USNM Curators Annual Reports - Department of Prehistoric Anthropology, 1885 - 1889

What is prehistoric anthropology? In the waning years of the nineteenth century, what was the focus of scientists and scholars engaged in this field of study? This second set of four annual reports describe the work of the curatorial staff in this department, their challenges and accomplishments and the strategic opportunities they thought the Smithsonian should pursue. Please help us to transcribe these reports and make them more easily accessible to researchers delving into the expansion of nineteenth century American Science and its part in worldwide scientific advancement.