Chapter 21 



Public 

 Places 



IN ADDITION TO THE SCIENTIFIC FACILITIES shared 

 by the staff, the Museum offers several special spaces 

 for public use, apart from the exhibit halls themselves. 

 The auditorium and, until fairly recently, the foyer on 

 the ground floor of the north wing, have been available 

 at the request of individual groups. The north lobby, 

 the new West Court building, and of course the rotunda 

 are invaluable starting, meeting, and resting places for 

 one and all. 



The International Congress on Tuberculosis that 

 "christened" the Natural History Building well before 

 its opening was in every way a success and an excellent 

 start. One of those present at this most important meet- 

 ing was Robert Koch, discoverer of the tuberculosis 

 bacillus. 



"[Tomorrow's] proceedings will begin with an assem- 

 bly of delegates in the auditorium of the Museum build- 

 ing at 1 1:00 o'clock," the Washington Post reported on 

 September 27, 1908. "The hall has been decorated with 

 the flags of the countries represented. Music will be 

 furnished by the Marine Band. . . . The diplomatic corps, 

 the spokesmen of the various nations, officers of the 

 Congress, honorary presidents, and section Presidents 

 will meet in the office of Dr. Henry C. Beyer on the 

 second floor of the building at 10:40 o'clock.'" There 

 were numerous exhibits on hygienic products, such as 

 pasteurized milk; five technical sections met in the var- 

 ious halls. For the finale on October 9, Bishop O'Con- 

 nell of The Catholic University of America stated that 

 "scientific men must walk hand in hand with the reli- 

 gious bodies of the world if the crusade against tuber- 

 culosis is to come to a successful termination.""' 



The Annual Report for 1909 noted that "about 100,000 

 square feet of the building on the first and second 

 floors, exclusive of the south wings, were used for the 



The rotunda (Hall 1), looking east into Hall 2 at the 

 Zeuglodon, /row United States National Museum 

 Bulletin 80 (1913). The specimen was mounted for 

 installation in the new building. Other views taken at the 

 same time show that a giraffe was in the center of the 

 rotunda. 



purposes of the congress. ... By November 3 all traces 

 of the convention had been removed and the building 

 was again ready for the resumption of construction 

 operations. About $25,000 was expended in fitting up 

 the building for the congress" — $15,000 less than had 

 been appropriated.^ 



fhe next major event in the auditorium occurred 

 two years later: "For the public sessions of the National 

 Academy [of Sciences] at its annual meeting in Wash- 

 ington from April 19 to 21, 1910, temporary arrange- 

 ments were made in one of the exhibition halls in the 

 Museum building, accommodations for the business 

 meeting being furnished in the Smithsonian building."^ 



There is a story behind these few words, for the 

 National Academy of Sciences had had no home ever 

 since it was founded during the Civil War. Joseph Henry 

 was the first president of the Academy, and, like so 

 many organizations, it just somehow got under the wing 

 of the Smithsonian. For practical purposes the Acad- 

 emy was a couple of file drawers and an annual meeting 

 that wandered from hall to hall. In 1916, during their 

 sessions at the Museum, the academicians elected Sec- 

 retary Walcott as their president. After World War I, 

 Walcott was among those who helped raise funds for 

 the Academy building at Twenty-first Street and Con- 

 stitution Avenue, NW. It is from this headquarters that 

 the National Academy of Sciences has grown to be such 

 an august body. 



According to the Annual Report for 1911, the Mu- 

 seum's auditorium was used that year for three meet- 

 ings and two lectures. Thereafter it was a very busy 

 place. In 1912 "the new building was used . . . for a 

 number of meetings and other functions held under 

 the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution or of or- 

 ganizations having kindred objects. Besides the audi- 

 torium in this building, which has a seating capacity for 

 565 persons, two adjacent rooms have been fitted up 

 for small gatherings." ' Despite its stuffiness and naked 

 ductwork, one of these. Room 43, was heavily used for 

 many years by local scientific societies. 



It soon became evident that the foyer or the rotunda 

 was the place in Washington to hold a reception for 



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