SECRETARY'S REPORT 5 



instruction cannot be conveyed to the nonexpert visitor by case after 

 case of almost identical artifacts. 



It should be added parenthetically that from the standpoint of 

 scientific American archeology and ethnology the study collections 

 of the Smithsonian are perhaps even more important than the collec- 

 tions on public display. Each year these study collections are becoming 

 organized in a more accessible way, so that they may be used effectively 

 by qualified research scientists. 



7. NORTH AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 



The Hall of North American Archeology displays selected objects 

 from the collections of the Smithsonian dealing with prehistoric 

 cultures of the Eskimo and the American Indians of the far North, 

 the North Pacific coast, California, and the Southwest. The visitor 

 gains a synoptic view of different styles of life of human beings in 

 these areas of the continent in the centuries before the coming of the 

 white man. Outstanding exhibits deal with primitive methods of 

 quarrying, mining, making artifacts of stone, cultivating crops, and 

 developing ornaments, household utensils, and many varieties of 

 carved and sculptured pipes used in smoking tobacco. The objects 

 displayed in this one new hall were selected from cataloged collections 

 which number over 600,000 items. A second North American Indian 

 Hall, which will show the prehistoric cultures of other North Ameri- 

 can Indians, is now being prepared for public display. 



8. NATIVE PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS 



This anthropological hall shows typical examples of the life char- 

 acteristic of the native peoples in both North America and South 

 America. Large glass-sided rooms have been installed depicting out- 

 standing patterns of behavior of particular Indian tribes from Cal- 

 ifornia, the Southwest, and south to the Fuegians at the lowest tip of 

 South America. Here full-scale figures prepared under the direction 

 of expert physical anthropologists and modeled by skillful sculptors 

 illustrate ways of life considered by anthropologists to be of special 

 significance in relation to each group represented. Some of these 

 world-famous models have been shown in older exhibits at the Smith- 

 sonian for many years, but before the development of the present 

 modern, well-lighted, well-organized presentations many of them were 

 not exhibited to best advantage. The present-day Smithsonian staff 

 owes a debt of gratitude to their skillful and devoted predecessors who 

 as much as 60 years ago created these scientifically correct figures that 

 can now for the first time be displayed adequately. In this hall, also, 

 by means of small dioramas, other typical phases of general life of 

 the Indians of the Caribbean, of California, and of other regions of 

 the continent are portrayed. 



