ANNUAL REPORT 
OF THE 
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1920 
J. Water Fewxes, Chief 
Str: In response to your request I have the honor to sub- 
mit the following report on the field researches, office work, 
and other operations of the Bureau of American Ethnology 
during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920, conducted in 
accordance with the act of Congress approved July 19, 1919. 
The act referred to contains the following item: 
American ethnology: For continuing ethnological researches 
among the American Indians and the natives of Hawau, including 
the excavation and preservation of archeologic remains, under the 
direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including necessary em- 
ployees and the purchase of necessary books and periodicals, $42,000. 
Ethnology is the study of man in groups or races and aims 
to contribute to our knowledge of racial culture and advance 
our appreciation of racial accomplishment. The researches 
of the Bureau of American Ethnolog y deal with the aborigines 
of the United States and the Hawaiian islanders. 
The material from which we may secure this knowledge 
is rapidly disappearing or being absorbed into modern life. 
The culture of the aboriginal inhabitants has in a great 
measure vanished, but modern survivals still remain, and 
it is one object of the bureau to record these survivals while 
this is possible, thus rescuing what remains as a_ partial 
record of the culture of the race. ‘This is essential in order 
that our knowledge of the North American Indian may 
neither be distorted by prejudice nor exalted by enthusiastic 
glorification. 
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