Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Created

Summary

The Bureau of American Ethnology and the Department of Anthropology merge to create the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. This new Office includes all personnel from both units, and consists of a division of cultural anthropology and a division of physical anthropology, as well as administering the Smithsonian River Basin Surveys. Richard B. Woodbury is appointed acting head.

Subject

• National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Dept. of Anthropology
• Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology
• National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)
• Smithsonian Office of Anthropology (SOA)

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

• The 1965 date is from the AR and SIA; Oehser writes that the bureau technically passed into history on July 29, 1964, when it merged with the Department of Anthropology to form the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology.
• Guide to Smithsonian Archives. Archives and Special Collections of the Smithsonian Institution Number 4. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983, p. 87, 94.
• Yochelson, Ellis L. The National Museum of Natural History: 75 Years in the Natural History Building. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985, p. 10.
• Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1964. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1965, p. 13, 39-40.
• Oehser, Paul H. The Smithsonian Institution. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970, p. 114.

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

February 1, 1965

Topic

• Anthropology
• Reorganizations

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