Dr. Ripley Appoints Treasurer, Personnel Chief T. Ames Wheeler, Pouliot o THE SMITHSONIAN Named to Top Positions TORCH , Washington, D.C. No.2, February 1968

Pouliot Wheeler Secretary Ripley has announced the financial department of the appointment of a new Treasurer and Steel Corporation. . Director of Personnel. Mr. Wheeler joined Allegheny Lud­ T. Ames Wheeler, Secretary and Vice lum in 1946 and became manager of President-International of the Allegheny costs and statistics in 1949. He served Ludlum Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, as controller of the corpOTation from Pa., has been named Treasurer. He will 1950 to 1960, when he was named Vice assume his new post on March 1. President of international affiliated op­ Leonard B. Pouliot, special assistant erations. to the director of personnel at Ft. George In December 1966, he became Secre­ G. Meade, will succeed Joseph A. Ken­ tary and Vice President-International of nedy as director of Smithsonian Person­ Allegheny Ludlum International, S.A., of nel. Kennedy will become Director of the Geneva and Allegheny-Longdoz, S.A., a Equal Employment Opportunity Office. stainless steel manufacturing facility in As Treasurer, Mr. Wheeler will be the Belgium jointly owned with the D'Es­ Smithsonian's chief financial officer. He perance Longdoz organization of that will administer both federal and private country. resources, with responsibility for all Mr. Pouliot, 44, has had broad inter­ financial aspects of Institution manage­ national experience in personnel work. ment including planning, budgeting, ac­ He holds a BA in history from Mexico counting, contracting, and associated fis­ City College and an MA in personnel cal operations. management from the George Washing­ Mr. Wheeler, 56, is a graduate of Har­ ton University, where he is an associate vard University and the Harvard Gradu­ professorial lecturer in the Graduate ate School of Business Administration. School of Business and Public Adminis­ SlGIR'IY'~6It:ESS= rltish autlmr Arthur C. €Iarke epol1s-from Ceylon e-began hi usiness earee in-eagineer tration. that a high degree of success has been achieved in restoration of the vandal­ ing, working briefly for the Chrysler He began his career in government damaged Sigiriya frescoes-a joint Rome Centre-SI project. Clarke poses with the Corporation in Detroit. personnel work in 1949 in Mexico City, 1000-mm Questar telescope he used to photograph the spot on the Sigiri rock (back­ He changed to the financial field and, where he was assistant personnel officer ground) where the 1500-year-old frescoes are painted. from 1939 to 1942, he was a member for a commission of the U.S. Depart­ Italian art conservator Luciano Maranzi was sent by SI and the Rome Centre to of the investment department of a De­ ment of Agriculture. From there he direct the restoration efforts. "It seemed to me that the frescoes that had been troit bank. That same year he moved to moved on to France, as supervisory per­ daubed with paint were now practically as good as new," Clarke said in a note to Pittsburgh where he worked in the sonnel specialist at U.S. Army head­ the TORCH. The restoration effort is still in progress. quarters from 1952-59. Pouliot returned to the United States 'THIS TAKES GUTS' in 1959 to spend three years as person­ nel officer at Ft. Meade and a year as SITES Shows Transport an administrative officer with the De­ partment of State. Germany was the next duty station, where he directed the per­ SI Name Across Country sonnel department of the U.S. Embassy by Mary M. Krug range of financial, administrative, and in Bonn. diplomatic problems had to be solved. Since 1965 Mr. Pouliot has been While some components of the Smith­ Before negotiations can begin, for sonian measure their public in terms working in the U.S. once again. He even the smallest exhibition, the pro­ served as an organization development of millions of visitors, one important posal must be approved in a process of element uses millions of miles. specialist with the State Department review, by curators in fields related to until August of 1967, when he returned The Smithsonian Institution Traveling the show's subject. to Ft. Meade. Exhibition Service circulates 85 to 115 Working through the Smithsonian's exhibitions every month to museums, Office of International Activities, the schools, libraries, community colleges, country's embassy here, and the U.S. Atelier Mourlot and universities throughout the United embassy abroad, SITES irons out the States from the Metropolitan Museum problems involved in the 30 percent of Donates First 33 of Art