Instructions for Ethnology & Philology

Summary

Secretary Joseph Henry sends Major General Joseph K. Barnes, Surgeon General U.S. Army, a request to distribute copies of a circular of "Instructions for research relative to the Ethnology and Philology of America" to the Medical Officers of the Army stationed at Frontier posts. These instructions were originally prepared by Smithsonian ethnologist George Gibbs, and published in 1863.

Subject

• Henry, Joseph 1797-1878
• Barnes, Joseph K. 1817-1883
• Gibbs, George 1815-1873
• United States. Army
• United States Army Surgeon General

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

• The Annual Report for 1865 (p. 47) mentions preparation of an appendix to these instructions done "during the past year," and as the Annual Report was submitted on May 6, it may be referring to the version sent out through Barnes.
• Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 65, Box 1, 488.
• Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1865 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1872), 47.

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

April 4, 1866

Topic

• Secretaries
• Historians
• Collectors and collecting
• Smithsonian Institution
• Interagency Relations
• Anthropology
• Ethnology
• Philology
• Memorandums
• Volunteers
• Indians of North America

Form/Genre

Circular

Full Record

View Full Record