USNM CURATORS ANNUAL REPORTS -- Department of Ethnology: Annual Report 1888 – 1889

Did you know that some of the specimens in the Smithsonian’s Department of Ethnology were collected by naval officers? During the 1880s, the Navy Department encouraged officers on cruises around the world to collect and take notes “as might prove of value.” Learn more about the Navy’s contributions to the Smithsonian’s early collections in the Department of Ethnology’s 1888-89 annual curator’s report! Then help transcribe this look into the Smithsonian’s past!