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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION         1387

in the work of the Smithsonian Institution.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

The Secretary stated that minutes of the last Annual Meeting held January 16, 1953 had been circulated among the members of the Board.

On motion the minutes were approved, as circulated.

RESOLUTIONS ON DEATHS OF REGENTS FREDERICK MOORE VINSON AND ROBERT ALPHONSO TAFT

The following resolutions were presented, and the indicated actions were taken unanimously:

RESOLVED: That the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution has received with deep sorrow the announcement of the death on September 8, 1953, of the Chancellor of the Institution, Frederick Moore Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States.

RESOLVED: That the Board of Regents in the death of this distinguished jurist and public servant, who served as the presiding officer of the Board for six and one-half years, has suffered an irreparable loss; nor can any words of theirs adequately express the universal admiration and regard in which this truly great American and genuine friend of the Smithsonian was held--a man whose capacity for friendship and understanding seemed limitless.

RESOLVED: That these resolutions be entered in the minutes of the Board and that the Secretary be directed to transmit a copy to Mrs. Vinson, with an expression of the sense of deep personal loss which the Regents feel at the death of their Chancellor.

RESOLVED: That the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution has received with deep sorrow the announcement of the death on July 31, 1953, of the Honorable Robert Alphonso Taft, Regent of the Institution since March 9, 1953.

RESOLVED: That in Senator Taft's death the country has lost one of its most outstanding citizens and political leaders, a man distinguished for his accomplishments in the law, and for his eminent record both in the Legislature of the State of Ohio and in the Senate of the United States; and that the Smithsonian Institution has lost what promised to be many years of wise counsel on this Board upon which he had served less than six months.

RESOLVED: That these resolutions be entered in the minutes of the Board and that a copy be sent to Mrs. Taft with an expression of the personal sense of loss felt by the Regents at the death of Senator Taft.

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