to the IIlyria () Library, their exhibits that come from foreign from to Greenville, nations-such problems as who will pay Prints to NCFA Tenn. for transportation, what places it will Atelier Mourlot, the new American Last year alone, for example, dis­ appear, and how it will be shipped. The branch of the famous French lithographic plays bearing the Smithsonian name Turks, for instance, insisted that their shop, has presented a portfolio of the traveled roughly 1.5 million miles, or exhibition be sent in two separate ship­ first prints produced in its studio to the about far enough for three round trips ments, so that the entire national treas­ National Collection of Fine Arts. to the moon. ure would not be lost in case of a plane The portfolio is the first part of a con­ Dorothy Van Arsdale, the individual crash. tinuing gift that will provide the NCFA behind all this moving about, calls the This is a common request, Mrs. Van Archives with an example of everything SITES operation an administrative job Arsdale points out. Swiss authorities done at Mourlot. which requires knowledge of editing, (Continued on Page 4) Jacques MourIot, director of the U ~ S. atelier, and his father Fernand, who publishing, transportation, conserva­ "THIS TAKES GUTS", a U.S. Navy tion, art history, and diplomacy. heads the Paris operation, presented the painting by Charles Waterhouse, is one 33 prints to NCFA director David W. There are 91 of 108 shows listed in of nearly 200 works in NAFMAB's first Scott. the SITES catalog, and more than 95 art show, "The Armed Forces of the Imprimerie MourIot Freres in Paris percent of them are currently booked. United States as Viewed by the Con­ has done work for such artists as Picasso, They range from a collection of Jewish temporary Artist." Chagall, Miro, Dufy, and Matisse. Atelier marriage contracts to the massive Tu­ David W. Scott, director of NCFA, MourIot opened in 's Green­ nisian mosaics. Herman~ W. Williams, director of the wich Village last November. For such a major exhibition as the Corcoran Gallery, and portrait The initial gift to the Smithsonian in­ latter, years of groundwork are re­ artist Gardner Cox selected the works in cludes prints by Chressa, Claes Olden­ quired. The original idea for this spec­ the exhibition from collections submitted burg, Minoux, F. Albert, Haymson, Sam tacularly successful show came in 1964 by the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Francis, Alice Baber Bera, Paul Jenkins, from Secretary Ripley. The formal Force and Coast Guard. Chaim Goldberg, Brigitte Coudrain, opening was not until last summer. In The show can be seen in A & I Jack Levine, Cleve Gray, Dorazio, the intervening three years, a typical through March 9. Frances Gray, and Larry Rivers. Page 2 THE SMITHSONIAN TORCH February, 1968 ...------ABOUT SI PEOPLE'------, Rare Bird Seen The first and only Wandering Albatross ever sighted in North New Shetler Book Traces America soars at left in the pho­ tograph nsed by Smithsonian Kamarov Institute History ornithologists to make a positive identification. Drs. Alexander In the early 1700s Peter the Great established two Wetmore and George E. Wat­ botanical institutions in St. Petersburg, the city he son, shown below with two dared to create a mere seven degrees south of the other albatross specimens, were Arctic Circle. These were the predecessors of the called on to identify the bird spotted over the Northern present-day Komarov Botanical Institute, formed in Sonoma coast of . 1931 by the merger of two previous institutions. How the bird wound up in that Stanwyn Shetler, MNH's associate curator of area is still a mystery. No zoo phanerogams, tells the story of the institute and its keeps this species, so it did not predecessors in his new book, The Komarov Botani­ escape from captivity. The bird came ashore for a full day and cal Institute,-a glimpse at two-and-a-half centuries was photographed by Robert O. of botanical research in Russia. Paxton, who submitted the pic­ Published this month by the Sinithsonian Press, tures to Watson. J. P. Angle the book describes the physical setting and intel­ and John W. Aldrich of the lectual climate of the Institute along with its vast MNH staff also assisted in de- resources: a staff of 700, two dozen major laboratories, a large greenhouse and outdoor garden complex, an arboretum-park, several experimental farms, 450,000-volume library, and combined herbaria of nearly 6 million specimens dating back to 1709. Shetler's interest in the Institute and in Russian botany was furthered when he visited the Komarov in 1964, its 250th anniversary.

