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Show To help give perspective and assist one to understand events that have occurred in a particular American nation, or that pertain to a certain group of Indians, it is sometimes useful to compare the experiences of one nation or one tribe with another. During the Colonial period Spanish Indian policy might be quite different than that of the French or English, and it may be enlightening to ask why, to compare in some detail particular relationships, and to determine the reasons Frenchmen responded differently to Englishmen or Spaniards in those instances. The Inter-American Indian Institute has filled a variety of needs since its organization that includes the possibility of making comparisons based on the information secured by the Institute in the process of fulfilling its purposes. The need for such an organization was discussed in the decades following 1900. Resolutions in consideration of possible solutions to Indian matters of continental significance were adopted at the Seventh and Eighth International Conferences of American States held in 1933 and 1938, and at Patzcuaro, Mexico, in 1940 representatives of American nations gathered to effect the organization of the Inter-American Indian Institute (III). An article by John Collier (1940) is included here to provide background and give purposes for the establishment of the III. An editorial by Dr. Miguel Leon-Portilla (1965) is also included to describe the projects undertaken during 25 years as well as the publications of the Institute (two periodicals, America Indigena and Boletin Indigen-is ta, and various special publications). li |