ing of ethnographic specimens and the assistant curator's 

 struggles to live up to the expectations of his superior. 



Simms apparently experienced some difficulties 

 and frustrations during his fieldwork in Arizona. 

 Although expressing determination, he ruefully noted 

 in his letters to Dorsey that his collecting was inhibited 

 by the fact that many families were away from their set- 

 tlements hunting and that prices were being driven up by 

 commercial curio buyers. Writing from Phoenix on Jan- 

 uary 26, 1901, he noted that "a peculiar feature of my 

 house to house canvas [sic] [among White River 

 Apaches] developed the fact that of my two days [work?] 

 so far I came across but two men in different families and 

 a few things I wanted I could not get because the hus- 

 band, son or brother was not in and 'he might not like 

 if I sell.'" 



In answering this letter, Dorsey, writing on Janu- 

 ary 31 to Simms who was by then in San Francisco, ex- 

 pressed dissappointment that his colleague did not get 

 to some of the Indian villages in Arizona where he had 

 planned to visit. 

 You must remember that in this work there are difficul- 

 ties and vexations; and delays and disappointments 



Remember that you are after stuff and to get that clean it 

 up and do your whole duty to yourself and to the 

 Museum. You are absolutely compelled to get to out of 

 the way places; to suffer inconveniences and on occa- 

 sion suffer hardship. When you get into an indian's 

 house and you do not find the old man at home and 

 there is something you want, you can do one of three 

 things; go hunt up the old man and keep hunting until 

 you find him; give the old woman such price for it as she 

 may ask for it running the risk that the old man will be 

 offended or steal it. I have tried all three and have no 

 choice to recommend. 



Do not leave anything behind that is to follow or 

 rest content with the statement of some missionary or 

 agent that they will get it for you . . . but follow it up, get 

 it and bring it back with you by freight. 



Please remember this also that I shall expect you on 

 your arrival here to be able to distinguish without the 

 slightest doubt the difference between a Pima and Ute 

 and Walapai and Maricopa and Apache basket and that 

 is in their unfinished condition and want you to buy a 

 [P]apago basket from the Papago Indian and to know 

 that she is actually a [Papago] Indian and she is making 

 the old time Papago basket, etc. I would rather have one 

 good unfinished or brand new basket from any one of the 

 tribes down there that is absolutely identified than any 

 quantity of such baskets as you shipped in by express 

 which were not thoroughly well identified and as you 

 must already know we have a good big bunch of uniden- 

 tified basketry from the Southwest. All this of course is 

 not in the nature of a reproof or anything of the sort but 

 to stimulate you even to a greater effort and more abun- 

 dant success. You can easily imagine that I am for very 



George A. Dorsey, who served as curator of Anthropology during the years 

 that Simms was a member of that department. 108072 



many reasons deeply concerned in the final results of 

 this, your first collecting trip of any series [sic] magni- 

 tude. Overcome difficulties and make yourself thor- 

 oughly master of the situation on this occasion and the 

 west if [sic] yours from this time on for a good many 

 years. 



On his return trip, Simms passed once more 

 through Arizona and on February 2 was the recipient of 

 more collecting advice from Dorsey. He was advised to 

 "clean up" reservations and told that "when you cannot 

 get stuff, get information." A "clean sweep" was impor- 

 tant on this trip because Dorsey did not believe that the 

 region was worth a second trip when there were so many 

 areas poorly represented in the Museum's collections. 



Two weeks later on February 15, Dorsey gave Simms 

 the benefit of more of his views concerning the role of 

 the field collector. 



The fact that it costs you thirty days to make a trip to 

 find six Indians among which you cannot possibly spend 

 more than $10.00 does not by any means mean that you 

 should not make the trip. On the contrary we often find 

 [it] a most advantageous expenditure [of time and 

 money]. What you pay for the specimen is not what it is 

 worth when it is laid down here in the Museum. The 

 extensions of the idea of our knowledge concerning the 

 artifact or instrument or game may be worth more than 

 money paid, although to make this extension you may 

 have to expend $30 or $40 in personal traveling ex- 

 penses and perhaps not more than $8 for purchase. 



Although over the years Dorsey expressed similar 

 views on ethnographic collecting to a numbet of col- 



