First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1879-1880, Government Printing Office 1881

A concise government report from the late nineteenth‑century, this volume records the first year of the Bureau of Ethnology’s work under the Smithsonian’s direction. It presents the official account of field investigations, especially those tied to the Colorado River explorations and earlier geological surveys, and explains how congressional funding shaped the study of North American Indigenous peoples. Written in the formal tone of a director’s correspondence, it also lists the many assistants and collaborating scientists whose labor underpinned the early discipline of American anthropology.

The book is followed by ten scholarly papers that expand on topics such as language documentation, mortuary customs, and sign‑language observations, each accompanied by period illustrations. Modern editors have preserved unusual phonetic symbols and Greek transliterations, providing helpful pop‑ups for today’s reader while keeping the original layout intact. Listeners will gain a clear picture of how early ethnologists gathered data, classified cultures, and reported findings to the nation’s leading scientific institution.