HAZARDS OF SI EMPLOYMENT Betty Walters, museum technician in the Division of Cultural History, passed on an item of interest found by her husband in Nebraska History. Walters, cur­ rently facing hazards himself in Vietnam, thought today's SI employee might be interested in the perils the job held in the 19th century. The article reads in part: "An early Omaha newspaper wrote, 'Ridgway Glover Esq., Photographer of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, arrived in this city last night. He accom­ panies the Fort Laramie Indian Commission for the purpose of taking solar and stereoscopic pictures of the various Indian chiefs who participate in the Treaty of Fort Laramie ...' "Ridgway Glover, a boy, had left home in the summer of 1866 Dr. Ripley Seeks Spike for the purpose of securing photographs 'to illustrate the life and character of the wild men of the prairie.' On June 30, 1866, he was at Fort Laramie. On Presented to Sidney Dillon July 29, 1866 he was at Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. On the way they were attacked by Indians who killed an officer of the party. 'Our men with their rifles The upcoming centennial of the com­ ounces. It was inscribed: Ribbed with held the Indians at bay until we reached a better position on a hill, where we pletion of the transcontinental railroad iron, clad in silver and crowned with of course holds historical interest for gold Arizona presents her offering to the kept them off until night, when Captain Burroughs, coming up with a train, SI staff members, but it has personal enterprise that has banded a continent, caused the redskins to retreat. I desired to make some instantaneous views of interest as well for Secretary Ripley, dictated a pathway to commerce. Pre­ the Indian attack, but our commander ordered me not to.' who is eager to locate one of the spikes sented by Governor Safford. Last in the "In September this report was received from Fort Phil Kearny, 'Mr. Ridgway used in the ceremony. possession of my cousin the late Mrs. In a letter to the editor of Antiques Arthur Whitney of Mendham, New Glover was killed near Fort Phil Kearny on the 14th of September by the Sioux Magazine, Mr. Ripley explained that: Jersey, the spike has been lost sight of. Indians. He and a companion had left the Fort to take some views. They were "My great-grandfather, Sidney Dillon, In later years Mrs. Whitney could not found scalped, killed and horribly mutilated.' " was a director on the board of the Union recall to which historical society or Pacific and was present at the driving museum it had been given shortly after of the last spike. He was given one of her mother's death in the 1930's. FROESHNER TAPS GRASS ROOTS AMERICA six presentation spikes which had been "If any of your readers have any prepared for the occasion. (I think it knowledge of the whereabouts of this, A good example of how the Smithsonian reaches into the "grass roots" of was called the Arizona iron-sHver-gold or indeed of the other commemorative America to aid and motivate young people is illustrated in the continuing com­ spike.) This has been described as six spikes, I am sure the members of the munication between Dr. Richard C. Froeschner of MNH's Division of Hemip­ centennial commission, as well as we inches long, three-quarters of an inch tera and Miss Shelley Samuelson of Pleasantville, Iowa. thick, one and a half inches across the at the Smithsonian, would be greatly head, and weighing ten and one-quarter interested." Shelley is a 13-year-old farm girl not content to amble along the roadsides stirring up the yellow Sulphurs in the alfalfa or simply admiring the big orange­ and-black Monarchs dipping in milkweed clumps. Branch Museum RBL Schedules Shelley is )- above all, a serious student of moths and butterflies and her con­ tributions to entomology aren't to be sniffed at. 12-Week Course Dr. Froeschner, who has been exchanging correspondence with Shelley for Marks Negro the past two years, as well as giving her moral and scientific support, credits The Radiation Biology Laboratory will follow up last year's successful Miss Samuelson with recording for the first time in North America the para­ History Week graduate seminar with a similar 12- sitizing of the Question Mark butterfly by a small wasp, the "Pteromalus The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum week course in developmental biology. puparum." will commemorate Negro History Week The