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The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior Department to the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
. But from the start, the bureau's visionary founding director,
John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. H ...
, promoted a broader mission: "to organize anthropologic research in America." Under Powell, the bureau organized research-intensive multi-year projects; sponsored ethnographic,
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and linguistic field research; initiated publications series (most notably its Annual Reports and Bulletins); and promoted the fledgling discipline of
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
. It prepared exhibits for expositions and collected anthropological artifacts for the Smithsonian United States National Museum. In addition, the BAE was the official repository of documents concerning American Indians collected by the various US geological surveys, especially the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region and the Geological Survey of the Territories. It developed a manuscript repository, library and illustrations section that included photographic work and the collection of photographs. In 1897, the Bureau of Ethnology's name changed to the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) to emphasize the geographic limit of its interests, although its staff briefly conducted research in US possessions such as Hawaii and the Philippines. In 1965, the BAE merged with the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology to form the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology within the United States National Museum (now the Department of Anthropology,
National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...
). In 1968, the SOA archives became the National Anthropological Archives.


Research

The BAE's staff included some of America's earliest field anthropologists, including Frank Hamilton Cushing, James Owen Dorsey, Jesse Walter Fewkes,
Alice Cunningham Fletcher Alice Cunningham Fletcher (March 15, 1838 in HavanaApril 6, 1923 in Washington, D.C.) was an American ethnologist, anthropologist, and social scientist who studied and documented American Indian culture. Early life and education Not much is ...
, John N.B. Hewitt, Francis LaFlesche, Cosmos and Victor Mindeleff,
James Mooney James Mooney (February 10, 1861 – December 22, 1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. Known as "The Indian Man", he conducted major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as of tribes on the ...
, William Henry Holmes, Edward Palmer, James Stevenson, and
Matilda Coxe Stevenson Matilda Coxe Stevenson (''née'' Evans) (May 12, 1849 – June 24, 1915), who also wrote under the name Tilly E. Stevenson, was an American ethnologist, geologist, explorer, and activist. She was a supporter of women in science, helping to estab ...
. In the 20th century, the BAE's staff included such anthropologists as
John Peabody Harrington John Peabody Harrington (April 29, 1884 – October 21, 1961) was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the indigenous peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which ...
(a linguist who spent more than 40 years documenting endangered languages),
Matthew Stirling Matthew Williams Stirling (August 28, 1896 – January 23, 1975) was an American ethnologist, archaeologist and later an administrator at several scientific institutions in the field. He is best known for his discoveries relating to the Olmec ...
, and William C. Sturtevant. The BAE supported the work of many non-Smithsonian researchers (known as collaborators), most notably
Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...
, Frances Densmore, Garrick Mallery, Washington Matthews, Paul Radin, Cyrus Thomas and
T.T. Waterman Thomas Talbot Waterman (23 April 1885 – 6 January 1936) was an American anthropologist. Early life Waterman was born in Hamilton, Missouri, and raised in Fresno, California. Education Waterman matriculated University of California, Berkel ...
. The BAE had three subunits: the Mounds Survey (1882–1895); the Institute of Social Anthropology (1943–1952), and the River Basin Surveys (1946–1969).


Mounds survey

At the time the BAE was founded, there was intense controversy over the identity of the Mound Builders, the term for the prehistoric people who had built complex, monumental earthwork
mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically highe ...
s. Archaeologists, both amateur and professional, were divided between believing the mounds were built by passing groups of people who settled in various places elsewhere, or believing they could have been built by Native Americans. Cyrus Thomas, the Bureau's appointed head of the Division of Mound Exploration, eventually published his conclusions on the origins of the mounds in the Bureau's ''Annual Report of 1894.'' It is considered to be the last word in the controversy over the Mound builders' identities. After Thomas' publication, scholars generally accepted that varying cultures of prehistoric
indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, Native Americans, were the Mound builders.


See also

* History of indigenous peoples of North America * Native American history * Moon eyed people * National Anthropological Archives


References

* Fagan, Brian M. ''Ancient North America''. Thames & Hudson. New York, 2005 * Hinsley, Curtis M. 1994. ''The Smithsonian and the American Indian: making a moral anthropology in Victorian America''. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Hodge, Frederick Webb, and Corinne L. Gilb. 1956. ''Frederick Webb Hodge, ethnologist''. Berkeley, Calif: University of California.
* Judd, Neil Merton. ''The Bureau of American Ethnology; a partial history''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. * Thomas, Cyrus
Report on the mound explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology
Pp. 3–730. Twelfth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–91, by J. W. Powell, Director. XLVIII+742 pp., 42 pls., 344 figs. 1894. * Woodbury, Richard B., and Nathalie F. S. Woodbury
"The Rise and Fall of the Bureau of American Ethnology."
Journal of the Southwest, vol. 41, no. 3, 1999, pp. 283–296. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40170100.


External links




National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution


* ttp://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37575968z/date Digitized copies of the BAE Annual Reports at Gallica
Digitized copies of BAE Annual Reports No. 1 - 15
at
Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

Digitized copies of BAE Annual Reports No. 16 - 81
at
Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

Digitized copies of BAE Bulletins No. 1 – 24

Digitized copies of BAE Bulletins No. 25 – 200

Register to the Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution {{Authority control Indigenous peoples of North America History of indigenous peoples of North America Smithsonian Institution Pre-Columbian studies 1879 establishments in the United States Government agencies established in 1879