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"The research center shall include archival material necessary for iconographical, biographical, and historical study," and that photographs clearly were vital for this work.  The Director responded that the Regents nevertheless could not abrogate a Congressional statute which was intended to prohibit the NPG from collecting photographs with public money in competition with other government agencies such as the Library of Congress.  He added, however, that splendid daguerreotypes of John Quincy Adams and Edgar Allan Poe had been acquired with private funds.

[See the conclusion of this report for a further discussion of this matter.]

5. Renovation of the third floor of the Gallery at long last has begun and hopefully will be finished by early Fall.

[As a result of delays in this construction, the first use of this area as a public exhibition space has had to be postponed until next Spring.]

6. The acquisition of the portrait of the first Speaker of the House of Representatives, Frederick Muhlenberg, by Joseph Wright, which the Gallery had been trying to purchase since 1968, finally has been consummated.  A major element in persuading the owner to part with the portrait was the Gallery's promise to provide a copy of the portrait in addition to the purchase price.  A similar arrangement was made with the owners of the portrait of Richard Henry Lee by Charles Willson Peale, which was given to the Gallery.  A discussion ensued as to whether such copies ought to be slightly reduced in size from the original as is customary or might be the same size.  Dr. Richardson pointed out that in view of the fact that owners frequently wish to hang a copy exactly where the original was in their homes, we might well consider departing from the customary rule.  The Chairman moved that in the case of copies made for private use there should be a differentiation in size, but where such copies were part of a purchase or