divide), the Smithsonian has been responsive to the interests and concerns surrounding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) legislation.

Tim Murray

See also

Atwater, Caleb; Jefferson, Thomas; Moundville

References

Goode, George Brown. 1897. The Smithsonian Institution, 1846–1896: The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, DC: DeVinne Press.

Hinsley, Curtis M., Jr. 1994. The Smithsonian and the American Indian: Making a Moral Anthropology in Victorian America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Judd, Neil M. 1967. The Bureau of American Ethnology: A Partial History. Normal: University of Oklahoma Press.

Meltzer, David J., and Michael B. Schiffer. 1983. The Antiquity of Man and the Development of American Archeology. Vol. 6, Advances in Archeological Method and Theory. New York: Academic Press.

Meltzer, David J., and Robert C. Dunnell, eds. 1992. The Archaelogy of William Henry Holmes. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Roberts, Frank H. H., Jr. 1946. “One Hundred Years of Smithsonian Anthropology.” Science 104: 119–125.

———. 1961. “River Basin Salvage Program: After 15 Years.” Smithsonian Institution Annual Report for 1960, 523–549. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

True, Webster P. 1946. “A Century of Smithsonian Publications.” Science 104: 141–142.

Society for American Archaeology

The Society for American Archaeology, founded in 1934, is an organization of professional and avocational archaeologists devoted to the study and preservation of the archaeology of North and South America. The 1930s were a period of tremendous growth in American archaeology—many state archaeological societies were founded, and new regional conferences provided forums for local archaeological communication. The Great Depression actually led to a vast increase in archaeological fieldwork as a way to relieve unemployment, and the increased work led to new organizations, new journals, and a perceived need for greater communication among archaeologists on the national level.

Concurrent with the increased scientific archaeological activity was increased looting and vandalism of sites. A number of archaeologists felt the need for better communication and cooperation between amateurs and professionals as well as for more effective communication within the archaeological community. Since 1920, the Committee on State Archaeological Surveys (COSAS) of the National Research Council had served as a clearinghouse for U.S. archaeology—promoting the formation of state archaeological surveys, publishing guides to archaeological fieldwork and site recording, and organizing regional conferences. The American Anthropological Association (AAA) also served as a focus of archaeological communication through meetings and publications. American Anthropologist was the journal of choice for professional archaeological articles of national interest, and until 1932, it published an annual compilation of archaeological fieldwork in the United States. COSAS was quite successful in its endeavors, but its last chairman (1927–1937), Carl E. Guthe, realized that the committee’s private funding would not be continued indefinitely. This fact, along with the unwillingness of the editor of American Anthropologist to continue publishing the annual archaeological fieldwork summary, created the need for a national organization.

In 1933, COSAS members approved the idea of a national archaeological organization, and in 1934, Guthe sent a prospectus to 192 interested individuals for comment. Response was positive enough that COSAS formed a subcommittee to write a constitution and bylaws, and an organizational meeting held in Pittsburgh, attended by 31 people, created the Society for American Archaeology on 28 December 1934 (Griffin 1985; Guthe 1967).

The society’s activities originally were governed by an elected executive council consisting of a president, vice-president, secretary-treasurer, editor, and eight other members. As the years passed, the composition of the council (later called the executive committee and finally the executive board) changed with the needs of the society. A nominating committee has always