58 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



low depression in the ground, which turned out to be the oldest Thule 

 structure thus far found in the central or eastern Arctic. The artifacts 

 from this house were identical with those from the earliest Thule sites 

 in Alaska. The house had evidently been occupied very briefly, for 

 perhaps only one or two years, by some of the first Thule migrants 

 from Alaska, who in all likelihood had then continued on their way 

 to northwest Greenland. A similar shallow depression nearby yielded 

 Dorset objects, the first indication that this early but little-known 

 Eskimo culture had reached Cornwallis Island. Three culture stages 

 are thus represented at Kesolute — Dorset, early Thule, and developed 

 Thule. The first two were probably represented by only a few families 

 who lived there for very short periods. The last stage was of much 

 longer duration, probably a century or more, during which time the 

 population was probably to be numbered in the hundreds. In June 

 1951 Mr. Taylor returned to Resolute to complete some of the excava- 

 tions that had to be left unfinished the preceding August. 



Dr. Collins was reelected to the board of governors of the Arctic 

 Institute for a 3-year term, and also for a 1-year term as treasurer of 

 the organization. He continued to serve as chairman of the directing 

 committee that planned and supervised the bibliography and roster 

 projects on which the Arctic Institute has been engaged for the past 

 four years under contract with the Office of Naval Research. The 

 Roster of Arctic Specialists, containing biographical data on Amer- 

 ican and Canadian citizens having expert knowledge of the Arctic 

 regions, was completed and turned over to the agencies that had spon- 

 sored and financed the work — ^U. S. Departments of the Army, Navy, 

 Air Force, and Defense Research Board of Canada. The first five vol- 

 umes of the Arctic Bibliography were also completed and delivered to 

 the Government Printing Office through the Department of the Army, 

 which had contributed additional funds for its publication. Prepared 

 under the direction of Miss Marie Tremaine with a staff including 

 expert bibliographers, translators, and scientists working at the Li- 

 brary of Congress and other libraries in the United States and Canada, 

 the Arctic Bibliography is one of the most comprehensive regional 

 bibliographies ever assembled and should be a useful research tool 

 for scientists and others interested in the North. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year. Dr. Jolin P. Harrington was 

 on the Crow Indian Reservation in soutliern Montana conducting lin- 

 guistic studies. Dr. Harrington found in connection with his studies 

 that the word Missouri, formerly thought to mean "large canoe" or 

 "wooden canoe," means simply "canoe" and, as applied since aboriginal 

 times to the Missouri River, means by implication the navigated river. 

 Dr. Harrington also obtained detailed information concerning the 

 Mandan coracle or bull boat from Crowsheart, an Indian 94 years 

 of age. An article was completed on this subject. On December 19, 



