of the twenty-year tenure of S. Dillon Ripley 

 as Secretary of the Smithsonian. During these two dec- 

 ades the Institution increased dramatically in both scope 

 and diversity. For much of its history, one could well 

 have described the Smithsonian as natural history with 

 a few appendages; after 1964 the Museum of Natural 

 History became simply one among a series of museums. 

 In this sense alone the Museum lost significance, for 

 staff and budget increased markedly during this era. 



Leonard Carmichael, in reviewing the 1953—63 dec- 

 ade of his secretaryship, noted the development of the 

 Museum of History and Technology, the increase in 

 the collections from 34 million to 57 million specimens, 

 the increase in field investigations, the formation of the 

 Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center, the con- 

 struction of the east wing of the Natural History Build- 

 ing, and the appropriation for the west wing.' The John 

 F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts became a 

 separate bureau, and the number of visitors to the 

 buildings on the Mall nearly tripled. 



Immediately after Secretary Ripley assumed office, 

 the increase of staff and development of new offices 

 in connection with oceanography and ecology accel- 

 erated. This resulted in new attitudes toward science 

 at the Museum, and there were changes in attitude 

 toward public affairs as well. In 1965 the Smithsonian's 

 Annual Report was supplanted by a more popularized 

 yearbook, Smithsonian Year. Because of the progressive 

 growth of the Institution, with the addition of bureaus 

 and functions, detailed information on individual events 

 has necessarily been curtailed, although the yearbooks 

 collectively give a sense of great happenings throughout 



Remoi'ing a tree from It All Depends (Hall 10) for 

 transplantaliun lo the South American Hall (Hall 23), 

 February 1975. The mirrors behind give an illusion of 

 great distance in the forest. They reflect photagrafjlier Roy 

 E. ("Chip") Clark to the upper left, and to the right, at the 

 base of the tree, Reginald J. ("Bud") Sayre. 



the Institution. The yearbook itself has changed from 

 year to year, even to alterations in cover illustrations 

 of the Castle between 1972 and 1973 as the cupola, lost 

 in the fire of 1865, was restored to the north tower. 



Growth of the Museum Shops 



4 he publication ot the magazine Smithsonian repre- 

 sented a large step in the Institution's becoming truly 

 national in scope, rather than Washington-based; of its 

 appealing to the public at large, rather than being bound 

 to buildings in Washington. The development of the 

 Museum Shops provides another example. Secretaries 

 Abbot and Wetmore had been concerned that sales by 

 the Institution might deprive local merchants, and as 

 a consequence there was no shop in the Museum. Un- 

 der Secretary Carmichael, steps were taken to satisfy 

 the desire of tourists to purchase Museum-related items, 

 and under Secretary Ripley the program expanded 

 rapidly. 



"44ie first year [fiscal year 1968] of the reorganized 

 Smithsonian Museum Shop program saw the construc- 

 tion of a shop in the Museum of Natural History at the 

 Constitution Avenue entrance and a book shop at the 

 Mall entrance."" From the start this shop was a hit with 

 tourists, causing traffic jams in the lobby. It occupied 

 a small office next to the marble stairway, but soon 

 expanded, and the north end of Hall 10 on the first 

 floor, in the area now occupied by Splendors of Nature, 

 was partitioned off for storage. The Museum Shop, 

 which moved to the West Court building in 1976, has 

 become a major asset. It is never without customers; 

 during the spring and summer it suffers from over- 

 crowding. An accessory to each show in the Evans Gal- 

 lery is a small separate sales desk in the foyer, selling 

 books and objects related to the temporary shows. After 

 the remodeled Hall 3 reopenefl in 1981 and a big thing 

 was made of the return of the dinosaurs, a movable 

 cart called "4'he Dinostore" was stationed in the ro- 

 timda for a time. 



Financial Problems 



Just as Museum Shop sales lluduate seasonally, the 

 fortunes ot the Museum have lluctuated, though on a 



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