138 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 
with their original geographical relations. Owing to the 
crowded condition of the department, and through the rapidity 
of its growth, it has been found, however, impracticable to 
nraintain for the present a satisfactory order. As a consequence, 
the order in which the collections are found will not be the best 
one in which to study them. 
Origin of Collections. — As to their origin the exhibits may 
be grouped in three principal categories: (1) Collections made 
for the World’s Columbian Exposition by its Anthropological 
Department and turned' over to the Museum at the close of 
the Fair; (2) Collections from various sources exhibited by 
the owners at the World’s Fair, in the Anthropological Build- 
ing and elsewhere, and acquired by the Museum by gift or pur- 
chase; (3) Collections not shown at the Fair, but acquired by 
gift, collection or purchase, subsequent to the foundation of 
the Museum. 
In this first group are many important collections secured 
as the result of investigations undertaken for the World’s Fair 
under the direction of Professor F. W. Putnam. The archaeo- 
logical collections thus obtained are those made by W. K. 
Moorehead, in the Little Miami valley and Ross county, Ohio; 
Ernest Volk in New Jersey, Harlan I. Smith in Michigan, C. L. 
Metz in Ohio, E. H. Thompson in Yucatan, M. H. Saville and 
J. G. Owens in Central Am, erica. Lieutenant J. P. Scrivin in 
Costa Rica, and G. A. Dorsey in Peru, Ecuador, Chili and Bo- 
livia. The ethnological collections include those made on the 
North Pacific Coast by Deans, Jacobson, Eells, Swan, Morrison 
and Hunt, all under the personal direction of Dr. Franz Boas; 
by Isaac Cowie, among the Cree; by E. F. Wilson, among the 
Assiniboin; by J. M. McLean, among the Blackfeet; and by 
F. P. Hall among the Ojibwa. 
Of the collections of the World’s Fair exhibits which were 
obtained by gift or purchase the following are the most impor- 
tant: Of those by gift, the extensive collection from Mr. Ed- 
ward E. Ayer which comprises ethnological material from the 
Northwest Coast, California, the Southwest, the Plains, and 
archaeological material from California, the Great Lakes region, 
the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, and Mexico, is the most im- 
portant. Valuable collections were also donated by the govern- 
ments of British Guiana, Mexico and Nicaragua. Collections 
