40 ilEl^ORT OF NATIOiSTAL MUSEUM, 1922. 



greatest importance. Pursuing the policy of encouraging gifts and 

 receiving few loans, the work has been simplified and the installation 

 and collections established on a firm basis. Thus in ethnology over 

 90 per cent of the accessions were gifts, distributed geographically 

 to North, Middle, and South America, 24; Asia, 8; Africa, 7; East 

 India, 2; South Seas, 3; and Europe, 2. Evidently the need for 

 original exploration was never so great, and this is the experience 

 of museums generally. 



Announcement was made in the former report of the gift to the 

 National Museum of the Herbert Ward African collection by Mrs. 

 Herbert AVard, carrying out the intentions of her late husband. The 

 collection, received from Paris, was installed in the east north hall 

 of the division of ethnology with the advice and assistance of 

 Mrs. Ward. On the completion of the installment a formal recep- 

 tion was held to signalize the transfer of the collection to the people 

 of the United States. The meeting was presided over by the Vice 

 President of the United States, who said that " this collection is one 

 of the most important ever received by the Smithsonian Institution." 

 Mrs. Ward made an address giving the history of the collection and 

 throwing interesting light on the life work of Herbert Ward as an 

 explorer in Africa with Stanley, as a sculptor, and as a soldier in the 

 World War. 



The collection numbers 2,714 specimens, including 9 major and 11 

 minor sculptures in bronze. It is an ethnologic unit illustrating the 

 life of Kongo natives at a period when they were not affected by out- 

 side influences. Toward this work, in which Mr. Ward epitomized 

 the state of primitive man, he devoted intensely the best years of his 

 life. This work terminated on the opening of the World War, in 

 which Mr. Ward gave his life in the service of the Allies. 



This unique collection consists of a large series of objects of native 

 handicraft in metal, wood, ivory, horn, and textile, together with 

 natural history specimens. It may be described as an assemblage of 

 African arts illustrated with sculptures depicting the outstanding 

 phases of native life. No other collection of ethnology is illustrated 

 with works of such high artistic merit. In his sculptures Mr. Ward 

 has caught the spirit of the native African and fixed it in bronze. 

 Arranged chronologically, these are as follows: Aruimi Man; A 

 Bakongo Girl; Mask of Negro Girl and Mask of Negro Man; The 

 Charm Doctor ; Sleeping Africa ; The Fugitives ; A Kongo Boy ; The 

 Forest Lovers; The Wood Carrier; The Idol Maker; Crouching 

 Woman; Fragment — another study of the Crouching Woman; The 

 Chief of the Tribe; Defiance; A Kongo Artist; The Fire Maker; 

 Distress; and The Head of a Gorilla. Accompanying them is a 

 bronze bust representing Mr. Ward at the age of 27, in the rough 



