Appendix II. 



REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, in 

 accordance with the act of Congi-ess making provision " for continuing ethno- 

 logical researches among the American Indians, under the direction of the 

 Smithsonian Institution," approved April 28, 1904. 



The work of the Bureau has been conducted in accordance with the plan of 

 operations approved by the Secretary June 17, 1904. The systematic re- 

 searches have been carried forward by the seven members of the Bureau's 

 scientific staff, assisted by a large number of associates and collaborators who 

 have been called on to prepare papers on special subjects or to conduct investi- 

 gations for which their qualifications especially fitted them. During the year 

 seven members and associates of the Bureau have made researches in the field, 

 the regions visited including Maryland, Virginia, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, 

 Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Mexico. 



The amount of field work has been somewhat curtailed by the necessity of 

 detaining a number of the ethnologists in the office to assist in the completion 

 of the Handbook of the Indians (hitherto referred to as the Cyclopedia or 

 Dictionary of the Indian Tribes), which was designed to be submitted to the 

 Secretary at the close of the year. The enlargement of the scope of the work 

 to include not only descriptions of the tribes and their settlements, but also 

 popular articles covering the whole range of ethnological and archeological 

 research relating to them, greatly increased the amount of investigation re- 

 quired, but the value of the Handbook as a woi'k of reference has been more than 

 proportionately increased. With the view of revising and unifying the great 

 number of articles designed for introduction into the Handbook a committee of 

 revision was organized, consisting of members of the Bureau and all available 

 resident anthropologists, fourteen in all, who met three times each week to 

 discuss the jiapers presented. The meetings of this committee proved both 

 interesting and profitable, and suggested the advisability of holding similar 

 meetings hereafter for the discussion of current researches of the Bureau. 



As a result of the preparation of the papers for the Handbook, covering, as 

 they do, the entire range of Indian ethnology and administration, the researches 

 conducted in the office during the year have been exceptionally comprehensive ; 

 every branch of anthropologic research, including somatology, psychology, 

 linguistics, sociology, religion, technology, and aesthetics, has received such con- 

 sideration as the comprehensive though necessarily brief articles for the Hand- 

 book required. Besides the articles treating of these primary departments of 

 research, many others have been prepared, on the various phases of the history, 

 archeology, biography, and education of the Indians and the administration of 

 their affairs. With the exception of the bibliography and index, which were 

 retained for reference in proof reading, the manuscript for the Handbook, ac- 

 companied with about 800 illustrations, was submitted to the Secretary July 1. 

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