REPORT UPON THE WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT Ot^ ETHNOLOGY IN 

 THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 

 1886. 



By Otis T. Mason, Curator. 



The work of this department during the year has been for the most 

 part tentative and preparatory in two directions, receiving and caring 

 for new material so as to render it most available and valuable, and pre- 

 paring series of objects for exhibition, study, and exchange. 



In order to give greater efficiency to the former method of cataloguing 

 accessions, the following plan has been adopted. Desultory material is 

 entered as formerly in the standard catalogue ; after that a system of 

 card cataloguing of an encyclopaedic character enables the curator to 

 gather from many sources all that is valuable about the object in hand. 



Whenever a collection of special importance is received from the same 

 locality, the objects are first carefully classified, so as to bring all things 

 together that are alike or that have the same use. These are then en- 

 tered, as formerly, a separate number being given to each piece that is 

 sufficiently distinct to receive it, but those that are alike or that form 

 a set receive the same number. The card catalogue is also used with 

 this material for the purpose of gathering information. In the register 

 things go by number ; in the card catalogue they are arranged by topics 

 and classes of things, so that all information upon each subject will be 

 found together, as in an encyclopaedia. 



This encyclopaedic method has proved of incalculable value m the 

 corresjjondence of the Museum when difficult questions are proposed 

 for immediate reply. 



As soon as this classified entry is made the material is sent to the 

 poisoning department, where it is subjected to a close scrutiny. The 

 curator has devoted much time to this subject, for it is encumbered with 

 many difficulties, each kind of material demanding a different treatment. 

 It is safe to suppose that every destructible specimen which comes into 

 a museum is infested with the eggs or larvte of moth, derihestes, or 

 other museum pests. The problems to solve at the outset are these: 



(1) To destroy the eggs and larvae. 



(2) To preserve in so doing the color and softness of the texture of 

 fabrics, skins, and furs. 



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