58 Alaskan Science Conference 



people transplanted among them. Valuable material can still 

 be gathered also at Belkovski and on the Pribiloffs. 



Dr. Lantis has given a vivid picture of the situation among 

 the more northern Eskimo, and this has also been discussed 

 with Drs. Rainey and Giddings. Aside from Point Barrow, 

 where present Naval construction cannot but produce profound 

 changes, the most acculurated communities are those which 

 have grown up as artificial aggregations of formerly separate, 

 more mobile groups about some mission, school or trading 

 center. Here, the lack of an integrated community organization 

 and of cultural patterns adjusted to year-round settled life have 

 contributed to a breakdown of the old culture. As examples, 

 we can name Deering, Teller, Nome, Golofnin, Shaktolik, Elim, 

 Unalakleet, Hooper Bay and Nunivak. Most of these lie within 

 the relatively little studied Bering Sea area. 



I cannot report on the situation in the interior, except to 

 mention that already fifteen years ago deculturation and de- 

 moralization of the Athabaskans was progressing rapidly. De- 

 spite valuable pioneer studies in some areas, chiefly on the Yu- 

 kon, how little we know about the cultural and linguistic 

 differences upon which tribal classifications have been sketched, 

 or about the language, folklore, social organization of the 

 peoples of the Copper River, Tanana, Middle Yukon, or 

 Kuskokwim! 



Each of these four major areas presents its own peculiar prob- 

 lems for fieldwork, not simply theoretical but practical prob- 

 lems, and furthermore each settlement poses its own version 

 of these problems. Effective salvaging of records of native life 

 involves the formulation of at least four areal programs, and 

 for some of these areas such plans cannot be drawn up now 

 without preliminary surveys. These should consider for each 

 area what are the possibilities in the various villages; who are 

 the best informants and what they can offer; what cooperation 

 or opposition can be expected from native leaders, native or 

 white missionaries, teachers, and other personalities; what are 

 the attitudes towards the ethnologist or linguist; what time of 

 year is best for fieldwork; is electric power available for wire- 



