58 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



It is believed that the publications of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology should be of such a nature that they may be studied with 

 profit by all intelligent persons and not so crowded with technicali- 

 ties as to repel all readers except a few specialists. While the bureau 

 publications should not be devoted solely to popular articles, they 

 fail to advance and diffuse ethnological knowledge if they are so 

 technical that they appeal only to one class of readers. The policy 

 of the bureau is to publish a limited number of technical papers, the 

 popular demand also being given due weight. 



Important researches have been conducted by members of the staff 

 on the material culture of the Indians, one aim being to ascertain 

 the various fiber^ and foods used by them with a view to discover 

 hitherto unused aboriginal resources that might be adopted with 

 profit by the white man. 



In order that the character of the habitations of the Indian might 

 be better known and an accurate knowledge of them disseminated, 

 illustrations of aboriginal buildings found in early maps and docu- 

 mentary records are being gathered and a series of publications on 

 this subject has been inaugurated. These, when available, are ac- 

 companied by the original descriptions of the buildings and inci- 

 dentally identifications of the sites of the larger villages so far as 

 possible. 



The bureau has continued researches on the music of the Indians 

 with good results, as the past publications on this subject have at- 

 tracted the attention of musicians who are making practical use of 

 this knowledge in their compositions. There is a great demand for 

 strictly Indian music. 



Archeology has been one of the important lines of research by 

 members of the bureau during the past year. Although the methods 

 of research of this science are somewhat different from those of the 

 ethnologist, the goal is the same. 



It is urgent to gather all possible data regarding the ethnology of 

 the Indian prior to the advent of the white man, and where written 

 history is silent on this subject, legends, monuments, and other pre- 

 historic remains are the only media to supply the unknown chapters 

 of history. As the national parks, like the Mesa Verde, and national 

 monuments, like the Chaco Canyon, containing the best examples of 

 this evidence, have been reserved for permanent protection, the bu- 

 reau is engaged in the scientific study of these remains in cooperation 

 with the National Park Service. 



The function of the Bureau of American Ethnology is both to ad- 

 vance knowledge of ethnology and archeology by researches and to 

 disseminate information on all subjects concerning Indians. Much 

 of the time of the chief and the members of the staff is occupied in 

 replying to letters requesting this information. This in many cases 



