REPORT OF THE FIELD EXPLORATION COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR 1936 More and more as time passes the importance of the work performed by the Field Exploration Committee becomes apparent. From far and near come quite regularly to our Society requests for information relative to military or other historical material recently discovered by individuals or acquired by one or other of the many museums springing up throughout the land. The recently published statement that for each day of the year an additional repository for educational material comes into being is probably not an exaggeration, and our achievements in retrieving from the soil or from obscure private possession objects of prime historical importance has served to place the Society in a position to render satisfactory data to all applicants engaged in earnest physical research work. To our actual acquisition of objects descriptive matter has been added through copiously illustrated monographs appearing in the Society's Quarterly Bulletin, and how important these portrayals are may be realized by even a not over-critical inspection of existing specimens of historical graphic art. The faults lie most often, perhaps, in the ignorance of details on the part of the artist accentuated by carelessness of the engravers in reproduction, but particularly have pretentious paintings been debased by retouchers lacking in knowledge of personal accoutrements, horse trappings, arms and military equipage of one sort or another, and a proper appreciation of such details in purely historical art. Pictures which heretofore have ranked as "good" and are in all respects of grouping, action and perspective commendable, lack correctness of details that would fit them as models for the more recent sincere artist, or even for the requirement of the screen. In the light of recent research work it would not be difficult to point out glaring defects in some Eighteenth Century paintings of repute. To the conscientious productions of Mr. Lefferts in his military figures, founded on a lifetime of study of contemporary records, the Field Exploration Committee have added first hand material from old time camps, battlefields and military strong- 40