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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1481

I wish at this time to express my gratitude to the other members of the Executive Committee for their willingness to work with me on the problems of the Smithsonian Institution and especially for their help in considering the many detailed actions that must be taken in connection with the investments of the Institution. 

I have also been in touch with the Secretary in regard to the management of the investment portfolio of the Institution. During active periods of the year several letters each week are often required to transact this work. This official correspondence is supplemented by personal conferences with the Secretary in regard to the business of the Institution.

There has been one formal meeting of the Executive Committee during the year. At the invitation of the Chancellor this meeting was held in the Chambers of the Chief Justice, on December 2, 1959.

At this meeting, after a review of the financial affairs of the Institution in recent years, the nonpublic funds budget for the fiscal year 1961 was considered in detail. This was done in compliance with the vote of the Board of Regents taken at its annual meeting on January 17, 1958 that "an annual statement of nonpublic, unrestricted funds other than Government funds, be submitted to the Executive Committee for approval and report to the Board of Regents." After the review of the 1961 nonpublic funds budget, it was:

VOTED that pursuant to the vote of the Board of Regents January 17, 1958 the Executive Committee considered the nonpublic funds budget of the Smithsonian Institution for the fiscal year 1961 and approves this budget and directs that it be reported to the Board of Regents at the next annual meeting.
 
This budget will be considered at a later point in this meeting. It may be noted here that in the budget for 1961 as presented, the actual audited figures for 1959 are given as are also the figures for the budget of that year (1959) and likewise the budget for the current year (1960). Thus, the audited figures for the year ending last June may be compared on the same page with the approved budget for that year and the approved budget for the present year, as well as with the figures for the 1961 budget itself. 

At this meeting the Secretary gave an informal report on buildings, including a discussion of the construction of the Museum of History and Technology, budget decisions concerning additions to the Natural History Building, planning of the National Air Museum and consideration of the plans for the old Patent Office Building. In connection with the latter building it was reported that the Chancellor had appointed a special committee to consider the organization of the National Portrait Gallery in this building. The membership of this committee consists of the following: Dr. John Nicholas Brown, Chairman; The Honorable Frank T. Bow; Senator J. William Fulbright; and Dr. Caryl P. Haskins. 

The Committee then considered two questions related to the National Zoological Park. The first of these was the problem of the method of making appropriations for this Smithsonian bureau. The appropriation history of the National Zoological Park was