Prof. [Cyrus Thomas] was engaged during the year, except the few weeks he was in the field, in the preparation of his general report and in correspondence relating to the archeology of the district before specified. He also finished a paper published in the Sixth Annual Report of this Bureau under the title, “Aids to the study of the Maya Codices,” and a special report on the “Burial mounds of the northern sections of the United States.” The latter has appeared in the Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau.
Mrs. [V. L. Thomas], in addition to her duties as clerk, has been employed in preparing a catalogue of the ancient works in that part of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. This catalogue, now nearly complete, is intended to give the localities and character of all the antiquities in the region mentioned, including discoveries which have been noted in publications, as well as those mentioned in the reports of work done under the Bureau.
Mr. [James C. Pilling] continued to give a large share of his time and attention throughout the year to the “Bibliography of the languages of the North American Indians,” which has been adverted to in previous reports. The advance “proofsheets” of this work, printed in the last fiscal year, were distributed to collaborators and have been the means of obtaining the active cooperation of many persons throughout this and other countries who are interested in linguistic and bibliographic science. They have thus elicited a large number of additions, corrections, suggestions, and criticisms, all of which have received careful consideration.
Mr. [Frank H. Cushing] was engaged in the preparation, from the large amount of Zuñi material collected by him during several years, of papers upon the language, mythology, and institutions of that people.
Mrs. [Erminnie A. Smith] continued her study of the Iroquoian languages. The first part of her final contribution on the subject was intended to be a Tuscarora grammar and dictionary. The first portion of the dictionary was completed, and had been forwarded to the Bureau when her sudden and lamented death occurred on June 9, 1886, at her home in Jersey City. Her former assistant, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, of Tuscarora descent, has been engaged to complete the work she so successfully began, and it is expected that the results of her long labors in the field will be published without delay.
Mr. [Charles C. Royce] resigned his connection with the Bureau in the early part of the year, thereby delaying the completion of the work upon the primal title of the Indian tribes to lands within the United States and the methods of procuring their relinquishment, the scope and value of which have before been explained. Mr. Royce, before his departure from Washington, completed a paper on the “Cherokee Nation of Indians,” which has appeared in the Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau.
Dr. [H. C. Yarrow] was still engaged in preparing the material for the final volume upon the mortuary customs of the North American Indians, in the prosecution of which the large amount of information received and obtained from various sources has been carefully classified and arranged under proper divisions, so that the manuscript is now being rapidly put into shape for publication.
Dr. [Washington Matthews], U.S. Army, continued to prepare for publication the copious notes obtained by him during former years in the Navajo country, his chief work being upon a grammar and dictionary of the Navajo language. He also wrote several papers, one of which, a “Chant upon the Mountains,” has been published in the Fifth Annual Report.
Mr. [W. H. Holmes] continued his work in the office during the year, superintending the illustration of the various publications of the Bureau. His scientific studies have been confined principally to the field of American archeologic art. Two fully illustrated papers have been finished and have appeared in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau. They are upon “Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia,” and “A study of the textile art in its relations to the development of form and ornament.” Mr. Holmes has, in addition, continued his duties as curator of aboriginal pottery in the National Museum.
Mr. [Victor Mindeleff], when not in the field, prepared reports on the Tusayan and Cibola architectural groups. These, when completed, are to be fully illustrated by a series of plans and drawings now being prepared from the field-notes and other material. In this work it is proposed to discuss the architecture in detail, particularly in the case of the modern pueblos, where many of the constructional devices of the old builders still survive. The examination of these details will be found to throw light on obscure features of many ruined pueblos whose state of preservation is such as to exhibit but little detail in themselves.