REPORT OF THE SECRETARY ap 
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY 
As stated above, Dr. Julian H. Steward, anthropologist, on Septem- 
ber 1, 1948, became Director of the Institute of Social Anthropology, 
an autonomous unit of the Bureau reporting directly to the Secretary. 
As Dr. Steward was instructed in the official order establishing the 
Institute to report to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 
there are presented here brief abstracts from Dr. Steward’s reports 
to Dr. Wetmore, Acting Secretary. 
The Institute of Social Anthropology was first conceived in July 
1942 and a project for its work was placed before the Interdepartmen- 
tal Committee for Cooperation with the American Republics in Au- 
gust of that year. Its stated purpose was to carry out cooperative 
training in anthropological teaching and research with the other 
American republics. For the fiscal year 1944, $60,000 was made avail- 
able for the work of the Institute by transfer of funds from the State 
Department appropriation. 
In September 1943 the Director visited Mexico and established the 
terms of an agreement for the work of the Institute with the authori- 
ties of the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia and the Instituto 
Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, submitting this to the Depart- 
ment of State in late September. After some months of delay encoun- 
tered in completing the agreement, Dr. George M. Foster, engaged by 
the Institute as anthropologist in charge of the work in Mexico, pro- 
ceeded to that country in May and started work in cooperation with 
the organizations mentioned above. Dr. Donald D. Brand also repre- 
sented the Institute in Mexico as cultural geographer. 
No formal agreement has yet been entered into for similar work 
in Peru. Nevertheless, Dr. John Gillin, appointed by the Institute in 
January 1944 as anthropologist, commenced work in that country on 
an informal basis. The remaining 6 months of the fiscal year were 
devoted to reconnaissance and teaching at Cuzco and Trujillo. 
A memorandum agreement for cooperative work in Colombia was 
submitted early in 1944, but at the close of the fiscal year it had not 
yet been reported out. 
A new series in social anthropology entitled “Publications of the 
Institute of Social Anthropology” was started with two papers, which 
went to the printer just before the close of the fiscal year. No. 1 was 
on “Houses and House Use of the Sierra Tarascans,” by Ralph L. 
Beals, Pedro Carrasco, and Thomas McCorkle; No. 2 was entitled 
“Cheran, a Sierra Tarascan Village,” by Ralph L. Beals. 
619830—45——_5 
