Viewing page 106 of 146

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

104

Getting into this frame of mind is a contagious virus in Washington.  In our recent attempts at development, we have tried to educate people to understanding that we are the sort of quasi-government or semi-government organization that we know we are.  To acquire private money is very difficult, and it isn't getting any easier, but therein lies our salvation.  I feel sure that the Smithsonian must keep stressing its dual nature; we are both public and private, and our private side is where the innovation, the style, and the tidiness rest.  Rampant untidiness, administratively, appears in government bureaucracies and all very large organizations.  As our budget creeps up, this may pose one of our most serious potential problems.  We must control the pyramiding of staff and the accompanying remoteness.  We must prevent difficulties in communication, and the little shattering of lines of communication.  These are little arteriosclerosis-like phenomena within the veins that extend out from you to me, and from each of us to the other.  Clear channels keep us vital and alive, and keep us trying to marshal our traditions and hopes, which the Smithsonian, I think, engenders in all of us.

So I caution all of you participating in this conference.  Do not get into a pattern.  Do not get into a role of merely accepting increasing Federal budgets.  Do not become complacent to the point where you believe that solutions to problems lie with simply hiring two more people, and that somehow they will think for you.  If these things happen we will surely lose some of our uniqueness, our importance, and our ability to lead the way for our colleagues in the various professions that we represent across the country.  The museums across the country continue to look to us for leadership and guidance, and we must remain very selective and flexible.  We must continue to recognize that today's gimmick might be tomorrow's failure.  Today's gimmick, whether it be some new audio-visual scheme of making people understand and be educated as they come through our doors, or some other device, might turn out to be tomorrow's disaster.

We have got to be aware of our internal priorities.  In particular, we must be thinking about exhibitions, and our ability to explore methods of educating people through open experiences.