The Seminole Indians Of Florida

This classic portrait of the Seminole people, written at a time when their way of life was virtually unknown to the rest of the world, was originally published by the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology in 1887.

In 1881, Clay MacCauley (1843-1925) was asked by the bureau "to inquire into the condition and to ascertain the number" of the Seminole Indians of Florida. MacCauley subsequently spent three months in south Florida gathering information. When published six years later, his report was hailed by John Wesley Powell, director of the bureau, as "the first ethnologic exploration of the Seminoles of Florida ever attempted". It describes Seminole clothing and ornaments, the palm-thatched chickees in which families lived, economic pursuits, crafts, and other aspects of everyday life.

This edition includes an introduction by William C. Sturtevant, the world's leading scholar on the Seminole Indians and the curator and ethnologist in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the department that is the successor to the Bureau of Ethnology.

This classic portrait of the Seminole people, written at a time when their way of life was virtually unknown to the rest of the world, was originally published by the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology in 1889.

In 1881, Reverend Clay MacCauley was asked by the bureau "to inquire into the condition and to ascertain the number" of the Seminole Indians of Florida. MacCauley, an anthropologist but without formal training in ethnology, spent three months in south Florida. When published six years later, his report was hailed by John Wesley Powell, director of the bureau, as "the first ethnologic exploration of the Seminoles of Florida ever attempted."

The report describes Seminole clothing and ornaments, the palm-thatched chickees in which families lived, economic pursuits, crafts, and other aspects of everyday life. Supplementing MacCauley's report in this edition are additional materials and photographs.