APPENDIX 2. 



REPORT ON THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



Sir : Pursuant to your request of July 3, I have the honor to sub- 

 mit the following report on the operations of the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1918, conducted 

 in accordance with the act of Congress approved June 12, 1917, 

 making provisions for the sundry civil expenses of the Government, 

 and in accordance with a plan of operations submitted by the ethnolo- 

 gist-in-charge and approved by the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The act referred to contains the following item: 



American ethnology : For continuing ethnological researches among the 

 American Indians and the natives of Hawaii, including the excavation and 

 preservation of archseologic remains, under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, including necessary employees and the purchase of necessary books 

 and periodicals, $42,000. 



The administrative affairs of the bureau prior to March 1, 1918, 

 were conducted by Mr. F. W. Hodge, ethnologist in charge, when he 

 resigned to accept a position in the Museum of the American Indian 

 (Heye Foundation). On that date Dr. J. Walter Fewkes was ap- 

 pointed chief, and continued the administrative duties of the office to 

 the close of the year. 



As the American Indian is rapidly losing many of his instructive 

 characteristics in his amalgamation into American citizenship, new 

 features of the future work of the bureau stand out prominently 

 pleading for investigation. Among these is the urgent necessity to 

 rescue linguistic, sociological, and mythological data of aboriginal 

 Indian life before its final extinction. When data now available 

 disappear, unless recorded, they are lost forever. 



The excavation and repair for preservation of archeologic remains, 

 by no means a new activity of bureau work, is in the same condition. 

 Both anthropology and popular approval call for the advancement 

 and diffusion of knowledge by the bureau along this line. 



In addition to their duties in " continuing ethnological researches " 

 among the American Indians the members of the staff have devoted 

 much time to matters germane to their work. Answers to many let- 

 ters received by the bureau can not be written offhand, but demand 

 investigation and often considerable consultation of authorities in 

 the library. Their requests are not confined to Indian ethnology, but 



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