﻿460 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  exhibited 
  merely 
  as 
  curios 
  of 
  the 
  fast 
  disappearing 
  aborigines. 
  To 
  

   increase 
  this 
  collection 
  and 
  give 
  it 
  a 
  definite 
  value, 
  Lewis 
  H. 
  Mor- 
  

   gan 
  was 
  employed 
  to 
  collect 
  such 
  material 
  from 
  the 
  Indians 
  as 
  

   would 
  be 
  of 
  interest, 
  and 
  the 
  accounts 
  of 
  the 
  Morgan 
  collection 
  con- 
  

   tained 
  in 
  the 
  second, 
  third 
  and 
  fifth 
  annual 
  reports 
  of 
  the 
  State 
  

   Cabinet 
  are 
  without 
  doubt 
  the 
  best 
  descriptions 
  of 
  confederated 
  

   Iroquois 
  ethnological 
  material 
  of 
  the 
  period 
  1 
  790-1 
  850 
  extant. 
  

  

  How 
  little 
  at 
  first 
  Morgan 
  realized 
  the 
  scientific 
  value 
  of 
  his 
  work 
  

   may 
  be 
  known 
  from 
  his 
  letter 
  to 
  the 
  Regents 
  under 
  date 
  of 
  October 
  

   31, 
  1848, 
  in 
  which 
  he 
  discussed 
  the 
  necessity 
  of 
  the 
  cabinet. 
  

  

  Such 
  a 
  cabinet 
  would, 
  it 
  is 
  true, 
  contain 
  but 
  little 
  to 
  instruct, 
  

   would 
  seem 
  but 
  slightly 
  to 
  enlarge 
  the 
  bounds 
  of 
  human 
  knowledge, 
  

   yet 
  it 
  would 
  be 
  all 
  it 
  pretended, 
  — 
  a 
  memento 
  to 
  the 
  red 
  race 
  who 
  

   preceded 
  us. 
  . 
  . 
  

  

  Opinion 
  must 
  have 
  suddenly 
  changed, 
  for 
  Mr 
  Morgan 
  three 
  years 
  

   later, 
  deeply 
  impressed 
  by 
  his 
  contact 
  with 
  the 
  Iroquois, 
  wrote 
  the 
  

   profoundest 
  ethnographic 
  study 
  of 
  the 
  American 
  Indians 
  ever 
  pro- 
  

   duced 
  up 
  to 
  his 
  time, 
  and 
  The 
  League 
  of 
  the 
  Iroquois 
  yet 
  remains 
  

   a 
  classic. 
  The 
  scientific 
  world 
  had 
  awakened, 
  ethnology 
  as 
  a 
  dis- 
  

   tinct 
  science 
  was 
  recognized, 
  and 
  the 
  great 
  work 
  of 
  Squier 
  and 
  

   Davis, 
  Ancient 
  Monuments 
  in 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  Valley, 
  demonstrated 
  

   that 
  perhaps 
  there 
  was 
  some 
  real 
  scientific 
  value 
  in 
  the 
  " 
  mementos 
  

   of 
  the 
  red 
  race 
  " 
  and 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  category 
  of 
  natural 
  sciences 
  Ameri- 
  

   can 
  archeology 
  was 
  preeminently 
  worthy 
  of 
  a 
  place. 
  Early 
  in 
  the 
  

   19th 
  century, 
  however, 
  there 
  was 
  no 
  American 
  archeology 
  or 
  eth- 
  

   nology 
  as 
  we 
  know 
  these 
  subjects 
  now, 
  and 
  therefore 
  there 
  were 
  

   no 
  specimens. 
  Objects 
  were 
  termed 
  relics 
  and 
  people 
  interested 
  

   in 
  relics 
  were 
  called 
  antiquarians. 
  The 
  curiosities 
  which 
  they 
  found 
  

   in 
  the 
  cornfield 
  when 
  it 
  was 
  plowed 
  were 
  puzzling 
  wonders 
  which 
  

   caused 
  the 
  finders 
  to 
  invent 
  all 
  sorts 
  of 
  wild 
  theories 
  as 
  far 
  from 
  

   truth 
  as 
  human 
  imagination 
  could 
  lead. 
  Strange 
  ideas 
  were 
  formed 
  

   and 
  every 
  new 
  discovery 
  warped 
  to 
  support 
  them. 
  Anthropology 
  

   at 
  this 
  period 
  took 
  no 
  notice 
  of 
  a 
  flint 
  chip, 
  of 
  a 
  wampum 
  belt, 
  or 
  

   of 
  a 
  snatch 
  of 
  Indian 
  folk 
  song 
  — 
  it 
  related 
  rather 
  to 
  phrenology 
  

   and 
  the 
  doctrine 
  of 
  temperaments. 
  1 
  Then 
  the 
  works 
  of 
  Morgan, 
  of 
  

   Squier 
  and 
  Davis 
  and 
  of 
  Prof, 
  (afterward 
  Sir) 
  Daniel 
  Wilson, 
  came 
  

   before 
  the 
  world, 
  and 
  with 
  those 
  works 
  a 
  new 
  epoch 
  dawned. 
  

  

  When 
  Morgan 
  began 
  his 
  third 
  year's 
  work 
  for 
  the 
  State 
  he 
  seems 
  

   to 
  have 
  entered 
  it 
  with 
  a 
  new 
  spirit, 
  for 
  at 
  this 
  time, 
  feeling 
  the 
  real 
  

  

  1 
  The 
  term 
  " 
  anthropology 
  " 
  was 
  first 
  employed 
  in 
  1501 
  by 
  Magnus 
  Hundt, 
  

   of 
  Marburg, 
  and 
  referred 
  to 
  human 
  anatomy. 
  

  

  