Report on the Bureau of American 
Ethnology 
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the field 
researches, office work, and other operations of the Bureau of Ameri- 
can Ethnology during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1958, conducted 
in accordance with the act of Congress of April 10, 1928, as amended 
August 22, 1949, which directs the Bureau “to continue independently 
or in cooperation anthropological researches among the American 
Indians and the natives of lands under the jurisdiction or protection 
of the United States and the excavation and preservation of archeo- 
logic remains.” 
SYSTEMATIC RESEARCHES 
(Prepared from data submitted by staff members.) 
Dr. M. W. Stirling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology 
from 1928 to 1947 and Director since 1947, retired on December 31, 
1957. At that time he was appointed a research associate. During 
the period from July 1 to December 31, 1957, Dr. Stirling devoted 
most of his time to administrative duties and the preparation of a 
manuscript pertaining to previous fieldwork in Panama and Ecuador. 
Effective January 1, 1958, Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., Associate 
Director, was appointed Director. He also continued to be in charge 
of the River Basin Surveys. 
During the fiscal year Dr. Roberts devoted most of his time to the 
management of the River Basin Surveys and subsequently to the 
duties of the main Bureau office. In July and early August he made 
an inspection trip to the Missouri Basin where he visited all the ex- 
cavation parties of the River Basin Surveys and also several of those 
from cooperating institutions. He was accompanied by Dr. Robert 
LL. Stephenson, chief of the Missouri Basin Project, Dr. John M. Cor- 
bett, National Park Service archeologist, and Paul L. Beaubien, re- 
gional archeologist for Region Two of the Service. Late in April 
Dr. Roberts went to the field headquarters at Lincoln, Nebr., to assist 
in preparing plans for the field season in the Missouri Basin. From 
Lincoln, in company with several members of the Missouri Basin 
Project staff, he went to Norman, Okla., to attend and participate in 
the annual meeting of the Society for American Archeology. From 
here the group proceeded to Russellville, Ark., where it inspected the 
46 
