106 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



American Indian memorial and museum building. — It was stated 

 by the secretary that a request to Congress to erect in Washington 

 an American Indian memorial and museum building, under the con- 

 trol of the Secretary of the Interior, had been embodied in two iden- 

 tical bills designated as follows: House joint resolution 274 and Sen- 

 ate bill 9830. 



This subject is one which, by direction of Congress, has long been 

 fostered by the Smithsonian Institution through the National 

 Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnology, all material objects 

 being deposited in the former, and all records of investigations in 

 the latter. The Museum collection is the richest in the world as 

 regards the Indians of North America, to which the proposed new 

 building is intended to be devoted. In extent and variety the col- 

 lections of the National Museum are not what they might and should 

 be, but this is due to the fact that appropriations sufficient to perfect 

 these collections have never been obtainable. 



The founding of a new museum, especially under the proposed 

 auspices, could only result in the partial duplication of objects and 

 records and in an increase in the cost of bringing together a proper 

 representation of the North American Indians. Should Congress 

 take any action in this matter, it would seem desirable that it be 

 directed toward giving increased funds for the use of the Institution 

 and Museum. If the movement is one tending to bring individual 

 help from different parts of the country, such cooperation could best 

 be turned toward increasing the present collections, which are already 

 extensive and important. 



Commercial museum. — The subject of establishing at the National 

 Capital a trade or commercial museum to be maintained at the ex- 

 pense of the Government has been recently agitated in connection 

 with the Board of Trade of Washington. While no bill in support 

 of such a measure has been submitted to Congress as yet, it is appar- 

 ently the intention to request congressional action in connection with 

 any celebration which may be held here in commemoration of the 

 completion of the Panama Canal. 



While such a museum would follow lines in large part not included 

 in the plan of the National Museum, yet in some respects the tendency 

 would be to duplicate its collections. 



It would, furthermore, appear to those who have given the matter 

 consideration that Washington is not the proper place for the loca- 

 tion of a museum of this kind. It should be established and con- 

 ducted in a large commercial center like New York City. 



Prehistoric ruins. — The secretary exhibited a number of photo- 

 graphs showing the excavations among prehistoric cliff dwellings 

 and pueblo ruins in New Mexico resulting from the joint work of 

 the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Archeological Institute 



