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[[name]] | [[date]]

Robert Morgan Lillington, North Carolina | January 1992
Barbara Novak New York, New York | January 1993
Frank Stanton New York, New York | January 1990
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[[underlined]] PROPOSAL TO NAME EXHIBITION GALLERY FOR FRANK A. TAYLOR [[/underlined]]

Mr. Adams introduced the proposal below to name the special exhibition gallery in the National Museum of American History in honor of Frank A. Taylor. As the Regents by policy have reserved to themselves the authority for the naming of Smithsonian facilities, the following motion was suggested and approved:

VOTED that the Board of Regents, with deep affection and respect and in recognition of his seminal contributions towards the founding of the National Museum of American History, proudly names the Museum's first-floor special exhibition facility the Frank A. Taylor Gallery.

* * * * *

Frank A. Taylor is the single person most responsible for the creation of the Museum of American History. A valued member of the Smithsonian staff for some 60 years, he began conceiving the form of that museum in the 1930s, and it was his persistent advocacy in the 1940s and 1950s which led the Smithsonian to promote and the Congress to enact the necessary legislation. Known for many years as the Director of the U.S. National Museum, he worked with the architects to design the building, made decisions about what would be included, and for the first year after it opened served as its director while continuing to hold the title of Director of the U.S. National Museum.

It is difficult to say too many good things about Frank Taylor. He is still held in deep affection by all who have known him at the Institution and throughout the museum community. As the Museum approaches its 25th anniversary in 1989, it seems particularly fitting that the special exhibition gallery in the Museum (just inside its Constitution Avenue entrance) be named the Frank A. Taylor Gallery because of his deep and abiding interest in innovative exhibitions of the type which should continue to be presented in this critical and highly visible element of the Museum.