THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



To accomplish this, representative collections from all the races 

 of man are required. On the other hand, in an American mu- 

 seum, the achievements and the history of the American race 

 are naturally of prime interest, so that it has seemed desirable 

 to treat problems relating to America, and particularly North 

 America, with special care. The efforts of the Museum have 

 been in these two directions, and have been carried forward 

 since 1895 under the supervision of Prof. Franz Boas. 



On account of the rapid disappearance of ancient customs 

 among the North American Indians, and the importance of pre- 

 serving all we can of what pertains to the natives of our own 

 country, work on this continent was taken up first. The field 

 is so vast, however, that concentration on certain lines seemed 

 necessary. One of the least explored fields in American eth- 

 nology is found in California and Oregon. Through the liberality 

 of the late C. P. Huntington and of the late Henry Villard, the 

 Museum was enabled to start this work, which was intrusted to 

 Professor Livingston Farrand and Dr. Roland B. Dixon. Later, 

 the funds for continuing the work in this region were provided 

 by Mr. Archer M. Huntington and by Mrs. Arabella Huntingt<3n. 

 This work is still in progress. 



The efforts of the American Museum in behalf of Califorman 

 ethnolog\^ have had the effect of stimulating the University of 

 California to like endeavor. Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst has provided 

 funds for ethnological work, which has been placed in charge of 

 Dr. A. L. Kroeber, who was a valued collaborator of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History. Through the co-operation of 

 Messrs. Dixon and Kroeber, and co-ordination of their work 

 our knowledge of the tribes of California has been much advanced, 

 and the Museum is now in possession of considerable collections 

 from the northern part of that State. The work in Oregon 

 also is still in progress. Professor Farrand, during the first year 

 of his field work, devoted himself to the study of the coast tribes, 

 while at present he is investigating the Sahaptin. 



Another task which has seemed of great importance is the 

 investigation of the decorative art of the North American Indian. 

 This work has been carried on particularly by Dr. Kroeber and 



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