22 ANNUAL, KEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



The purpose of the Bureau of American Ethnology is to contribute 

 to our knowledge of racial culture and advance our appreciation of 

 racial accomplishment with respect to the American aborigines and 

 the natives of the Hawaiian Islands. Inasmuch as the material from 

 which we may secure this knowledge is rapidly disappearing or being 

 absorbed into modern life, it is urgent that the bureau carry on in- 

 tensive work among the American Indians to preserve for posterity 

 the unwritten literature, languages, customs, and material culture of 

 these most interesting people. The results of these researches are 

 published by the bureau, and its policy with regard to publications 

 is that they should be of such a nature that they may be studied with 

 profit by all intelligent persons and not so technical as to be of value 

 only to a few specialists. 



Among researches along special lines conducted by the staff of the 

 bureau may be mentioned the study of the various fibers and foods 

 used by the Indians with the view of discovering a possible adapta- 

 tion of some of these aboriginal resources to the use of the white man. 

 A series of researches and publications on the habitations of the In- 

 dian has been inaugurated in order that they might be better known 



i an accurate knowledge of them disseminated. Researches on the 



music of the Indians have been carried on with gratifying results, 

 the themes having been incorporated in certain cases by modern 

 musicians in their compositions. In cooperation with the National 

 Park Service the bureau is engaged in the excavation and repair for 

 permanent preservation of prehistoric ruins and cliff dwellings of 

 the Indians in the national parks and other Government reservations, 

 such as the Mesa Verde in Colorado. These reclaimed Indian dwell- 

 ings and other structures have proved to be of the greatest educa- 

 tional value and popular interest. During the past year the bureau 

 excavated and repaired two of these prehistoric structures on the 

 Mesa Verde, known as Square Tower House and Painted House, 

 which have already cast considerable light on the ethnological prob- 

 lems of the re don. 



Work was continued by members of the staff during the year on 

 various publications in varying degrees of completion from manu- 

 script to final proof, and in addition field work was carried on 

 among the Oneida Indians, the Seneca, the Tanoan and Kiowan, the 

 Fox, the Pawnee, the Papago, the Apache, and other tribes. Also 

 a number of archeological researches were conducted, especially in 

 Texas and in the southwestern United States. 



One annual report and 4 bulletins were issued during the year, 

 while 14 publications were in press in various stages of completion. 

 The library of the bureau, to which 820 books were added during 

 the year, now numbers over 23,000 volumes and 14,000 pamphlets. 



