REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1923 45 
Blackie collection was French neolithic material from the Dordogne 
region. We received as an exchange some unusual material from 
A. Barrett who collected it in Tasmania. 
Through the courtesy of Mrs Mary Clapp Curtis we were pre- 
sented with a remarkable collection of Mescalero ethnological 
material collected by her late husband, Dr A. J. Curtis in New 
Mexico, where he was the Indian Agent and Peace Commissioner in 
1870-73 under appointment by President Grant. 
Correspondence and consultation. The archeological section 
of the Museum receives numerous letters requesting information. 
These vary from questions of history and ethnology to requests for 
Indian names and for material for works on history, drama and 
fiction. School teachers and pupils have contributed largely to our 
correspondence. With the numerous requests that have come in 
for addresses, papers and lectures, the office has been kept busy 
with paper work. The burden of all this falls on the Archeologist 
himself. 
We receive numerous calls from teachers, writers, artists, anthro- 
pologists, students and others interested in American Indian arche- 
ology and ethnology. 
Since this office has accumulated considerable information along 
general Indian lines, especially in the subjects of law, education and 
social conditions, it has been consulted by the Attorney Generai’s 
office, the United States Indian Bureau, the Interior Department, 
and other federal and state offices. 
Frequently other museums and historical societies have asked for 
expert assistance or contributions to their reports. We have usually 
been able to meet the request. 
Conferences and inspections. During the year this office has 
participated in the deliberations of the New York State Indian Wel- 
fare Society at the Albany meeting; the New York State Archeolog- 
ical Society at the meetings in Rochester and Albany; the Genesee 
County Historical Federation at Batavia and the New York State 
Historical Society at Lake Placid. In each of these deliberations 
the Archeologist supplied a major paper. 
Inspection and study have been made of the archeological collec- 
tions, especially those of the Algonkian and Iroquoian cultures, in the 
museums of the Buffalo Historical Society, the Holland Land Pur- 
chase Historical Society, the Ontario County Historical Society and 
the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 
Literary contributions have also been made to the Buffalo His- 
torical Society, the History of Buffalo, the History of the Genesee 
