UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY 
NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
ALL CORRESPONDENCE 
SHOULD BE ADDRESSED 
TO THE SECRETARY 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Wash iny ton, to. S.A. 
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
FREER GALLERY OF ART 
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES 
INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF 
SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE 
May - 5 ) 1930. 
Dear Dr. Wetmore: 
Before you left Washington something was said to you 
about the unsatisfactory condition in which latterly the firm 
of Wheldon & Wesley have conducted the affairs of the Institu¬ 
tion in London. This has now reached a point where it is 
probably desirable to make a change, but I thought that you 
might find it practicable to make some inquiries while in 
London as to the condition of the affairs of this firm. 
I am inclined to think, from the fact that Wheldon & 
Wesley have been very slow in making remittances for Smith¬ 
sonian publications, for which they are now in arrears to the 
extent of $536.22, that the trouble may be due to financial 
embarrassment. The Institution has never pressed the firm 
4 
for prompt payment, and the accounts have run sometimes over 
a considerable period, but never to such a large amount as 
at present. I am also led to the conclusion that they are 
in financial straits from the fact that the Library last 
winter was unable to obtain through Wheldon & Wesley certain 
publications of the Zoological Society, and after repeated 
reminders Mr. Schmitt wrote directly to the Society and » 
asked why the Institution was not securing their publications 
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