Book Description

Excerpt from The Scope and Content of the Science of Anthropology: Historical Review, Library Classification and Select, Annotated Bibliography; With a List of the Chief Publications of Leading Anthropological Societies and Museums The present work is an outgrowth of an earlier effort to alleviate the worries and perplexities haunting the classifier of books as well as the amateur scientist, taking up this most unsettled and vaguely limited field of study. As far back as 1894, while assistant in the Field Columbian Museum Library it fell to my lot to take part in the classification of its very handsome collection of anthropological literature, and since that time the subject has never been entirely out of my mind. Three years later, when appointed Librarian, I undertook a thorough revision of the classification, and in 1898 read a paper on the subject in the Chicago Library Club, a brief extract being printed in the Library Journal of the same year as well as in Public Libraries. Two years later joining the staff of the National Library, as a catalogue reviser, it became my duty to assign subject headings to its collection of anthropological literature in connection with the new catalogue, and also to keep track of current books in that line, with a view to recommend new purchases. I soon found out that my classification had been prepared too hastily and more especially that its claims for the new science were too sweeping, viewed not only from the standpoint of the classifier of a universal library but even from that of the cautious, broad-minded specialist. I had evidently followed authorities that of late have been justly criticized for their aggressive zeal in encroaching upon the legitimate field of neighboring sciences. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.