HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 
Joint Ex- 
pedition of 
Peabody 
Museum and 
American 
Museum of 
Natural 
History, 
1894. 
Expedition 
to Colombia, 
1899-1901. 
HONDURAS 
An expedition to Honduras was made in cooperation with the 
Peabody Museum of Cambridge, the Peabody Museum having a con- 
cession from the government of Honduras permitting archseological 
researches. The work, which was in charge of Mr. George Byron 
Gordon, was carried on at the prehistoric ruins of Copan, and as its 
portion of the finds the Museum received a number of interesting 
sculptures in stone, besides a collection of small objects in pottery 
and stone. A series of molds were taken of the sculptures and hiero- 
glyphs of the great stairway of the temple in Copan, and facsimiles 
made for this Museum through funds provided by the Duke of Loubat. 
The Museum's share of the expedition's expense was subscribed for 
by the Duke of Loubat and Messrs. William C. Whitney and Morris K. 
Jesup. 
OTHER COUNTRIES 
Through the interest and generous support of the patrons of the 
Department of Anthropology, the Museum has acquired important 
collections from South America, northeastern Siberia, China, Africa, 
the Andaman Islands, the Philippine Islands, and the islands of the 
Pacific Ocean. 
SOUTH AMERICA 
The collections from South America are particularly rich in material 
illustrating the culture of the prehistoric peoples of Peru and Bolivia. 
The recent acquisition of a collection from the Indians of the Amazon 
River region greatly increased our representation of the modern 
tribes, so that now our collections illustrate, to some degree, at least. 
South American ethnology from Colombia to Terra del Fuego. 
The collections from Colombia include a general exhibition series 
arranged to show the life and industries, and a large collection of 
objects in pottery, stone, and shell, a great part of which was collected 
by Dr. Francis C. Nicholas on an expedition maintained by Mr. Morris 
[98] 
