98 Report of the President 



EXISTING AND EXTINCT RACES OF MEN* 

 Clark Wissler, Curator 



A plan has been developed for a new exhibition hall to 



take the place of that formerly devoted to the general 



prehistoric archaeology of the United States. 



A , n » 1 . quity This new exhibit is to present the main outline 



of Man . . r . 



of the history of culture from its earliest forms 



in palaeolithic time to the era of the historical nations. One- 

 half of the hall will be given to the chronological phases of 

 Old World culture, the remaining half to a similar treat- 

 ment for New World cultures. To complete the series, the 

 adjoining tower room will be occupied by exhibits relating to 

 the classification of the races of mankind and man's evolution. 

 Assistant Curator Nelson prepared the detailed plan for the 

 Old World and has advanced the installation so far that the 

 hall has been reopened to visitors. The sections for the 

 successive periods of palaeolithic culture are in place, as also 

 are those for the neolithic period. The preparation of labels 

 and the specific refinement of the individual exhibits will be 

 the work of the coming year. A few special synoptic exhibits 

 accompany the chronological sections, showing the evolution 

 of the ax, knife, and similar fundamental tools. The com- 

 pletion of this half of the hall will give our visitors unrivaled 

 facilities for the study of Old World chronology, now fully 

 recognized as the foundation to history and the comprehen- 

 sion of civilization. Most of the specimens used are from 

 the R. L. Stuart collection, the G. L. Feuardent collection 

 (1878) and the Andrew Ellicott Douglass collection (1901). 

 There are, however, some unfortunate gaps in the sequential 

 exhibits which we hope to fill with additional collections from 

 Europe. 



* Under the Department of Anthropology (see also pages 216 to 219). 



