Page two. 
Dr. Wetmore 
’’This will mean that the objects will be sent to the Smithsonian 
Institution for custody, first-aid repairs, suitable packing and transfer 
in Washington. As the expenses involved for the few objects at present 
detained are so small, it would be appreciated also if, in accordance with 
your suggestion to Miss Hall, the Smithsonian would bear these charges.” 
I can assure the State Department that there will be very little packing at 
Smithsonian expense before July 1st. Mr. Cairns of the Gallery has checked into 
this matter and he said that you spoke to no one at the Gallery about this. He 
also said that in view of the miscellaneous nature of the collection, which includes 
art, coins, knives, manuscripts, etc., this falls outside the scope of the 
Gallery. We certainly are in no position to pay packing charges and transportation, 
let alone repairs. While I realize that all this is a "Good Samaritan” act, I 
had hoped that we might be spared any hand in these deals, since before the whole 
matter is settled, we will probably be charged with a great deal of the material 
which is stolen or destroyed and which we never saw. 
(6) ftedderburn of the Section of Photography tells me that the A.A.A.S. 
is anxious to arrange in close sponsorship with the Institution an exhibit of 
photographs showing the use of photography in science, and that Mr. Christiansen 
indicated that you had expressed an interest in this. Personally, I see no 
wrong at all in going in with them on this since apparently no expense is involved. 
As a matter of fact, I think it would be an extra link binding us to the A.A.A.S. 
(7) I just have a note from Deignan indicating that you had intended to 
send him for a short trip to Qentral America, and he wonders now whether that 
might not be changed to a visit to the British Museum for further study of south¬ 
eastern Asiatic birds and types. He says, "In my work on a checklist of the 
birds of the Indo-Chinese Subregion, I have to make endlfsg revisions of groups 
and time after time I find myself brought to a halt because of lack of types or 
topotypes which are not to be seen in this country and the exact characters of 
which are not to be known without actual comparison, since the characters are 
sometimes too subtle to be easily described in writing. When I visited London in 
1939 I was able to settle many problems of this nature to ay satisfaction, but 
since then scores of others have arisen, and in any case I am now working on the 
avifauna of a much more extensive area (Bengal to the mouth of the Yangtze), so 
that things which were of no importance to me then are now of critical interest." 
If you approve, he would like to be able to start making reservations since 
he would prefer to go during the good weather. He feels that the trip to London 
would have greater scientific value than the one to Central America. 
Acting Secretary^ 
JEG:mmh 
