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We also have to look for private support for collections and collections management, for chairs for distinguished curators, for ways of adding to our ability to run acceptable museums.  In this connection, I think that conservation is an activity that we are rightly and wisely emphasizing in our discussions with the Congress and in our planning.  We should strive to develop a large conservation and restoration capability somewhere in the vicinity of Washington to serve ourselves and the country's museums.

With regard to research and our laboratories, we are facing a changing situation.  With the present public concern about usage of energy and the disenchantment for basic science, we are going to have to rethink our relationship to the world of nature, and rethink how best to put our funds and support toward the traditional endeavors of which the Smithsonian has been so proud.  We must use our traditions as a blueprint for the future.  Political thoughts and impressions, and public opinion will affect the magnitude of support that we will be able to muster for science.

The Zoological Park is facing a new dimension of growth partially reflected by the recent acquisition of the Front Royal, Virginia, property for experimental breeding purposes.  In the future, new laws may prevent zoos from operating in the old ways.  In addition, there simply will not be a ready supply of wild things to put in cages and have people look at any more.  We will have to make significant choices in what we wish to do in administering the educational and other values of the zoo.

There are areas in our studies of cultures and ethnic diversities which show great promise for the future.  But, again, we must be very careful not to analyze this promise in terms of the fashion of the times.  We must not let ourselves be led astray by the headlines or what the newspapers tell us we ought to be doing.  We must think through the problems of a Museum of Man.  We must define how best to relate it to the existing activities of man which are already here at the Smithsonian and then speculate about what such a museum is going to be like.  This is a very problematical and fascinating priority for the future.