REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 

 FOR THE YEAR 1899-1900. 



By "William H. Holmes, 

 Head Curator. 



ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL. 



The organization of the department has remained practically un- 

 changed during the year. 



Owing to the lack of space in the exhibition halls, the Division of 

 Somatology and several sections are not represented in the exhibition 

 series, and numerous other branches arc but meagerly shown. 



The onh' change made in the personnel of the anthropological staff 

 was the assignment of Mr. Paul Beck with, of the clerical force, to 

 the duties of aid in the Division of History and Biography. Mr. Beck- 

 with's services are also utilized in the Section of Coins and Medals. 



The death of Mr. A. Zeno Shindler, a preparator in the department, 

 occurred during the j^ear. Mr. Shindler had been attached to the 

 Smithsonian Institution and Museimi for twenty-tive years or more, 

 doing excellent service as a painter of ethnological portraits and in 

 coloring casts in the Department of Biology as well as that of 

 Anthropology. 



DEPARTMENT OFFICES. 



Durmg previous years the offices occupied bv members of the staff 

 of the department were much scattered and, in the main, not conve- 

 niently situated with respect to the exhibition halls. Recently, how- 

 ever, the roomy west portal of the Museum building has been remodeled 

 as an office for the head curator, while the adjoining rooms on the 

 north and south have been fitted up as department laboratories and 

 utilized largely for receiving and distributing collections. The office 

 of the curator of the Division of Ethnology connects with this suite 

 on the south, and the department recorder occupies a room on the 

 north. On the floor above are five small rooms, occupied b}'^ assistant 

 curators, aids, and preparators. Rooms requiring it have been con- 

 nected by means of speaking tubes, and a telephone has been intro- 

 duced into one of the laboratories, greatly facilitating the transaction 

 of business. All of these rooms have been renovated and repaired 

 during the year. The several honorary members of the staff occupy, 



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