NATIONAL MUSEUM.

A summary of the operations of the National Museum is given as usual in the appendix to this report and full details are set forth by the Assistant Secretary in a separate volume, and need not therefore be fully treated here.

New building.-At the close of the year the exterior of the new Museum building had been practically completed. Several months' work, however, remained to be done to finish the south pavilion or rotunda. Provision has been made for the improvement of the grounds immediately about the building, including granolithic roads and walks, grading, and readjustment of roadways.

The transfer of collections, laboratories, and workshops to the new building has progressed as rapidly as practicable considering that the floor area to be provided with furniture and other new equipment is about 10 acres.

The collections of the National Gallery of Art, as mentioned below, were transferred to the middle hall of the new building and opened to the public in March, and in connection therewith some of the more interesting ethnological groups and historical exhibits were installed in the surrounding hall and adjacent ranges. It was not practicable to open any other portions of the building to the public, although more than half of the natural history collections, both reserve and exhibition, had been transferred to their new quarters.

Art textiles.-The removal of the paintings from the old building has afforded more ample space for the display of the art textiles and fabrics, consisting of laces, embroideries, tapestries, brocades, and velvets; also fans, enamels, porcelains, jewelry, etc. As mentioned in my last report, these objects were brought together at the suggestion of Mrs. James W. Pinchot, who has given personal attention to their collection and arrangement.

Accessions. The additions to the Museum during the year aggregated 970,698 specimens, as compared with 250,000 in the year preceding. The most noteworthy collection of the year was several thousand specimens of mammals, birds, reptiles, batrachians, and other animals, besides several thousand plants, received from the Smithsonian African Expedition under the direction of Col. Theodore Roosevelt, more fully referred to on another page. Other important accessions in the several departments of the Museum are enumerated by the Assistant Secretary in the appendix to the present report. About 800,000 entomological specimens, received from the Department of Agriculture, were varieties of beetles and other insects injurious to forest trees, which had been accumulated during investigations by the Bureau of Entomology.

Distribution of specimens.-The Museum has taken a special interest for many years, to as great an extent as appropriations would permit, in the preparation and distribution to educational establishments throughout the country of series of duplicate specimens pertaining chiefly to natural history. During the past year about 6,000 such specimens were distributed.

National Herbarium.-The removal of the archeological collections from the large upper hall of the Smithsonian building has afforded an opportunity for furnishing adequate quarters for the National Herbarium, which for many years has occupied crowded and unsuitable space in the galleries of the National Museum.

Growth of Museum.-The national collections have so increased in size and value as to make them comparable with the similar collections of the greater European countries, and with the occupation of the new building they may now be housed and arranged in an appropriate and convenient manner. This expansion, however, involves a much greater annual expenditure than heretofore, the larger portion of which is called for in connection with the exhibition halls, maintained for the benefit of the public. The extent of these halls has been about trebled, thus offering an opportunity for the preparation and mounting for display of many additional specimens, a work that will be pushed as rapidly as available funds will permit in order that the operations of the Museum may be commensurate with their importance to the public interests and to science.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART.

As stated in my last report the collections of the National Gallery of Art had then so increased that they could no longer all be accommodated in the old National Museum building, and Congress having failed to authorize the adaptation of the large hall of the Smithsonian building for their proper exhibition, it had become necessary to make preparations for their display temporarily in one of the halls in the new Museum building. The space selected was the central part of the middle hall, 50 feet wide and about 130 feet long, with a central skylight. Screen walls were constructed, divided into seven rooms. An informal opening of the gallery was held on March 17, 1910, which was largely attended.

The collections were increased during the year by the further gift from Mr. William T. Evans of 32 paintings and 1 fire etching on wood, and by a considerable number of loans from various individuals. It became necessary at the close of the year to make preparation for extending the limits of the gallery so as to include the entire space below the skylight in the middle hall.

The history of the gallery and a catalogue of the collections was published during the year in a volume of 140 pages as Bulletin No.

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70 of the National Museum. This was prepared by the Assistant Secretary, Dr. Richard Rathbun, who has been most arduous in his efforts to promote the gallery's growth.

On the occasion of the first annual convention of the American Federation of Art, held in Washington May 17-19, 1910, I had the pleasure of presenting a brief account of the National Gallery, and a private view of the collections was extended to the members of the convention and friends on the afternoon of May 17.

The subject is of such importance that it seems proper here to recall in a general way the origin of the gallery and its present condition and needs.

In 1840, while the question of what should be done with the Smithson bequest was under consideration in Congress, a few gentlemen organized the National Institute, which was in 1842 incorporated by Congress for a term of twenty years, at the expiration of which its collections were to be transferred to the Government. This institute collected a few works of art, which were subsequently transferred to the Smithsonian Institution.

The act of 1846 creating the Smithsonian Institution provides that all objects of art belonging to the United States which may be in the city of Washington shall be delivered to such persons as may be authorized by the Board of Regents to receive them and that they shall be arranged and classified in the building erected for the Institution.

