The Peabody Museum resulted from a gift of George Peabody, an American banker living in London, who instituted it in 1866 as a part of Harvard University.[1923] It was fortunate in its first curator, Dr. Jeffries Wyman, who brought unusual powers of comprehensive scrutiny to its work.[1924] He died in 1874, and was succeeded by one of his and of Agassiz’s pupils, Frederick W. Putnam, who was also placed in the chair of archæology in the university in 1886. The Reports, now twenty-two in number, and the new series of Special Papers are among the best records of progress in archæological science.
The creation of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846, under the bequest of an Englishman, James Smithson, and the devotion of a sum of about $31,000 a year at that time arising from that gift, first put the government of the United States in a position “to increase and diffuse knowledge among men.”[1925]
The second Report of the Regents in 1848 contains approvals of a manuscript by E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis, which had been offered to the Institution for publication, and which had been commended by Albert Gallatin, Edward Robinson, John Russell Bartlett, W. W. Turner, S. G. Morton, and George P. Marsh. Thus an important archæological treatise, The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations (Washington, 1848), became the first of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. The subsequent volumes of the series have contained other important treatises in similar fields. Foremost among them may be named those of Squier on the Aboriginal Monuments of New York (vol. ii., 1851); Col. Whittlesey on The Ancient Works in Ohio (vol. iii., 1852); S. R. Riggs’ Dakota Grammar and Dictionary (vol. iv., 1852); I. A. Lapham’s Antiquities of Wisconsin (vol. vii., 1855); S. F. Haven’s Archæology of the United States (vol. viii., 1856); Brantz Mayer’s Mexican History and Archæology (vol. ix., 1857); Whittlesey on Ancient Mining on Lake Superior (vol. xiii., 1863); Morgan’s Systems of Consanguinity of the human family (vol. xvii., 1871);—not to name lesser papers. To supplement this quarto series, another in octavo was begun in 1862, called Miscellaneous Collections; and in this form there have appeared J. M. Stanley’s Catalogue of portraits of No. Amer. Indians (vol. ii., 1862); a Catalogue of photographic portraits of the No. Amer. Indians (vol. xiv., 1878).
Of much more interest to the anthropologist has been the series of Annual Reports with their appended papers,—such as Squier on The Antiquities of Nicaragua (1851); W. W. Turner on Indian Philology (1852); S. S. Lyon on Antiquities from Kentucky (1858), and many others.
The sections of correspondence and minor papers in these reports soon began to include communications about the development of archæological research in various localities. They began to be more orderly arranged under the sub-heading of Ethnology in the Report for 1867, and this heading was changed to Anthropology in the Report for 1879. Charles Rau (d. 1887) had been a leading contributor in this department, and no. 440 of the Smithsonian publications was made up of his Articles on Anthropological Subjects, contributed from 1863 to 1877 (Washington, 1882). No. 421 is Geo. H. Boehmer’s Index to Anthropological Articles in the publications of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, 1881). Among the later papers those of O. T. Mason of the Anthropological Department of the National Museum are conspicuous.
The last series is the Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, placed by Congress in the charge of the Smithsonian. The Reports of the American Historical Association will soon be begun under the same auspices.
Major J. W. Powell, the director of the Bureau of Ethnology, said that its purpose was “to organize anthropologic research in America.”[1926] It published its first report in 1881, and this and the later reports have had for contents, beside the summary of work constituting the formal report, the following papers:—
Vol. i.: J. W. Powell. The evolution of language.—Sketch of the mythology of the North American Indians.—Wyandot government.—On limitations to the use of some anthropologic data.—H. C. Yarrow. A further contribution to the study of mortuary customs among the North American Indians.—E. S. Holden. Studies in Central American picture-writing.—C. C. Royce. Cessions of land by Indian tribes to the United States: illustrated by those in Indiana.—G. Mallery. Sign language among North American Indians compared with that among other peoples and deaf-mutes.—J. C. Pilling. Catalogue of linguistic manuscripts in the library.—Illustration of the method of recording Indian languages. From the manuscripts of J. O. Dorsey, A. S. Gatschet, and S. R. Riggs.
Vol. ii.: F. H. Cushing. Zuñi fetiches.—Mrs. E. A. Smith. Myths of the Iroquois.—H. W. Henshaw. Animal carvings from mounds of the Mississippi Valley.—W. Matthews. Navajo silversmiths.—W. H. Holmes. Art in shell of the ancient Americans.—J. Stevenson. Illustrated catalogue of the collections obtained from the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona in 1879;—Illustrated catalogue of the collections obtained from the Indians of New Mexico in 1880.