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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION   774
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[[underlined]]26[[/underlined]] Death of Captain John Donnell Smith.
[[underlined]]27[[/underlined]] Calendar Modification proposal.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART COMMISSION

The Eighth Annual Meeting of the National Gallery of Art Commission was held in the Regents' Room of the Smithsonian Institution at 10:30 o'clock December 11, 1928. Present: Dr. Charles Abbot, James E. Fraser, J. H. Gest, John E. Lodge, Charles Moore, James Parmelee, E. C. Tarbell, and W. H. Holmes, Secretary of the Commission. In the absence of the Chairman, Mr. Gari Melchers, Mr. Moore was elected Acting Chairman.

The minutes of the previous annual meeting, December 7, 1927, were read and approved, and this was followed by the reading and approval of the Secretary's report on the activities of the Gallery for the calendar year 1928. The more important features of this report briefly sketched are as follows:

During the year comparatively little progress was made in the enrichment of the collections and no advance was made toward the realization of the much needed Gallery building. The erection of a great group of nationally important structures requiring vast expenditure of public funds has interfered with any present consideration by Congress of the demands of art. It is fully apparent that until a Gallery building is erected, or until other Gallery facilities of a character to appeal to possible donors of art works are provided, the art development of the Smithsonian Institution is practically at a standstill. The Gallery Staff has not, however, been inactive during the year as the present report will show.

With the opening of the calendar year 1928, a period of exceptional activity was initiated. Five important art exhibits followed one another in quick succession. The space required for their installation
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