Viewing page 156 of 488

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[preprinted]]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 603
[[/preprinted]]

[[preprinted left margin]]
MADE BY BAKER-VAWTER CO. 
[[preprinted left margin]]

The first purpose of the Institution, the [[underlined]] increase of knowledge by research [[/underlined]], conspicuous compared to other features of the Institution's activities during the administration of Secretary Henry, and that of Secretary Baird, has become less so in the more recent period. This relative decrease in research work came from the absorption of the energies of the staff in administrative work demanded by the Museums, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Zoological Park, and now the National Gallery of Art.  At the present time the research work of the Institution proper consists almost entirely of that carried on by Dr. C. G. Abbot, largely by private funds donated for the purpose, and the research work of the Secretary, which is in great measure sustained at his personal expense.
 
[underlined]] Financial responsibility. [[/underlined]] The growth of the responsibilities placed upon the staff is shown by the estimated value of all real property and permanent improvements belonging to the Institution and its branches. This includes:

Value of buildings - $ 5,813,900
" " [[ditto for Value of]] grounds - 5,543,311
" " [[ditto for Value of]] exhibits - 106,165,000
" " [[ditto for Value of]] furniture and fixtures - [[underlined]] 1,000,000 [[/underlined]]
Total  -  $118,522,211

The value of the property is taken from data furnished the Budget Bureau in 1921; the value of the grounds from the Public Buildings Commission Report of 1917. The value given for the buildings is that of cost; they could not be reproduced today for less than $8,000,000 to $10,000,000. 
[[initialed]] CDW [[/initialed]]