44 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1922. 



to secure objects of material culture. It is self-evident that speci- 

 mens illustrating the arts and industries of the aborigines are the 

 most valuable evidences of their former conditions and history. 

 To neglect this phase is subversive to science. 



In close touch with the department was the exploration of the 

 ancient pueblo, called Bonito, in the Chaco Canyon, N. Mex., by 

 the National Geographic Society, under the direction of Neil M. 

 Judd, curator of American archeology. The first year's work, to a 

 large extent preliminary, will add to the Museum a considerable col- 

 lection. There were received specimens from the several explora- 

 tions made possible through the generosity of Dr. W. L. Abbott in 

 Haiti and Australia. The Mulford Biological Exploration of the 

 Amazon Basin brought to the department an acceptable South Amer- 

 ican Indian collection. These specimens, collected by Dr. W, M. Mann, 

 emphasize the fact that the department is very poor in South Ameri- 

 can material and that here lies a field urgently calling to be worked. 

 The expedition of the Museum of the American Indian (Heye 

 Foundation) to New Mexico, under the charge of F. W. Hodge, 

 furnished valuable skeletal material. This expedition has furnished 

 specimens to the division from the same region for several years 

 past. 



WOKK OF rUESERVING AND INSTALLING THE COLLECTIONS PRESENT CONDITION OV 



COLLECTIONS. 



By constant and careful experiment the curators are seeking to 

 perfect museum methods. The preservation of specimens is an ex- 

 acting study and requires a large proportion of the energies of the 

 staff. Since articles of an amazing variety are to be handled, their 

 treatment presents an endless succession of problems. For instance, 

 the problem of rust could occupy the whole time of one man. Prog- 

 ress is seen in these lines, and the end of the year finds the collec- 

 tions in better order than ever before. 



Not only was sufficient work done to keep the collections in a 

 state as previously, but the curators strove to improve the exhibits 

 in every way possible. To this effect in ethnology the exhibit of the 

 Herbert Ward collection was made to coincide with the recasting 

 of the African collection generally. Also in ethnology minor in- 

 stallations were made. Labeling is a necessary and important fea- 

 ture and was continued, and at present nearly every individual speci- 

 men in the collection bears a card of explanation. 



Two noteworthy collections were newly installed in the halls of 

 American archeology — a large series of ancient Casas Grande 

 ware, presented by the Archaeological Society of Washington, and 

 a series of prehistoric pottery from ruins in the Mimbres Valley, N. 

 Mex., transferred some years ago by the Bureau of American Etli- 



