INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The importance of conducting ethnological research among the North American Indians was recognized by the United States Government as early as 1795, when Leonard S. Shaw was appointed deputy agent among the Cherokee, and was instructed by the then Secretary of War to study their language and home life and to collect materials for an Indian history. The Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 was planned by President Jefferson, who expressly instructed the members of the expedition to collect ethnological data on the Indians. During much of his life Jefferson manifested a deep interest in the ethnology of the American tribes and contributed many papers on them which are of scientific value even to-day. In 1820 Rev. Jedidiah Morse was commissioned to ascertain for the use of the Government "the actual state of the Indian tribes" of America. Schoolcraft’s works on the Indian tribes were aided by the Government; the War Department had made many expeditions and surveys in the West, and had published papers relating to the western districts; the cliff dwellings, pueblos, and tribes of the Mississippi Valley had been described by the Hayden survey; Maj. J. W. Powell, as chief of the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain region, had studied and published his results on the tribes of the Rio Colorado region; but as yet no systematic research had commenced.
In 1877 began the publication of a series of ethnologic reports in quarto form under the title "Contributions to North American Ethnology." After the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain region was merged in the United States Geological Survey, provisions were made by Congress to continue the ethnologic researches and publications, and in 1879 the Bureau of Ethnology was organized and placed under the supervision of the Smithsonian Institution. Prof. Spencer F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, selected Maj. J. W. Powell as the person most suitable to be the director of the new bureau.
Since its inception in 1879, the bureau, by the publication of its annual reports, bulletins, and contributions, and by answering questions of correspondents relative to Indian tribes, has continually helped to diffuse knowledge, and to make itself known in every civilized country in the world.
The strictly scientific results accomplished by the Bureau of American Ethnology relate to every department of anthropologic science—somatological, psychological, linguistic, sociologic, religious, technic, and esthetic—and are embodied principally in the annual reports, though much of this material is to be found in the bulletins and contributions. Among the practical results accomplished are: "(1) A study of the relations, location, and numbers of the tribes, and their classification into groups or families, based on affinity in language—a necessary basis for dealing with the tribes practically or scientifically; (2) a study of the numerous sociologic, religious, and industrial problems involved, an acquaintance with which is essential to the intelligent management of the tribes in adjusting them to the requirements of civilization; (3) a history of the relations of Indian and white races embodied in a volume on land cessions; (4) investigation into the physiology, medical practices, and sanitation of a people who suffer keenly from imperfect adaptation to the new conditions imposed on them; (5) the preparation of bibliographies embodying all works relating to the tribes; (6) a study of their industrial and economic resources; (7) a study of the antiquities of the country with a view to their record and preservation; (8) a handbook of the tribes, embodying, in condensed form, the accumulated information of many years";[2] (9) the preservation of texts in aboriginal languages which are fast disappearing along with the culture to which they belong, and thus providing students and those engaged in commercial enterprises with the means of acquiring these languages; and (10) the publication of a series of handbooks on tribes of different geographical areas compiled and collated by the highest available authorities.
Maj. J. W. Powell, the director and founder of the Bureau of American Ethnology, died September 23, 1902, and on October 11 of the same year Mr. W. H. Holmes was appointed to succeed him, with the title of “chief of the bureau.” Mr. Holmes remained in office for nearly 9 years. On January 1, 1910, he severed his official connection with the bureau in order to resume his place as head curator of anthropology in the United States National Museum, and to become the curator of the National Gallery of Art. Mr. F. W. Hodge was designated to assume the administration of the bureau under the title "ethnologist in charge," which position he occupied until March 1, 1918. On that day Mr. Hodge resigned in order to accept a position in the Museum of the American Indian (Heye Foundation), and Dr. J. Walter Fewkes was appointed chief of the bureau. Doctor Fewkes continued in office until January 15, 1928, when, shortly before his death, he retired. Mr. Matthew W. Stirling, the present chief, entered upon his duties as chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology on August 1, 1928. In addition to the chief, the scientific staff of the bureau comprises, in 1931, seven ethnologists, viz., Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, Mr. J. P. Harrington, Dr. Truman Michelson, Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, jr., Dr. W. D. Strong, Dr. John R. Swanton, and Dr. W. M. Walker. Besides the seven ethnologists there are numerous others who are not directly connected with the bureau, but who contribute or have contributed from time to time to the annual reports. These may be classed as collaborators and contributors. The collaborator of the bureau is Miss Frances Densmore, whose special field of study is Indian music. The contributors[3] are: Martha Warren Beckwith, Franz Boas, Biren Bonnerjea, John G. Bourke, Ruth L. Bunzel, Stewart Culin, Jeremiah Curtin, Frank H. Cushing, William H. Dall, Edwin Thompson Denig, Frances Densmore, J. Owen Dorsey, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Alice C. Fletcher, Gerard Fowke, Thomas Gann, Albert S. Gatschet, Melvin Randolph Gilmore, H. K. Haeberlin, J. P. Harrington, H. W. Henshaw, J. N. B. Hewitt, W. J. Hoffman, E. S. Holden, W. H. Holmes, Aleš Hrdlička, George Hunt, Albert Ernest Jenks, Francis La Flesche, Clay MacCauley, W. J. McGee, Garrick Mallery, Washington Matthews, Truman Michelson, C. Mindeleff, V. Mindeleff, James Mooney, Earl H. Morris, M. A. Muñiz, John Murdoch, William Edward Myer, E. W. Nelson, Elsie Clews Parsons, J. C. Pilling, J. W. Powell, Paul Radin, Stephen R. Riggs, Helen H. Roberts, Walter E. Roth, C. C. Royce, Frank Russell, Erminnie A. Smith, Frank G. Speck, Elsie Viault Steedman, James Stevenson, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, John R. Swanton, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, James A. Teit, Cyrus Thomas, Lucien M. Turner, Leslie A. White, George P. Winship, and H. C. Yarrow.
The first annual report for the fiscal year 1879-80 was published in royal octavo form, and since then one annual report has been published for each fiscal year, except for the fiscal years 1919-1924, for which only one volume was issued (forty-first annual report), and they are all in royal octavo form. Until 1895 the reports were specially authorized by Congress, usually through concurrent resolutions, but since that date they have been issued under authority of the public printing law, approved January 12, 1895. At the close of the fiscal year 1930 forty-six annual reports have appeared (the fourteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty-second, and thirty-fifth, each in two parts or volumes), in all 52 volumes. The forty-seventh annual report (included in the index volume) is in the final proof form, and the forty-eighth annual report (general index) is in preparation.
The present (1931) maximum edition of the annual reports is 4,204, not including a few copies, generally between 100 and 500, ordered by the Superintendent of Documents for sale. Of the 4,204 copies the Bureau of American Ethnology receives 3,500 copies; the remaining 704 copies are distributed to Government libraries, etc. The quota (3,500 copies) allowed to the bureau is distributed free of charge, mainly to libraries and institutions of learning, and to collaborators and others engaged in anthropological research or in instruction. Nearly all annual reports are out of print.