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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION       1309

The Chairman presented the government salary for examination by the Board. After further discussion and examination, a motion was made by Mr. Fleming, seconded by Mr. Cannon, that the salary of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution be fixed at $17,500, effective January 1, 1950. The motion was agreed to unanimously.

Following the close of the executive session, Senator Anderson and Representative Cannon were excused at 12:15 p.m.

SMITHSONIAN SCIENTIFIC SERIES

The Secretary made the following statement:

This relates to a series of twelve volumes prepared by scholars of the Institution, and sold commercially under contract by a firm with the present name of The Series Publishers, Inc. The Institution receives a royalty of 10% on the gross sales, the income amounting recently to more than $20,000 per annum.

Payments of royalty are made at six month intervals. The distributors recently have been slow in royalty payments to a point where some adjustment was required. The Secretary, under instruction from the Executive Committee, took this matter up with the firm to the end that agreement was reached for payments at the rate of $3,000 per month with interest at 3% until the total due of $24,523.73 had been received. These payments began September 15, 1949.

GELLATLY ART COLLECTION

Developments concerning the Gellatly Collection since the previous meeting of the Board were reported as follows by the Secretary.

At the Annual Meeting last year, it was reported that the action of Mrs. Charlayne Whiteley Gellatly against the Secretary, in an attempt to recover the Gellatly Collection from the Secretary in his status as a private individual though acting as custodian under the Smithsonian Institution, had been carried to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, following decision in favor of the Secretary in the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia.

A.W.