series starts February 8 and is In addition to this find, Dr. Froeschner said that Shelley and her young Iowa February 11-18 with special programs open to SI staff. friends discovered a dwindling population of moths that make abnormal cocoons. and exhibits. The course, organized by RBL as­ sistant director Walter Shropshire, is Thirty paintings and two co-sponsored by the Consortium of of outstanding Negro Americans, from BISSON OFF TO TAIPEI Universities of the Washington Met­ the Harmon Collection of the National ropolitan Area. Gary Bisson, assistant general counsel of the Portrait Gallery, will be on display. Among the personalities included are Classes will be held on Thursdays Smithsonian, is leaving the Institution to join the Marian Anderson, Ralph Bunche, Mor­ at 7: 30 p.m. in the MHT auditorium. legal staff of Air Asia, based in Taipei, Taiwan. decai Johnson, Joe Louis and Harriet Some of the nation's outstanding biol­ Bisson, 31, holds a LLM degree from George Tubman. ogists will speak on their research spe­ cialties and then lead discussion. All Washington University, and has been at the Smith­ The collection, never before publicly lectures will be oriented to naturalIy­ sonian since 1962. He leaves a gap not only in the displayed, was presented to NPG last occurring biological phenomena, with general counsel's office, but in the Torchlighters, year by the Harmon Foundation of comments and speculation about pos­ of which he was Vice President. Tom Jorling, of New York, a non-profit organization sible control by man of growth and de­ the Interior Department, and Irene Black, Peace dedicated to improving human relations. velopment. The portraits were painied by Betsy Speakers for February and their Corps, have been appointed to the SI legal office. Graves Reyneau and Laura Wheeler subjects are: Waring. February 8-"Supramolecular Bi­ A period room dedicated to Benja­ ology of Development", Paul Weiss, TORCH STAFF: min Banneker, essayist, mathematician, Rockefeller University. George J. Berklacy, Editor; Mary M. Krug, Managing Editor astronomer and friend of Thomas Jeffer­ February 15-"Changing Concepts of James Cornell, SAO Correspondent, Marion McCrane, Zoo Correspondent, son, will also be shown. Banneker repro­ the Relations Between DNA Synthesis duced from memory L'Enfant's plans for and Differentiation", James D. Ebert, Sylvia DeBaun, John White, Sam Suratt, AI Robinson (Photos) laying out Washington, D.C., after Carnegie Institution of Washington. Frederic M. Philips, Editorial Advisor L'Enfant left the city, thus enabling February 29-"Reconstruction of Published monthly for Smithsonian' Institution personnel by the Smithsonian Office Andrew Ellicott to complete the plans Tissues from Dissociated Cells", Mal­ of Public Affairs. Submit copy to TORCH, Public Affairs Office, Room 131 SI for the Capital. colm Steinberg, Princeton University. Building. February, 1968 THE SMITHSONIAN TORCH Page 3 MHT Designer Entomologists Go to Africa Tours Vietnam Peter Copeland recently made the To Gather Insects for Hall transition from exhibits designer in the The insect hall being developed for Botanical Gardens. Smith is collecting sheltered confines of MHT to combat MNH has drawn three entOomologists living and herbarium specimens of artist on the front lines of Vietnam. overseas to collect specimens for it. Bromeliaceae and other tropical plants, He spent 30 days-from November 20 Karl Krombein is collecting in while Slud is making a reconnaissance to December 20-on the battlefield as Kenya and South Africa and con­ of prospective sites for ornithological a civilian volunteer in the Army's com­ ferring with colleagues in England un­ investigation in Amazonia under the bat art program. til March 1. Paul J. Spangler is also auspices of the National Research Copeland was given complete free­ gathering insects in Kenya, South Council of Brazil. dom to go wherever he chose, with the Africa, Rhodesia, Malawi, Tanzania Ar~y making all arrangements. _. "The and Uganda, and studying the collec­ Lunchbox Talks Arniy leans over backwards to be fair­ tions of museums in Italy, Germany, no 'strictures. You see whatever you and England. He will return April 24. want to see," he reports. In return for For February the trip he will execute an "undeter­ Peter Copeland in Vietnam Another entomolgist, J. F. Gates A variety of subjects, from the SST mined number" of paintings for the Clarke, is conducting field explora­ to the Spanish Revolution, is again in Army. tions in insects, particularly micro­ store for participants in the National He divided his time between sketching ART LECTURES lepidOoptera, in the Marquesas Islands Air and Space Museum's lunch box sem­ in the field and developing his draw­ and French Polynesia. He will be inar. Members of the SI staff are in­ ings back in Saigon. Although he away until April 15. Talks are held each Wednesday at vited to two special lectures by brought back a portfolio of sketches MHT Director Robert P. Multhau/ noon in A&I. All employees are welcome Dumbarton Oaks faculty planned and watercolors, the difficulty of work­ departs February 7 for Italy, Israel to bring their lunch and join in. for participants in this summer's ing under fire forced him to recOord most and YugOoslavia, where he will visit Speakers for the coming month are: tour to Greece and Turkey. of the scenes he wanted to remember science and history museums to February 14, Paul Garber, assist­ Ihor Sevcenko, professor of with camera rather than pencil. MHT's strengthen cooperative exchange pro­ ant director, NASM, "Musee d'l Air." Byzantine history and literature, Division of Military HistOory will receive grams with MHT and arrange future February 21, Sr. Luis Bolin, will give "An Introduction to copies of the photographs for its col­ programs. He will then take sabbatical former attache to Francisco Franco Byzantine Art History" on Feb­ lections. leave in Germany, researching the his­ and Information Officer in the Spanish ruary 15 at 11:30 in the east con­ Most of the Army's volunteer artists tory of chemistry in the 18th century. ference room of MHT. Embassy in Washington, "The Polit­ (in fact, all of them except Copeland) Miss Susan A. Boyd, assistant Dieter Wasshausen and Lyman B. ical Use of the Airplane in the Spanish are given civilian ranks equivalent to curator, will give a lecture-tour, Smith of Botany, and Paul Slud, Civil War." that of a field officer. Because of an ad­ "An Introduction of Byzantine Birds, are all in Brazil. Wasshausen February 28, Dr. S. J. Gerathe­ ministrative slip-up, however, Copeland Collections," February 29 at 11:30 is studying and collecting plants on the wohl, Office of Aviation Medicine, received no rank at all, "so I gOot a real in Dumbarton Oaks. Planelto in conjunction with floristic Federal Aviation Agency, "Aero­ GI's view of the war." studies directed under the New York medical Aspects of the SST."

:= ~;;==:;::;:;;:::::-:::: :;;:::;;;:::;::;: Smithsonian's Poplar Island Is for the Birds By Frank Megargee When courting, a male and female large area. We want to find out how far tumble into the water, toppling stands Poplar Island, Maryland-Until re- go through a number of instinctive they disperse from the nesting area, of tall pines with them. Unless some­ cently this deserted island in the Ches- steps. The male displays (rears up, whether they stay around the Ches- thing is done, the island will entirely puffs his chest, wags tail, spreads apeake in the winter or migrate farther disappear in time. apeake Bay off Talbot county was wings) and the female makes set re- "Th· ·11 b t d h· fl b mostly for the birds. away. IS WI e race c Ie y y "The Smithsonian," Dr. Watson said, The great blue heron nests here and sponses. banding the birds. "is not equipped to study erosion. We raises families. Wild ducks do their "If the courting doesn't go through Both the birds and men are con- hope to get some help on this from the the precise steps, the pairing doesn't fronted with a survival problem on Pop­ United States Corps of Engineers courting here and "pair up" before take place," Dr. Watson said. "This lar The I·sland I·S erodl·ng away falT· Iy and, perhaps, the State of Maryland." flying north in the early spring to breed. . But now scientific bird watchers have is nature's way of insuring that there rapidly in some places, particularly is no mixin of s ecies." on its ex sed western side. Hi h banks Reprinted from the Baltimore Sun.) arfived--s-peetal'i ~t ·h Smith~- --=--":":'-::="~'=:";;:;=~------:--:7""--=:':"":=-~==~:"===-':=:=""==""::";==--~ sonian who use the island as a natural Though the displays are essentially outdoor laboratory. the same of all ducks, each species has different markings and variations in be- The birds keep their privacy, though. havior. It is these variations the Smith- "We're not going to disturb them nor son ian experts want