Boas, Franz. Notes on the Ethnology of British Columbia

Boas, Franz. Notes on the Ethnology of British ColumbiaJournal offprint from the American Philosophical Society, Volume 24, 1887, pp. 422 428 from Boas' reading before the APS, November 18, 1887. Inscribed "Compliments of the author" by Boas without signature. Boas was a pioneer in modern anthropology and is viewed as the "Father of American Anthropology" Signed by the recipient, Dr. Robert Bell of the Canadian Geological Survey, who had hired Boas in the late 1880s to advance CGS' mission to gather

Journal offprint from the American Philosophical Society, Volume 24, 1887, pp. 422-428 from Boas' reading before the APS, November 18, 1887.

Inscribed "Compliments of the author" by Boas without signature.  Boas was a pioneer in modern anthropology and is viewed as the "Father of American Anthropology"

Signed by the recipient, Dr. Robert Bell of the Canadian Geological Survey, who had hired Boas in the late 1880s to advance CGS' mission to gather natural history specimens and build up ethnological collections, often framed in Darwinian evolutionary terms of stronger European races replacing weaker aboriginal ones.  

Boas, however, put forward a contrary view based on “traditions or myth” rather than “hereditary descent.”  (Gail Avrith-Wakeam, “George Dawson, Franz Boas and the Origins of Professional Anthropology in Canada,” Scientia Canadensis 17 (1993): 198.)

In his reading, Boas gives a summary of his findings from a trip to British Columbia starting in September 1886, his first of many visits to that region. He discusses the folklore, masks, dances, the potlatch, social institutions, and mourning and marriage ceremonies among the tribes inhabiting the coast of British Columbia and the west coast of Vancouver Island. His conclusion is that the Indigenous tribes along the coast, while superficially similar, are quite distinct and can only understood in their uniqueness by a deep knowledge of their languages, customs and folklore.

Plain green wrappers with title hand-written by Bell.  Fold crease down the center, some rubbing to extremities and spine, overall in very good condition.

Scarce; WorldCat lists only two printed copies and none in the U.S. An early and interesting Boas association.