OCR Text |
Show ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XIX OFFICE RESEARCH WORK IN ESTHETOLOGY Mr Frank Hamilton Cushing has continued the study and arrangement of his collections of aboriginal handiwork from western Florida, and has made progress in the preparation of a report on the prehistoric key- dwellers of the eastern shore of Gulf of Mexico. During the greater part of the year the collections were kept in the Museum of Archaeology of the University of Pennsylvania, where they were shipped on account of the inadequate space then afforded by the National Museum for unpacking and assembling; toward the end of the fiscal year, as the capacity of the Museum was increased by the introduction of galleries, the greater part of the collection was brought to Washington and arranged in cases and on tables for purposes of comparison and study. In the course of his work Mr Cushing has made extensive comparisons between his specimens and those obtained by other archseolo-gists from different portions of the United States, and the comparative studies are highly significant. The Florida collections are rendered exceptionally valuable by reason of the large number of specimens made from and decorated with animal and vegetal substances, which are ordinarily perishable, though preserved in high perfection in the muck beds associated with the Florida Keys. Accordingly, the material serves better than any other collection thus far made to connect the records of the early explorers with the observations of later times; at the same time it serves to round out knowledge concerning the pre- Columbian handiwork of the Indians in all of the softer, more flexible, and more easily destructible substances, and, accordingly, permits comparison of designs wrought in a wide range of materials. Dr J. Walter Fewkes has continued the preparation of reports on his archaeologic researches in Arizona and New Mexico. These researches were undertaken primarily for the purpose of enriching the collections of aboriginal art products in the National Museum. The large collections embrace a remarkably complete series of primitive designs and motives in |