to oberve. even build a permanent structure lest The osprey studies are for a different we upset the balance," said Dr. George E. Watson, 36, chairman of the De- purpose. As a species the osprey, which lives on fish it catches by diving into partment of Vertebrate Zoology in the the water, is having trouble maintain- Museum of Natural History. ing itself in some parts of the world. The Smithsonian, which recently an- It has been almost eliminated in south- nounced that the island is close9 to the ern New England, on Long Island and public, including hunters, acquired it in Great Britain. more than a year ago from Dr. William On the other hand, Dr. Watson said, L. Elkins, of Philadelphia, who still the osprey is doing reasonably well in owns two nearby isles, Jefferson and the Chesapeake Bay area. Coaches. "People are studying the problem in Crescent-shaped Poplar Island, Connecticut, and we are working thickly grown with pines, covers about here, hoping to come up with some 30 acres. Nobody is quite sure of the answers." exact acreage because it is melting . Here, the scientists are looking away in great chunks due to a spec- tacular case of shOore erosion. About closely into the breeding habits of the the only signs of humans, Dr. Watson osprey, trying to determine such things as how many chicks on the average are said, are some crumbling building brought off the nest successfully, what foundations left by former inhabitants. contributes to osprey mortality and Armed with binoculars and cameras, the Smithsonian researchers, who use ~~;~her the use of artificial nests might the island chiefly from early spring through the summer, want to observe The great blue heron poses another problem. "There is a colony of them on three types of birds in particular-the the island with 300 or more nests," Dr. wild ducks, the great blue heron (a huge, long-billed bird with stilt-like Watson said. "They come from a fairly GREAT BLUE HERON-These large birds nest on deserted Popular Island. legs) and the osprey or fish hawk. In February and March, Dr. Wat­ son said, many species of ducks use the island during their courting time. "They choose mates and form pairs. The drake follows the hen to the north where they breed. The female goes to the place where she was hatched and reared." If a male duck, bom, for example, in the Midwest, courts and pairs here with a female born in eastern Can­ ada, he will fly with her to Canada to raise his family. "Geese, on the other hand, don't act this way," Dr. Watson said. "They form into pairs at the nOorthern breeding grounds." "We want to observe the courting ducks," he continued, "and add to our fund of knowledge about their dis­ plays." OUTDOOR LABORATORY-The island off the Talbot county coast is used for bird studies by SI. Page 4 THE SMITHSONIAN TORCH February, 1968 Reorganization Modernizes 51's Publishing Tradition As a publishing institution, the Smith­ vidual manuscripts. The first of the 12- :.ionian has one of the oldest active im­ volume series will appear early this year. prints, and one of the newest publish­ The traditional means of publishing ing establishments, in the United States. Smithsonian research papers and mono­ Its first scholarly publication, a grand graphs, begun in 1848, is in series form. study of Midwestern Indian mounds, was There are currently eight active series, issued in 1848, and has been followed by with about 100 publications issued under well over 12,000 others in successive them each year. They include U.S. Na­ , years. But as an organization, the Smith­ tional Museum Bulletins, Proceedings ,sonian Institution Press dates only to of the U.S. National Museum, Contri­ May 1966, when it succeeded the Edi­ butions from the Museum of History torial and Publication Division. and Technology, Contributions to An­ "The Institution itself was established thropology, Contributions from the U.S. by Joseph Henry as a publishing house National Herbarium, Smithsonian Con­ as well as a center for advanced studies," tributions to Astrophysics, Smithsonian says Anders Richter, first director of the Annals of Flight, and the privately­ Press. "Henry saw in the well-known funded Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col­ credo of the founder the essential unity lections. A reorganization of the series, With the foreground guarded by the owl used as its symbol, the staff of the SI Press of research with publication. In his wis­ to provide