THE following collections have been purchased since the last JOURNAL went to press.
A collection of ethnology from Africa and the South Pacific.
An Australian collection.
A New Zealand collection consisting of very rare and old pieces.
Miss Gerda Sebbelov, Assistant Curator of the Section of General Ethnology, has accepted the position of Executive Secretary of the Camp Fire Girls, to which she was appointed in March.
Seven delegates from the Deutsches Museum for Technology in Munich, headed by Dr. Oskar von Miller, visited the Museum on April 12th and spent some hours studying the architecture and the exhibits.
The Classical Association of the Atlantic States held its sessions in the Museum on May 3d and 4th.
The National League of Handicraft Societies held its annual conference at the Museum on May 7th and 8th.
The members attending the Inter-national Navigation Congress visited the Museum on May 27th.
At the meeting of the Building Committee held on May 4th, the architects submitted their plans for the rotunda to be erected at the south of the present building. The lower portion of this rotunda will provide an auditorium seating 750 persons, while the upper or main floor will be an exhibition hall lighted by means of windows placed high above the floor and close to the roof. The lecture room can be used in connection with the Museum or independently by means of a separate entrance from Thirty-fourth Street. It was announced at the same meeting that a sum consider-ably in excess of the amount needed for the rotunda and for its furnishings had been subscribed and the architects were instructed to prepare plans for a further addition. It is expected that the specifications will be complete before the 1st of August.
At the meeting of the Board, held on May 3d, it was decided to send an expedition for three years to the Amazon Valley for the purpose of making ethnological collections and studying various Indian tribes of this region. At the same meeting Mr. Algot Lange was appointed leader of this expedition. Mr. Lange will spend the summer making his preparations and will be prepared to start on this extended exploration in the autumn.
The President of the Museum went to London on May 8th in order to be present at the Eighteenth International Congress of Americanists. He is to spend the sum-mer months travelling on the Continent.
The Director has been appointed dele-gate to represent the Museum at the Eighteenth International Congress of Americanists held in London from May 27th to June 4th and also at the International Conference of Anthropologists to meet under the auspices of the Royal Anthropological Institute on June 5th to consider a proposal for organizing an International Congress of Anthropologists. Dr. Gordon was also appointed delegate from the United States Government to the International Congress of Americanists.
At the May meeting of the Board of Managers the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal for 1911 was awarded to Marc Aurel Stein for his explorations in Central Asia and his publications thereon.