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214 First St. S.E. Washington D.C.
July 14, 1903

Prof. W.H. Holmes
Chief, Bureau of Ethnology

Dear Sir:

In response to your letter of July [[?]] received today, asking me to prepare for the Bureau a brief sketch of the history of my work for the Bureau in its relation to the manuscripts for which payments have been made, I beg leave to submit the following statement.

In 1897, pursuant to conversations with Maj. J. N. Powell concerning the work I was then doing and that which I planned to do among the Pawnee, and with the consent of Prof. F. N. Putnam of Harvard University under whom I hold my Fellowship, the following arrangement was made.  That expenses in the field and in the preparation of the materials gathered should be covered through the purchase of my manuscripts by the Bureau of Ethnology and that their publication should take place at such time as I could revise the proof.  This agreement has been carried out in reference to the Hako Manuscripts.  Vouchers of March 1. and December 22d 1900, and July 5, 1902 $1250.00 in all, cover expenses incurred during these years in field work & in the preparation of the material in the manuscripts entitled The Hako, now being printed in the 22d Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

Voucher Dec 18 and 26, 1901, were for field work during 1901 and 1902 - in the study of the Star Cult of the Pawnee.  This [[?]] was the objective point of my years of work upon this tribe.  Up to the early part of the last century the Pawnee practiced human sacrifice to the Morning Star, and my purpose

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