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○ Other searches -- A search for a new director of the National Museum of American Art will commence this spring. Charles Eldredge has announced his resignation in August 1988; he has accepted an endowed chair at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, from where he came. Initiation of a search for a director of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center awaits a discussion between Dr. Hoffmann and the Secretary. A search for the deputy directorship of STRI has attracted a long list of candidates, including women and Hispanics; the list has been narrowed to three candidates, all white males, who have extensive experience in research in the tropics and who will visit STRI for interviews in April. A recommendation for selection is currently estimated by early May.

[[underlined]] MAJOR DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES [[/underlined]]

Assistant Secretary for Public Service Ralph Rinzler has joined forces with the Office of Development to continue the search for funding for the "Buried Mirror" five-program television series. The Embassy of Spain has suggested several Spanish corporations as potential sources, and Rinzler and Alicia Gonzales, Smithsonian Coordinator for Quincentenary Activities, have met with U.S. subsidiaries of four of them to lay groundwork for a visit to Spain mid-April. In Spain, they will continue cultivation of Spanish firms as well as reach closure on terms for the $1.5 million pledge from the Spanish Quincentenary Commission. Working against a January 1989 target date for assessing the feasibility of the series, the Development Office is attempting to identify new U.S. prospects.

Digital Equipment Corporation has pledged $300,000 to the "Information Revolution" exhibition at the Museum of American History, bringing total pledges to $3 million. American History Museum staff members will travel to Japan in May with the Secretary to cultivate interest and potential funding sources there.

The National Portrait Gallery has all but secured funding for two important exhibitions in 1989. "To Color America: The Art and Portraiture of Winold Reiss" is supported by both grants and loans from the collections of National Associates Board member Philip Anschutz and Burlington Northern. Washington Law firms Morgan, Lewis and Bockius and Vinson and Elkins have pledged support for "Distinguished American Jurists," an event celebrating the bicentennial of the Constitution. Morgan, Lewis and Bockius will assist the Development Office in securing similar grants from two more area law firms to complete the budget.

Funding the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service exhibition "The Voices of Hellenism: The Collection of Anthony Benaki" will come from the American Friends of the Benaki Museum, New York, and from Atlantic Bank of New York.