Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-04
SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF MAN

Thirty-three years ago the 7th Of
this month an advertisement was insert
ed in the Washington
organization newspapers which read
r.u as follows: MANY per-
sons interested in Ameri-
can archaeology have expressed q desire
Tor an organization in this city to pro-
mote, study and diffuse knowledge upon
the subject. All willing to join the archeo-
logical association are requested to at
tend q meeting at the Smithsonian Instf-
tuition Monday evening, the 10th instant,
at $3.50 o'clock, for a conference upon the
subject and the formation of such so
ciety." The announcement was signed
by DR.. ]. NJ. Toner. Prof. Otis T. Mason
and Col. Garrick Mallery. U. S. A.
That was the first call sounded for the
purpose of bringing together those In
terested in archaeological work. More
than that, 1t was among the fir.t of the
calls which. during the past forty years.
have resulted in the organization OF near
ly q score of scientific societies here.
That call was answered by twenty-five
persons, including not only scientists d.
rectly connected with the various gov
ernmental branches here, but physicians.
army and navy men and others. A COM
mittee was appointed to draft consti-
tuition, to be reported at meeting to be
held one week later. At that time, Feb
ruary II, the constitution was read, and,
in part, adopted. The name chosen was
the Anthropological Society Of Washing
ton. The, name anthropological was
chosen despite the use of the word archeo-
logical in the announcements fact due
to the organizing at the time Of the
Archaeological Institute Of America in
Boston. Since that time a Washington
branch of the latter organization has
been formed here.
According to Dr. Daniel S. Lamb, for
mer president of the Anthropological So
ciety, there are but two
Only Two other organizations of a
OIL scientific character which
OA' antedate the Anthropolog-
ical Society. One, the Medical Society,
was organized in 1919, and so is the
pioneer in that regard. The Philosophical
Society was established in 1871, and then
the .!AnthroPological in 1870 The Ma
tiopal Institute was organized in 1S41.
but passed out of existence some twenty
years later. ~
s Fhe Anthropological Society y was or
ganfzed for the purpose of bringing into
closer touch all those people in Washing
ton, who were Interested in archeOlogi-
cal work. And It accomplished its aim.
for not only those interested strictly in
archaeology and anthropology Joined, but
others whose interests really touched but
comparatively lightly upon this branch
of scientific work. During its early his
tory the Archaeological Society was the
means of bringing together scientists OF
all kinds, whose principal bond, Of COM
mon interest lay chiefly in the. fact that
they were all seientists. Today however,
with other sscientiic societies answering
of scientific research. the membership OF
this society has thinned until its eighty
three members can be truly said to be in
terested primarily in the study of an
thropology.
The object of the society is to ''encour-
age the study of the natural history of
man, especially with reference to Amert-
ca, and shall include somatology, sOci-
oiogy, phiiology. philosophy. psy chology
and technology" The society as a whole
rarely undertakes any reseanchTwork but
rather takes the place of q treasure chest
into which is poured all the gold dust in
the way of scientific work that has been
accomplished by any of it's members. At
each Of Ats bimonthly meetings papers on
various subjects dealing with anthro-
pology in some of its various phases are
read, and then discussed.
"a. -.>r,1>o~s