These records document the administration of the Smithsonian Institution during the tenure of Charles D. Walcott, its fourth Secretary, who served from 1907-1927. Of special interest is the Institution's entry into the field of the fine arts. While the National Gallery of Art (now the National Museum of American Art) and the Freer Gallery of Art had their beginnings a few years before 1907, it is in these records that their development can be traced most completely. The Smithsonian continued to pursue a wide variety of other interests as well. Thus, the records deal with the following topics, among others: aviation; the American School of Archeology in China; the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C.; the Cinchona Botanical Station, Jamaica; many international Congresses; numerous national and international expositions, especially the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, 1912-1916, and the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, 1914-1915; the George Washington Memorial Association; the Harriman-Alaska Series; the Kahn Foundation for Foreign Travel of American Teachers; the Koren Expedition to Siberia; the Langley-Wright aerodrome controversy; the Montezuma solar observatory at Calama, Chile; solar observations at Mount Harque Hala, Arizona, and Mount Wilson, California; the Naples Zoological Station; the National Academy of Sciences; the National Research Council; publication of Mary Vaux Walcott's North American Wildflowers; the Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone; the Alfred Duane Pell Collection; the Research Corporation; the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition; seismological studies; the Charles D. and Mary Vaux Walcott Research Fund; the Smithsonian Scientific Series; grants from the Hodgkins Fund; the Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory; the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; and the Bureau of Biological Survey. The records include correspondence, minutes, announcements, publications, fiscal records, photographs, manuscripts, and news clippings.