REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF AMERICAN ABORIGINAL POTTERY 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



By William H. Holmes, Honorary Curator. 



The work of cataloguiug- and iustalling the great collection of abo- 

 riginal pottery is practically completed ; as a consequence little has 

 been done during the past year save to properly care for new accessions. 

 A brief statement of the additions is given below. This list includes all 

 material received by the Museum directly, as well as all collections 

 made by the Bureau of Ethnology. 



Through the collections made by the official agents of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, 509 numbers have been added to the catalogue 5 through 

 exchanges, 2; through purchase, 304; and through donation, 20. 



Four collections of considerable importance have been received by the 

 Bureau of Ethnology and will soon be formally turned over to the Mu- 

 seum. One of these is from the pueblos of Jemez Valley, New Mexico, 

 by James Stevenson ; one from the Cherokee and Catawba Indians of 

 North Carolina, by James Mooney ; a third from Chiriqui, South Amer- 

 ica, by J. A. McNiel; and a fourth from Mexico, by Ward Bachelor. 



The only researches made by the curator have been a study of the 

 origin and significance of tlie textile ornament upon the pottery of the 

 eastern United States, and a study made in the field of the relation of 

 the ancient and recent ceramic remains of northern New Mexico. The 

 former paper was read before the Anthropological Society of Washing- 

 ton and will probably be published by the Bureau of Ethnology, and 

 the latter study is not yet ready for presentation. 



The last catalogue number of June, 1887, is 132955. The last cata- 

 logue number of June, 1888, is 134497. 



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