HOLMES] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 17 



measure to illustrate the whole subject, and though imperfect in many 

 ways, form nuclei about which additional details can be assembled as 

 they are acquired. 



V 



There are many students of the aboriginal history of the Potomac- 

 Chesapeake province to whom I am indebted for assistance and who 

 should be mentioned in connection with the arcbeologic study of the 

 region. Prominent among the collectors who have gathered and pre- 

 served the fast disappearing relics are Mr J. D. McGuire, of Ellicott, 

 Maryland. The collection of this gentleman, now installed in his 

 charming home in Ellicott, represents a large part of the province, and 

 includes notable series of objects from the soapstone quarries and from 

 the village-sites and shell banks of the Potomac and Chesapeake. Mr 

 McGuire's writings include an important pai>er on the quarrying of 

 soapstone as indicated by surface i)henomena, and various other arti- 

 cles in which more or less specific references are made to the general 

 archeology of the province. 



Among the numerous collections of Potomac river material that of 

 Mr W. Ilallett Phillips, of Washington, takes first rank. It affords 

 the student more satisfactory op])ortunities for study than any other 

 collection, as the various sites wiere systematically visited and the 

 specimens properly cared for and labeled. Many of the illustrations 

 presented in this paper are from his well-stocked cabinets. 



Mr Elmer li. Keynolds has for many years been an enthusiastic col- 

 lector of local relics, and his various accumulations have largely gone 

 to supply the museums of Europe. He has written valuable i)apers 

 on the Potomac shell deposits and the soapstone quarries of the District 

 of Columbia. 



The historian of the Potomac valley is also deeply indebted to the 

 efforts of Mr S. V. Proudfit, of Falls Church, Virginia, whose extensive 

 collections, consisting of many thousands of specimens, were gener- 

 ously donated to the National Museum. Mr Proudfit's paper on local 

 archeology is among the most importaTit issued up to the beginning of 

 systematic work by the Bureau of Ethnology. 



Few students of the region have contributed more largely and suc- 

 cessfully to the exposition of our local antiquities than Mr Louis A. 

 Kengla, formerly of West Washington, whose collections are preserved 

 by the Georgetown University and whose valuable pamphlet on the 

 archeology of the District was published as a Toner prize essay by 

 that institution. 



Another collector, later in the field than the others yet hardly less 

 persistent and successful, is Mr Thonuis Dowliug, junior, whose aid I 

 have sought on various occasions. Many specimens from his collec- 

 tions appear in the illustrations of this paper. 



Mr William Hunter, of Fairfax county, Virginia, made extensive 

 collections along the banks of the Potomac in the JNIount Vernon region, 

 15 ETH 2 



