Chapter 19 



Others in the 

 Building 



FROM THE WAY AFFILIATED organizations have fig- 

 ured in the story of the Museum, it must be clear 

 that the building's various occupants all are part of the 

 same Museum community and have interests in com- 

 mon. This concept certainly encompasses those who 

 work in the shops. Between the systematists and the 

 carpenters, however, lie several more groups of people 

 who are important to the building and definitely part 

 of the community. 



This brings up again the persistent question of just 

 how many people work in the building. The correct 

 answer is that no one can be sure where the number 

 stands at any given moment. The last time identification 

 badges were made, about 1,700 were issued. Because 

 some of those in the building have badges issued from 

 other buildings, the number present each day is probably 

 closer to 1,800. The population fluctuates, with a few 

 more scientific visitors in the summer than at other 

 times of the year. At the moment just over 500 persons 

 constitute the formal, paid Museum staff — less than 

 one-third of those working there on an average day. 



Because they are in uniform, the group of non- 

 Museum staff that are easiest to identif y are the guards. 

 The Smithsonian from its inception employed watch- 

 men, whose job originally included running errands 

 and, in winter, tending fires. By the time the National 

 Museum opened, in 1881, it was established procedure 

 to have a person on duty in the public areas. Employees 

 had to supply their own uniforms, which were modeled 

 in general on police uniforms of the time. Hours were 

 long, commonly a twelve-hour shift, and it was not until 

 1907 that the watchmen were given one Sunday off 

 per month. The forty-hour week did not arrive until 

 1945. 



Alexander Wetmore, sixteen years after his retirement, 

 studying birds on the sixth floor of the east wing, November 

 1969. The light is designed to simulate daylight as closely 

 as possible. In the foreground ts a blue-faced booby fSulaj, 

 but the principal interest is in the series of females and 

 white-breasted males of the three-wattled bell bird 

 (Procnius). 



The Guard Force 



Once the new National Museum opened, it became the 

 headquarters of the Smithsonian's guard force. A small 

 room to the west of the elevators in the north lobby 

 was the guard office, and in spite of all the changes 

 that have gone on in the building, it still is. In the 1950s 

 the foyer, now occupied by the Evans Gallery, under- 

 went extensive alterations. One exhibit on the east side 

 was removed, and the area was decked over; the lower 

 floor became a health room, and the upper floor was 

 the locker room for guards. When the telephone room 

 moved from the west north range to the Museum of 

 History and I^chnology in the early 1960s, this space 

 was taken over by the guards and decked. The upper 

 level became another locker room, and the lower floor 

 is now a security area where Museum fire-alarm systems 

 are monitored. 



After the new National Museum opened, there were 

 two companies of guards, one for this large new build- 

 ing and one for the Castle and the Arts and Industries 

 building. In 1964 a third company was established for 

 the Museum of History and Technology. With each 

 additional building, the company structure of the guard 

 force has been modified. The Museum's guards do not 

 report to the director. F"ormerly under the of f ice of the 

 Institution's buildings superintendent, they have been 

 part of the Office of Protection Services since 1973. 



The guards serve in three watches, the hours of which 

 have changed slightly over the years. In the early 194()s 

 about thirty men were on the day shift in the Natural 

 History Building, and about seven on each of the other 

 two shifts. The guard force in the building has about 

 doubled since then, in part because of longer hours 

 during the summer. As the Smithsonian complex grew, 

 the number of guards also increased, and they now 

 constitute the largest single group of employees that is 

 active in every building of the Smithsonian. 



There have been black officers on the force at least 

 since the 1880s. Eor many years black officers were 

 assigned to the night shift, ostensibly because they pre- 

 ferred it. In the very early 1950s several of these officers 

 indicated that they preferred to work days. They kept 



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