Traditionally, introductory talks usually have either the function of justifying the meeting at which they are given, or of attempting to present some sort of overview of the whole subject, or sometimes both or neither. A meeting such as this one is generally in order when the field in question has for any reason been very active since the last meeting about it; and by that standard I should say that this symposium is indeed appropriate inasmuch as the field of spectral classification has surely been very active during the seven years since the last symposium on spectral classification and multicolor photometry. In the area of objective prism spectral classification, the last several years have not seen very much really new in the way of observing techniques or methods of analysis that I know of, at least in comparison with some other fields; but they have certainly seen a great deal of astronomy done.