The publication of the first two volume of a catalogue that will eventually encompass the entire collection of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum affords a welcome opportunity to summarize, in broad outline, this institutions now almost forty-year history. For it is obvious that the accumulation of paintings and other works o art is the result of a systematic effort that has involved, through the past decades, Presidents, Boards of Trusstees, Directors and Staff. The Collection now in our custody, and subject to further development, may therefore be regarded as the Guggenheim's most tangible monuments as well as its greatest asset.