Excerpt from Ethnological Directions Relative to the Indian Tribes of the United States

The design of this publication is to direct the attention of the agents of the Indian Bureau and of other officers of the United States Government, and also of all other persons interested in the subject, to those objects and investigations which are desirable for the purpose of representing at the Centennial Exposition the history of culture among the aborigines of America, including the tribes now in existence, and those which are nearly or quite extinct.

The materials to be collected are of four kinds:

1. Specimens now or formerly in actual use.

2. Models, in true proportion, of large or immovable objects.

3. Photographs and drawings of various kinds.

4. Manuscripts and descriptions of objects, customs, institutions of society, laws, beliefs, and forms of worship.

The information sought by these collections relates to -

1. Tribes of men.

2. Their natural and social surroundings.

3. The history and condition of culture among them.

Before enumerating the articles and inquiries in detail, a few words of caution may not be inappropriate.

1. Inasmuch as it is designed to present savage life and condition in all grades and places, care should be taken not to exclude specimens because they are either rude or homely, not to collect with a view to artistic effect merely, and not to rely too much on one's own judgment as to what things are desirable for ethnological study.

2. In describing implements or processes, the most scrupulous adherence to the truth is urged. Every collection should be accompanied by a manuscript catalogue having the collector's name and address attached. Each specimen should bear, on its surface, an ineffaceable number, and the same number should represent it in the manuscript invoice, and upon a label firmly attached to the article. Opposite the number in the invoice, as well as upon the corresponding label, should be written the native and vulgar name of the article, the locality and tribe, the use, the date of collection, the number of pieces belonging to the entry, in short, the full history of the object in as few words as possible.

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