In 1849, under the authority of the Regents, Secretary Henry purchased the Marsh collection of engravings and works of art.

In 1858 the collections in the Patent Office Museum were turned over to the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1862 the collections of the National Institute were transferred, on the expiration of its charter. These collections included a few paintings of merit and sundry art objects.

In 1879 the Catlin collection of Indian paintings was presented to the Institution by Mrs. Joseph Harrison, of Philadelphia.

A few additions were made from time to time up to 1906, but they were relatively of little importance, and, with the collections already in hand, were scattered about in the Smithsonian building and the National Museum building erected in 1879.

In 1903, when the will of Harriet Lane Johnston was presented for probate, it was found that she had bequeathed her entire collection of paintings and art objects to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, under certain specific conditions and subject to the provision that in the event of a national art gallery being established in the city of Washington they should be transferred to the said National Art Gallery and become the absolute property of that gallery. The Corcoran Gallery declined the bequest under the conditions, and the

executors of the Johnston estate asked the courts for a construction of the clause in the testament providing that the collection be given to a national art gallery. This suit was filed on February 7, 1905, in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and by an order of the court dated July 18, 1906, the collections were delivered to the Smithsonian Institution on August 3, 1906, the court deciding that there had been established by the United States of America in the city of Washington a national art gallery within the meaning of Harriet Lane Johnston's will.

In 1904, Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, offered his art collection to the Smithsonian Institution, under certain specified conditions, and also offered to furnish the means for erecting, after his death, a suitable building to receive the collection. This collection was formally accepted by the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in 1906. It includes more than 2,250 objects, including paintings in oil, water color, and pastel, drawings and sketches, etchings and dry points, lithographs, oriental pottery, and other objects.

The action of Harriet Lane Johnston and Mr. Charles L. Freer called the attention of all interested in art, to the fact that there was a national gallery, and that under the care of the Smithsonian Institution it was making conservative and satisfactory progress.

In March, 1907, Mr. William T. Evans, of Montclair, New Jersey, announced to the Institution his desire to contribute to the National Gallery a number of paintings by contemporary American artists of established reputation. In transmitting the first installment of paintings, he wrote:

I have every reason to believe that you will like my selections, but should any of the examples not hold well, others can be substituted, as it is my desire to have every artist represented at his best. As already intimated, I intend that the present gift may not be considered as final. Additions may be made from time to time as opportunities occur to secure exceptional works.

Fifty paintings were enumerated in the list which accompanied this letter. Up to June 30, 1910, Mr. Evans had presented 114 selected paintings, representing 80 artists. These, with the paintings already in the possession of the Institution, bring the exhibit now installed in the large hall of the new Museum building to more than 160.

The world-wide interest in the National Gallery has been increasing rapidly during the past three years, and we believe, without question, that the collections will grow quite as rapidly as facilities can be provided for their proper installation and exhibition. The collection, including the Freer collection, is particularly strong in pictures by American artists, and it is well that it should be so, in order that it may have a strong national tone. The Harriet Lane Johnston collection has given the Gallery fine examples of several of the mas

ters of European art, and we hope that this feature will be strengthened from time to time as the years go on.

The Charles L. Freer collection contains many beautiful paintings by Tryon, Dewing, Thayer, and the unexcelled series of Whistler paintings, pastels, drawings, and sketches; also the beautiful Peacock room. In oriental art the collection representing Japanese and Chinese paintings from the tenth to the nineteenth century can not be duplicated in any single gallery in the world, and the bronzes and pottery are beautiful, and to a large extent unique and of great historical and artistic value.

The question of a suitable building for the great Freer collection has been happily settled by Mr. Freer, but we still have to consider the problem of properly housing and exhibiting the collections now in the new natural history museum building, as their present installation is of a temporary character.

I have hope that some of our strong men or women who have the means will see the great opportunity that is now offered to present to the nation a suitable building that will be an epoch-making incident in the development of national art and a monument to the culture and patriotism of the one so wise as to take advantage of the opportunity.

The American people, as represented by Congress, have just provided a large and beautiful building for the collections of natural history, and in due time it is expected that sufficient interest will be taken in the art collections of the Government to provide a suitable home for them. This, however, is not to be anticipated in the immediate future, although the collections now in hand and what will be inevitably received if accommodations are provided for them will make a most creditable showing.

I have been frequently asked what effect the development of a national art gallery would have upon the Corcoran Gallery of Art at Washington, and in response I have quoted the effect of the establishment of the Leland Stanford University, in California, upon the State University of California. Prior to the establishment of the Leland Stanford University the State University was a relatively small affair. Its friends, realizing that they must approach the standard set by the proposed new university, at once cast about for strong leaders and strong men for their faculty, and the result in a few years was that California had one of the great research universities of the country in the Leland Stanford and one of the great state universities, with thousands of students. The Corcoran Gallery, with its splendid history, fine building, and beautiful collection of paintings and statuary, has an international fame, and will grow stronger and more rapidly under the stimulus of a greater art interest, caused by the development of the national gallery. One will