Report on the 

 United States National Museum 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the condi- 

 tion and operations of the United States National Museum for the 

 fiscal year ended June 30, 1956 : 



COLLECTIONS 



During the year 905,473 specimens were added to the national col- 

 lections and distributed among the six departments as follows: An- 

 thropology, 19,371; zoology, 409,127; botany, 32,616; geology, 48,900; 

 engineering and industries, 4,292; history, 391,167. This increase is 

 smaller than last year, when the unusual increase resulted from the 

 accession of several million small fossils. This year's total is a more 

 normal annual accretion. Most of the accessions were received as 

 gifts from individuals or as transfers from Government departments 

 and agencies. The Annual Keport of the Museum, published as a 

 separate document, contains a detailed list of the year's accessions, of 

 which the more important are summarized below. Catalog entries in 

 all departments now total 43,756,010. 



Anthropology. — Among the outstanding accessions received in the 

 division of ethnology is a collection of specimens from the environs 

 of Nasir on the Sabat River in South Sudan, East Africa, presented 

 by Rev. A. MacRoy, an American missionary. These come from an 

 area hitherto unrepresented in the national collections. An interest- 

 ing object is a much- worn leopard skin, a traditional court accessory, 

 on which the witness sits while giving evidence during a trial. A 

 perjurer would be subject to dire consequences if he gave false evi- 

 dence while sitting on this leopard skin. Rings perforating one cor- 

 ner indicate the number of occasions the skin has been used by wit- 

 nesses. Another item, significant of the culture of the Nuer, is a fight- 

 ing bracelet of brass, generally worn on the right wrist by men and 

 women alike. 



While building a railroad in about 1910, Alexander J. Norris col- 

 lected objects used in the daily life of the Arawak Indians living in 

 the colony of Perene in the watershed of the Rio Perene (upper Uca- 

 yali River), and from the Quechua Indians in the vicinity of Cuzco, 

 Peru. These ethnological specimens consist of hunting and fishing 

 weapons, woven ponchos, and various objects of personal adornment, 



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