greater subject coherence, examines one of its latest publications. From left are Roger Pineau, Stephen Kraft, dom he translated the word diffusion to will probably come within the next year, Anders Richter, Eileen McCarthy and Virginia Barber. publication, thereby bestowing upon the Richter says. Smithsonian an historic mandate for this It is up to the bureau or museum de­ and 25 per year for the next several consequential extension of research." partment most closely related to the sub­ years. SITES Richter was assistant director at the ject matter to evaluate the validity and Examples of heavily illustrated works University of Press before com­ importance of content of manuscripts (Continued from Page 1) in editorial preparation or production asked to have their collection of master ing to the Smithsonian. Since his arrival for the series. The Press determines are Design and Color in Islamic Archi­ he has reorganized the Press into func­ whether the work is in fit shape for drawings transferred in five shipments, tecture by Sonia Scherr-Thoss, and The which of course increases the cost of tional departments such as are common publication, and whether "its literary Birds of Panama by Alexander Wetmore. to publishing houses. New managing edi­ style is such as to require no more than transport. They were persuaded to settle The Press expects to score a major tor Roger Pineau, whose background in the usual ministrations of a copy edi­ for three flights. publishing event with the publication of Japanese linguistics includes several years tor. We are not," says Richter, "no more SITES keeps close track of all such the diary which Commodore Matthew C. -of editorial assistance to the Naval his­ than any other reputable publishing costs. As a private, self-supporting, Perry dictated during his voyage to torian Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Mori­ house, in the business of rewriting or ex­ non-profit arm of the Institution, it re­ Japan. The manuscript was discovered son, directs a staff of ten editors. Stephen tensively reorganizing manuscripts." ceives no appropriation and must earn only recently and is currently being Kraft, newly hired managing designer, An eight-member Editorial Policy precisely enough from show rental fees edited for publication by Pineau. heads a production section of three de­ Committee, appointed by Secretary Rip­ to balance expenses. signers and assistants. Kraft previously ley and chaired by Richter, meets about Exclusive distribution of SI Press The expenses of mounting, trans­ ran his own typography and design stu­ once a month. In addition, MNH and books in the United States and Canada portation, printing catalogs, and sal­ dio, and teaches at American University. MHT each have their own committees is being handled through Random aries of SITES staff members are di­ And to publicize their efforts, Virginia F. on publications, with representatives House, Inc., an arrangement which be­ vided by the anticipated number of rent­ Barber was hired as promotion manager. from all their departments. gan last month. The Press will continue als to arrive at fees paid by the ex­ The Press does not serve simply as an The Institution's book publishing ac­ selling directly to the Smithsonian Mu­ hibitors that range from $35 for a show arm to publish papers written by the SI tivities are supported by private funds seum Shops, SI staff, and the Smith­ on plants of the stonecrop family to staff. Last year, about 30 percent of and Richter is actively soliciting book­ sonian Associates. For this purpose, and $11,000 for the art treasures of Tur­ Smithsonian publications were written by length manuscripts for consideration. to distribute its numerous serial publi­ key. -outside authors, Richter points out. It The works which originate in the mu­ cations, it operates a distribution section With the Tunisian exhibition, one of also, on occasion, licenses publication seums are often descriptive in nature, under the direction of Eileen McCarthy. the challenges was putting together a rights to commercial houses. The Smith­ heavily illustrated, and therefore expen­ In fiscal 1967 alone the Press dis­ catalog. The text came from Germany, sonian Library, for instance, is being pub­ sive to produce. For this reason, the tributed 306,494 publications-a testi­ in German. Plates came from Holland lished by American Heritage, with SI number of privately funded books pro­ mony to the long tradition of publishing and pictures from Tunisia. When ar­ consultants advising on the content of duced for sale each year under the SI at the Smithsonian, and a challenge to rangements were finally completed, and the series and on the qualities of indi- imprint is likely to remain between 15 the new organization. the show was ready to open, war broke out in the Middle East. However, the opening went forward as planned. i!