Scope and Contents

These papers reflect the activities of the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C. (ASW) for the years 1879 through 1993. The collection includes the constitution and by-laws; minutes of meetings, including abstracts of papers read; correspondence; reports of the Curator; records of the Treasurer; records of the Secretary; data concerning ASW history abstracted from its records; publications of the ASW; publications relating to the history of the ASW and its affiliates; publications by and about early members of the ASW which have been placed in different National Anthropological Archives' (NAA) collections; Secretary's records (1950 - 1976); records of the Treasurer (1953 - 1975); records and photographs regarding the exhibit "Anthropology and the Nation's Capitol"; sound recordings (1971, 1974); records of the Secretary, (1920 - 1923; John P. Harrington); general and financial records (1977 - 1992); and, records of the President (1991 - 1993; William C. Sturtevant).

Portions of the collection were donated to the NAA at different times. Series One through Ten comprised the original donation which was made in 1968. The second deposit, Series Eleven through Sixteen, and the third deposit, Series Seventeen, were made at later dates. The entire collection is comprised of thirty-two boxes of material.

The records concern ASW organization, membership and management. Records of its early meetings include not only minutes but also summaries - and, at times, almost complete papers - of talks and discussions. Often the speakers wrote these manuscripts. There are also some documents concerning the national and local developments in which the ASW was involved. In addition, documents of the 1950s and 1960s concern special publications and special programs that often involved appearances by outstanding anthropologists from outside Washington. Persons whose correspondence and other materials are in the records include Lewis Allen, William H. Babcock, Frank Baker, Ralph L. Beals, John W. Bennett, Margaret C. Blaker, Daniel G. Brinton, Franz Boas, John G. Bourke, Robert J. Braidwood, Solon J. Buck, George F. Carter, Joseph B. Casagrande, John M. Cooper, Stewart Culin, Frank H. Cushing, Frances Densmore, George Devereux, George A. Dorsey, Cora Du Bois, George S. Duncan, Loren C. Eiseley, Clifford Evans, William N. Fenton, J. Walter Fewkes, Regina Flannery, Alice C. Fletcher, Robert H. Fletcher, Weston Flint, Daniel Folkmar, Theodore Gaus, Thomas F. Gladwin, Pliny E. Goddard, Joseph H. Greenberg, William C. Haag, Alfred I. Hallowell, Paul Haupt, J. N. B. Hewitt, Frederick Webb Hodge, Walter Hough, Ales Hrdlicka, Olive E. Hite, William Henry Jackson, Neil M. Judd, Clyde Kluckhohn, Eugene I. Knez, Margaret L. Lantis, Thomas J. Larson, Carl Lumholtz, Arthur MacDonald, Bela C. Maday, Otis T. Mason, R. H. Mathews, Washington Matthews, George C. Maynard, Ernst Mayr, Betty J. Meggars, John C. Merriam, Truman Michelson, Warren K. Moorehead, WJ McGee, Joseph D. McGuire, James Mooney, George P. Murdock, Marshall T. Newman, P. B. Pierce, Eric K. Reed, Saul H. Riesenberg, Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., Adolph H. Schultz, Frank M. Setzler, Lauriston Sharp, Antonio Carlos Simoens da Silva, Albert C. Spaulding, Frederick Starr, Julian H. Steward, T. Dale Stewart, Willima Duncan Strong, William C. Sturtevant, John R. Swanton, Robert M. Tatum, Cyrus Thomas, William Wallace Tooker, George L. Trager, L. B. Tuckerman, Waldo R. Wedel, J. S. Weiner, Erminie Wheeler Voeglin, Leslie A. White, Arnold M. Withers, and Richard B. Woodbury.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Arrangement

Historical note

The Anthropological Society of Washington (ASW) was founded in a series of meetings beginning February 10, 1879. It was formally organized on February 17, 1879. On December 13, 1887, it was incorporated in the District of Columbia. According to its original charter, its purpose was to encourage "the study of the natural history of man, especially with reference to America". Membership was open to all who were interested in anthropology. There was some discussion as to a name for the society; some favored the title "The Archaeological and Ethnological Society," but the name "The Anthropological Society of Washington" was finally adopted.

It was provided that all business of the Society should be conducted by a council, afterward called a board of managers. In this way the Society's meetings, except the annual meetings when officers were elected, could be devoted entirely to anthropologic work. The vice-presidents were the officers on whom mainly depended the work of the Society. They presided over their respective sections and represented them in the council, and papers pertaining to the subject of a particular section were referred to the council by the vice-president representing that section.

Founded in 1879, only ten years later, the ASW boasted a membership of over 200 individuals. From its beginning, the ASW has been essentially a local organization serving the needs of anthropologists in the capital city. Since government-sponsored anthropology centered in Washington - in the earlier days largely at the Smithsonian Institution, and, later, extending to other agencies and, in the 20th century, to local area universities - the talks and discussions have involved leading anthropologists involved in original work at the forefront of their disciplines. It followed that ASW's early membership, in spite of its essentially local nature, was nationally and internationally known. Furthermore, in the "American Anthropologist", the ASW established the first American journal of national scope concerned exclusively with anthropology, and the publication provided an outlet for anthropologists throughout the country.

During the early decades of the twentieth century, with the American Ethnological Society (AES) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its Section H (Anthropology), the ASW played a role in the founding of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the organization to become the major national organization for English-speaking North American anthropologists. The influence of the Washingtonians was particularly evident in the fact that the AAA became a general membership organization rather than restricted to professionals. Arrangements were thus possible for ASW membership to bring automatic AAA affiliation, a fact allowing the ASW, with its large nonprofessional membership, to exert considerable influence over the national organization. Before AAA establishment, Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science moved to make the "American Anthropologist" a truly national journal in 1898. The "Anthropologist" was placed under two owners, (WJ McGee, of Washington, and Franz Boas, of New York) and a board of managers drawn from anthropologists of Washington and other major cities. With the founding of the AAA in 1902, it took over the journal as the official organ of the AAA, ASW, and AES.

Yet another instance of ASW influence came during the 1940's, when many anthropologists were in federal service. It was these anthropologists who perceived AAA weakness: its large nonprofessional membership and its failure to bring many professionals onto its roster. They readily understood these as handicaps in influencing post-World War II federal policies affecting the social sciences. ASW initially provided the manpower, forum, and funds for a drive toward a more professional association. The ASW did this despite adjustments in its relations with the AAA that, of necessity, followed.

On the local scene, ASW was a founding organization of the Joint Commission of Scientific Societies, which eventually developed into the Washington Academy of Sciences. In 1899, it absorbed the members of the Washington-based Women's Anthropological Society of America. It also played a part in founding the Social Science Federation of Washington. In addition, the ASW became involved in movements of local interest that ranged from opposition to the anti-vivisectionism of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to an interest in the George Washington Memorial Fund and the improvement of the dwellings of the poor.