HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Among the objects from Benin, East Africa, there are many bronze 

 figures, ornaments, and tusk stands. Of great interest and value are 

 the four carved ivory tusks, presented by Mr. Archer M. Huntington 

 in 1908. 

 Archeology. From Mediterranean Africa, the Museum has long possessed a 



representative series of flaked material, secured by Mr. Andrew E. 

 Douglass through the kindness of M. Jacques de Morgan. In addition 

 there are a few stone implements from Somali Land, presented by 

 Mr. H. W. Seton-Karr. Recently this nucleus has been augmented 

 by a series of prehistoric flints from ancient village sites in the Fayum 

 Desert, apparently belonging to a later period, probably the Neolithic. 



ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 



Philippine 



Island 



Collection. 



Hawaii. 



Hawaiian 



Cape, 



$2,500. 



Sumatra. 



Samoan 

 Islands. 



The Museum's collection illustrating Philippine ethnology is the 

 largest and most complete in existence. Most of it was contained 

 in the Philippine Exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition, a large part of 

 which was purchased by Mr. Morris K. Jesup and presented to the 

 Museum in 1905. The collection represents the life and industries 

 of all the important tribes. It includes clothing and textile fabrics, 

 household utensils, agricultural implements, fish and game traps, arms, 

 houses, articles of manufacture, and boats and other means of trans- 

 portation. 



The Philippine Exhibit was further enlarged in 1908 by 113 speci- 

 mens collected by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, and a large collection of swords, 

 knives, and spears, presented by Mr. Charles H. Senff. 



The most important specimen in the Hawaiian material is an 

 elaborate feather war cape, known as the "Curran Cape," presented 

 by Mr. George S. Bowdoin in 1908. 



A small ethnological collection was made by Mr. Rudolf Weber 

 on a Museum expedition to the east coast of Sumatra in 1894. 



A general idea of the culture of the Samoan Island peoples is shown 

 in the Zimmermann collection containing 99 specimens, purchased in 

 1906. Among other things it contains a complete outfit for the manu- 



[106] 



