Scope and Contents

In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Mason was largely occupied with organizing and cataloguing the United States National Museum ethnology collections and with installing them in the new building which was opened in 1881. Much of this collection pertains to these USNM specimens. The largest section of the Mason material relates to the basketry collection and includes slipnote catalogues which were sometimes annotated and/or accompanied by photographs. The letters and notes found with the catalogues contain information similar in nature to accession papers on at least six accessions of basketry, including a "Catalog of the Hudson of Indian Products, 1899," and material on the Fred Harvey Collection. Also present are handwritten and typescript notes; extracts from various early sources; letters from dealers, collectors, and anthropologists; clippings; articles and illustrations, and photographs relating to the basket collection and to mortuary customs. The original arrangement of this material into topical series and the arrangement of Mason's notebooks by topic and type of object reflect the topological approach to specimens that characterized Mason's work in this period. The final two series include two books by Mason and honorary diplomas and certificates awarded to him.

It is difficult to determine exactly the dates of most of the material in the Otis T. Mason papers. Only a small percentage of the collection is dated correspondence, the bulk consisting of notes, articles, catalogues, clippings, and illustrations related to the United States National Museum basketry and knife collections and to the topics of "Modes of Travel and Transportation" and "Mortuary Customs." From their content, much of this material seems to date to the late 1870s and 1880s, when Mason was working on these collections. As far as actual dated material goes, Mason's own articles (not counting his collection of articles by other authors) and dated notes and letters cover 1884-1904. The certificates and diplomas date to 1862 and 1881-1905.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in 6 series: (1) Material Relating to the United States National Museum Basketry Collection, circa 1896-1904; (2) Material Relating to Modes of Travel and Transportation, circa 1884-1900; (3) Material Relating to the Knife Collection at the United States National Museum, undated; (4) Information Relating to Mortuary Customs, undated; (5) Bound Volumes, undated; (6) Diplomas and Certificates, 1862, 1881-1905

Biographical / Historical

Mason began his professional career at his alma mater, Columbian University (now George Washington University), where he spent the middle third of his life (1861-1884) as a teacher and principal of the preparatory department. In 1872, Joseph Henry redirected Mason's interest from Eastern Mediterranean studies to American ethnology and introduced Mason to what was to become a 36-year career at the United States National Museum. For the first twelve years, 1872-1884, Mason worked as one of S. F. Baird's unpaid part-time "resident collaborators." His work in this period included preparing the tribal synonymy which later became Hodge's Handbook, preparing exhibit schemes for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, arranging and cataloguing the United States National Museum ethnological collections, and editing the anthropology sections of American Naturalist (1876-1887) and three other serials in ethnology. In 1884, Mason left Columbian University, where he had worked his way up to "Professor of Anthropology," to become the Smithsonian's first full-time curator of Ethnology. In 1902, he became acting head curator and, in 1905, permanent head curator of the Department of Anthropology, serving as curator of the department until his death in 1908.

Cattell, J. McKeen, ed. "The Progess of Science: Otis T. Mason," 74 (Jan 1909): 96-100.

The Evening Star Newspaper Company. "Otis T. Mason Dead." , November 5, 1908.

Hough, Walter. "Otis Tufton Mason," 10, no. 4 (October-December 1908): 661-667.

Hough, Walter. "Mason, Otis T.," In , vol. 12, edited by the American Council of Learned Societies, 370-372. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933.

Hrdlička, Aleš. "Otis Tufton Mason," Science 28, no. 726 (November 27, 1908): 746-748.

White, James Terry, ed. . New York: J. T. White and company, 1900.

, vol. 5. Chicago, Marquis Who's Who, 1908.

Related Materials

Material related to the Otis T. Mason collection can also be found in the Bureau of American Ethnology records and the Department of Anthropology records, including the Division of Ethnology Manuscript and Pamphlet file. The following materials in the National Anthropological Archives series of Numbered Manuscripts are also pertinent:

A.S.W./Anthrop., Hist. of, 4821 (pt.): Box 4. "Anthropology in the District of Columbia..." (39 pages, dated 1906) and two letters pertaining to it.

Anthrop., Hist. of, 49033: "Diary of Otis T. Mason.." from 1 July 1884 to 23 May 1891 (approximately 100 pages).

Arch., U.S., 2431: notes, sketches, and letters used in Smithsonian Annual Reports for 1876-1879 and 1881-1883.

Athapaskan, 173 and Tinne (Kutchin), 169: translation and notes from works of Petitot (total of 68 pages).

Choctaw, 666: revision of Byington's grammar of Choctaw (ca. 1872).

Census, 4289: report on Indian education for the 10th census.

Africa, Morocco, 7083: Choctaw, 4056; Fewkes 4408 (5-a); Mohaven 7036; and Pamunkey, 2218: various letters to Mason containing ethnographic or linguistic information (dated from 1891 to 1893).

In the United States National Museum Manuscript and Pamphlet File, Boxes 4, 14, 20, 35-40, and 70, is material on the topics represented in the Mason papers as well as other material produced by Mason.

The Smithsonian Institution Archives has a small series of copies of letters which Mason wrote to the Smithsonian in 1889 while on a trip in Europe to study museum practices (SIA 7086).