Gifts.
Mrs. Richard Waln Meirs, North American Indian Collection.
Mr. and Mrs. Hampton L. Carson, a group of North American Indian specimens.
Mrs. Charles S. Leiper, a North American Indian pipe and pipe bag.
Mr. Moyer Fleisher, twenty-four North American Indian specimens.
Dr. William Pepper, three North American Indian baskets.
Mr. Morton L. Shamberg, through Mr. Charles R. Sheeler, Jr., three carved wooden statues from Central Africa, and one from Easter Island.
Mrs. F. A. Packard, a native knitted cap from the Congo.
Dr. Charles D. Hart, three Siamese coins.
Mrs. Alfred E. Benners, Jr., a carved rhinoceros horn cup from China.
Mr. Wilson Eyre, Jr., a Chinese painting.
Mr. Emile Tabbagh, a page of illuminated script.
The Walter E. Hering Gift. Under this gift the University of Pennsylvania has received securities to the value of $75,000, in which the Museum enjoys an equal share with the Walter E. Hering Students’ Aid Fund.
Purchases.
A Chinese bronze vase inlaid with malachite; Han Dynasty.
A pair of Chun Yao flower pots together with a tall Chun Yao vase. These three ceramic products of the Sung Dynasty, which form a group by themselves, have been exhibited for some months at the Museum.
A blue hawthorn plum jar of the K’ang Hsi Period.
A pair of carved wooden doors, a pair of painted wooden doors, four pieces of pottery and three bronze vessels from Persia.
Three antique gold ornaments from Central America.
Manuscripts.
A study of the Kekchi language of Guatemala in the form of a text in the native tongue with an English translation, copiously annotated, by Robert Burkitt.
Texts of the Kaibab Paiutes and Uintah Utes; a large collection of native myths and folk lore in the Indian dialects with English translation, by Edward Sapir.
Eleven reproductions of plates from the Codice Kingsborough in the British Museum. These eleven plates are an epitome of the long series that illustrate the Memorial or Petition of the Indians of Tepetlaoztoc (near Texcuco) to the King of Spain, about 1550. The Indians had been sorely ill treated and robbed by the Spanish officials set over them by Cortez and at last appealed to the King, after twenty-seven years of endurance, with a full statement of the circumstances, including the history of the town and their chiefs, told in their own way.
The Director left on April 19th for London. It is probable that he will remain abroad until autumn. During his absence the Secretary, Miss Jane M. McHugh, is in charge at the Museum.
In the last number of the JOURNAL we announced the return from Venezuela of Mr. Theodoor de Booy, who since May of last year, was Assistant Curator in the Museum. In the same issue was printed Mr. de Booy’s account of his journey and the discovery of the Macoa Indians. It is with great regret that we now record the death of Mr. de Booy which took place unexpectedly at Yonkers, New York, on February 18th. Mr. de Booy’s death deprives American archaeology and ethnology of one of the enthusiastic investigators in these fields of research. He had made many journeys to the West Indies and South America, the scientific results of which are very well known.
Dr. William C. Farabee who entered the service of the country in June, 1918, and who later was appointed Ethnographer for the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, has now returned to the Museum.
Mr. Louis Shotridge has returned from Southeastern Alaska where he has been at work on behalf of the Museum for the last foul years. The results obtained by Mr. Shotridge, both in the matter of collections and records, constitute an important body of material. Mr. Shotridge’s task will be to put this matter in order and render it accessible to students of American ethnology and to those who are interested in American art and craftsmanship.
The members of the Egyptian Expedition have been engaged since the beginning of the Armistice upon assembling and preparing for shipment the Museum’s share of the collections obtained during the last four years. These collections are now stored in Cairo and await a favourable time for shipment. The house and equipment of the Expedition at Memphis have been kept in order with a view to resuming the excavations there in the near future.
The following publications of the Babylonian Section are now in press.
SELECTED SUMERIAN AND BABYLONIAN TEXTS. By Henry F. Lutz
SUMERIAN LITURGIES AND PSALMS. By Stephen Langdon.
LISTS OF SUMERIAN PERSONAL NAMES. By Edward Chiera.
During the months of April and May, 9,180 school children attended the afternoon talks which were given for them in the Auditorium of the Museum.
The first session of the Annual Meeting of the American Association of the Museums was held in the Auditorium of the Museum on the morning of May 17th.
Owing to war conditions the March nUmber of the Journal was omitted, and the present number is a double number.