EEPOBT OF THE SECEETAEY. 29 



In order to maintain a proper standard of merit in the acceptance 

 of works of art an advisory committee of five artists has been desig- 

 nated. Three members of this committee were by request selected 

 by three leading art associations of the country and two members 

 were named by the Institution. The committee met at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution on April 16, 1908, and organized by the election of 

 Mr. Francis D. Millet as president and Mr. W. H. Holmes, of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, as secretary. The other members of the 

 committee are Mr. Frederick Crowninshield, of the Fine Arts Feder- 

 ation of New York ; Mr. Edwin H. Blashfield, of the National Acad- 

 emy of Design ; and Mr. Herbert Adams, of the National Sculpture 

 Society. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



The Bureau of American Ethnology has continued its investiga- 

 tions among the Indian tribes of the country begun over a quarter of 

 a century ago. While seeking to cover in the most comprehensive 

 manner the whole range of American ethnology, the bureau has taken 

 particular care to avoid entering upon researches that are likely to 

 be provided for by other agencies, public or private. The results 

 sought by the bureau are: (1) Acquirement of a thorough knowledge 

 of the American Indian tribes, their origin, relationship to one an- 

 other and to the whites, location, numbers, capacity for civilization, 

 claims to territory, and their interests generally, for the practical 

 purposes of government; and (2) the completion of a systematic and 

 well-rounded record of the tribes for historic and scientific purposes 

 before their aboriginal characteristics and culture are too greatly 

 modified or are completely lost. 



Since it has not been possible to study all of the tribes in detail, a 

 sufficient number have been taken as types to stand for all. The 

 work accomplished in securing knowledge of these tribes has been 

 recorded in the annual reports of the bureau, and the results ob- 

 tained have been published, so far as circumstances will permit, in 

 bulletins of the bureau. Many manuscripts are preserved in the 

 archives of the bureau. To the present time there have been col- 

 lected data relating to some 60 families of linguistic stocks and 

 upward of 300 tribes. During the past year this fund of knowledge 

 was added to through researches carried on in Arizona, New Mexico, 

 Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Ontario. Investi- 

 gations in the field, however, were not as extensive as in some previous 

 years, on account of the necessity of retaining nearly all of the 

 ethnologic force in the office for the purpose of completing the 

 Handbook of American Indians, part 1 of which was published last 

 61782—08 ^3 



