REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 

 FOR THE YEAR 1897-98. 



By William H. Holmes, 

 Head Curator. 



It is convenient to present the matter of the present report under the 

 following heads : 



I. General administrative work. 

 11. Acquirement of Museum materials. 



III. Preservation of collections. 



IV. Classification and research. 

 V. Installation. 



VI. The Anthropological exhibit at the Trans-Mississippi and 

 International Exposition. 



GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE WORK. 



A partial reorganization of the Museum made at the beginning of 

 the year resulted in the formation of three departments, one of which 

 is Anthropology. The various divisions and sections dealing with man 

 and his works, which have been conducted independently of one 

 another, the curators and custodians reporting directly to the Assist- 

 ant Secretary in charge of the Museum, are now united under a head 

 curator of anthropology. This operates to give direct exj^ert super- 

 vision of all the divisions and properly correlates the various branches 

 of a complex work. The head curator took charge October 1, 1897, and a 

 number of changes were made in the scientific staff" of the department 

 and in the limitations of the fields occupied by the various curators 

 and custodians. The present organization is indicated in Appendix 1. 



There are a number of sections included in the dejiartment not yet 

 assigned to any one of the above divisions, and these remain for the 

 l)resent under the direct supervision of the head curator. The present 

 classification of the material and the assignment of the staff" are by 

 no njeans final. It was found impossible to devise a scheme that 

 would satisfy the requirements of scientific classification and at the 

 same time accommodate itself to the acquirements of the present 

 staff, which is composed of persons devoted each to special portions of 

 the field of anthropology. It is expected that as the various branches 

 of the work become fully developed and the collections are enriched 

 and rounded out so that a systematic treatment of the whole field is 

 possible, the questions of reclassification and rearrangement of the 

 force will gradually adjust themselves. 



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