500 The Smithsonian Institution 



were similarly issued for the collaborators of the Bureau, the 

 other being a map of North American linguistic stocks. 



In 1889 the American Historical Association was in- 

 corporated by act of Congress, with the proviso that the as- 

 sociation should report annually to the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution concerning its proceedings and the 

 condition of historical study in America. Under this au- 

 thority, seven octavo volumes of historical papers and his- 

 torical bibliography have been issued. 



All of these publications are distributed freely. The Re- 

 ports of the Institution and Museum are sent to all the prin- 

 cipal libraries in America, and in foreign lands, and to the 

 collaborators and friends of the Institution and of the Museum 

 throughout the world. The same is true, in a lesser degree, 

 owing to the fact that the edition is limited, of the " Proceed- 

 ings" and "Bulletin" of the Museum, which are sent to all 

 important American colleges, to all State libraries, to all State 

 historical societies, and to a specially selected list of scientific 

 men. The publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology 

 are distributed in like manner through the Director of the 

 Bureau. Owing to the expensive nature of the "Smithsonian 

 Contributions to Knowledge " and the " Smithsonian Mis- 

 cellaneous Collections," it has never been possible to pub- 

 lish a large edition of these series ; so that their distribution 

 has been limited to 1000 libraries, about 650 in the United 

 States, and the remainder in foreign lands; a small edition 

 being reserved for the collaborators of the Institution. 



It will thus be seen that the publications issued by the 

 Smithsonian Institution and under its direction, from its own 

 funds and with the assistance of the government, form in 

 themselves a library which records the progress and illus- 

 trates the advance of knowledge in every field of human 

 activity during the last fifty years. 



