20 ANNUAL, REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



FREER GALLERY OF ART 



The year's work in the preservation of the collection included the 

 remounting of a considerable number of prints, bringing the total 

 number of objects in the print collection which have been put in 

 final condition to over 1,000. Additions to the collection included 

 a pastel by Whistler, an Indian bronze, Indian paintings, Chinese 

 bronzes, a Chinese painting, and Near Eastern potter3^ A list 

 of' the Freer Gallery collection of paintings, pastels, draw- 

 ings, prints, and copper plates by and attributed to American and 

 European artists, together with a list of original Whistleriana, was 

 in press at the close of the year. 



Ninety books and periodicals and 127 pamphlets were added to 

 the library. Several hundred photographs and a number of lantern 

 slides were made and sold to persons requesting them. An increased 

 number of requests have reached the gallery for translations of 

 Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan inscriptions, and for other informa- 

 tion bearing on the work of the gallery. 



The total attendance for the year was 109,862. Of this number, 

 131 used the study rooms to view objects not on exhibition or to 

 consult reference works in the library. 



The gallery's archeological expedition in China was still in the 

 field at the close of the year, and a condensed report on its work will 

 be submitted later for publication in the Smithsonian annual ex- 

 ploration pamphlet. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



The function of the Bureau of American Ethnology as defined 

 by Congress is to conduct ethnological researches among the 

 American Indians and the natives of Hawaii, including the excava- 

 tion and preservation of archeologic remains. The results of these 

 researches are published in technical monographs as well as in arti- 

 cles of a more popular character, and reliable information regarding 

 the American Indian is thus made available for students. The 

 aboriginal Indian culture is rapidly disappearing through contact 

 with the white man's civilization, and when the older men of the 

 tribes who know the rites and customs of their fathers have passed 

 away, much of the ancient lore will be lost forever. The bureau is 

 recording as much as possible of this material before it is too late 

 to secure it. 



An important Indian culture area is that of the southeastern 

 United States, and the bureau has recently begun an archeological 

 reconnaissance, so far as its resources will permit, in Florida, Ala- 

 bama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. It is possible to reconstruct from 