~f The Smithsonian has the largest natural history collections in the HEW F- ~~~ In their dealings with other coun­ m world, some 50 million-plus specimens. - Inancing m tries, SITES enjoys the assistance of .~!!!! And there are no signs of a let-up, according to Dr. Donald F. ij the Smithsonian Office of International ~~ Squires, who notes that one million specimens are being added to Pilot Computer t~ Activities and the State Department. ~~ the Museum of Natural Hist?ry collections annually. t~ "We mustn't underestimate the value of the help we get from desk officers m The problem, he says, IS ~ot one o~ storage so much as it is P - t - MN H D !:ijll knowledge of what the collectIOns contam and means of controlling rOlec In ~~, at the State Department. We have to • them. I make the snowballs, but they throw ~ Dr. Squires is deputy director of MNH and a staunch advocate of ::::~ them. They know who is politically mo­ m information retrieval. % tivated and who is culturally involved. ~~ SO strong ar~ his feelings on the subject that the Department of I We try to keep everything we do on a .:~ Health, EducatIon and Welfare is funding a Squires-directed project M cultural plane." I.,*~ to deve!op. an . information storage and retrieval system for the I~~ About 60 percent of SITES' shows ~ museum s bI~logIc~1 an~ ~e?logical data. *:. are initiated by outside groups. Other lli, Three Smlths~Olan dIVISions and 20 employees are participating in i1,. ideas come from catalog exchanges .Ii the three-year ~Ilot prog~am, which is now in its sixth month. ~ with museums, galleries and private I Data processmg machmes are set up in the divisions of Birds, ·1" institutions. There are other organiza­ ~~ Petro!ogy, and Crustacea. At the rate of 100 words per minute the . tions circulating exhibits around the Ii machmes type and duplicate visual record cards and simultaneously,'. country, but SITES, Mrs. Van Arsdale I produce program tapes which can be read by a computer. i believes, is the largest. m The tapes are then sent to the . S~ building, ~here. a Honeywell ~ Some 700 different organizations, • 1200. computer stores the data, gIvmg the SmtihsoOlan a record- m from the largest museums to -the small­ est community centers, are in SITES' .1:<· keepmg system capable of handling all the documentation of the ~<~ ;,; , biol~gical and geological specimens and citations applying to these I~.· file of approved renters. For protec­ specimens. tion of the displays, the facilities of I'.~ . The implications are obvious: a better understanding of the collec- I~ each potential exhibitor must be m tIOns and a greater .accessibility will be achieved. iJ checked out. And, as Dr. SqUires points out, the new technique will reduce MNH "I think there are many people who I I don't realize how much these shows , :::::~~' filing time to 20 percent, allowing them more time for' mean to some localities," Mrs. Van That prospect, in itself, makes the project more than worthwhile. Arsdale says. "One town in Georgia I gave the entire front page of its news­ paper to one of our smallest exhibits. Some of the places we send displays are so remote that even the Railway Express Agency goes only part of the way : there, and a truck has to come out and :o~ meet them." .~ A staff of eleven keeps the show on I;~~~ the road. They include Mrs. Van Arsdale's deputy, Frances Smyth, and registrar Eileen Rose, who has what Mrs. Van Arsdale calls "a job of I constant crises." Not only does she keep The Honeywell 1200 computer, which stores the I track of all 108 exhibits as they travel data on MNH collections, stands waiting instruc- m about, but she must also examine and tions. At left, Dorothea Curcio, Division of Birds, I·· note in detail the condition of every operates one of the data processing machines item on its arrival at the Smithsonian, that produce tapes the computer can read. . and any changes that take place from

..~ station to station .

-tl u. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1968 305- 878/6