Excerpt from Handbook of South American Indians, Vol. 1: The Marginal Tribes

A developing sense of internationalism in the Western Hemisphere has brought increased recognition of the importance of the indigenous American civilizations and their survival among millions of present day peoples. It has simultaneously emphasized the need for a more complete understanding of how these civilizations developed during prehistoric eras and how, after the Conquest, they blended with Euro pean culture to produce modern societies which are neither wholly Indian nor wholly European. The task of revealing these long chap ters of American history is truly a pan-american one, requiring the assembly of thousands of local fragments from throughout the Hemi sphere. Scientists of the American Republics have consequently long urged that more effective means be found of pooling and exchanging their information, while teachers and students have pleaded that the materials be published in convenient form.

It has particularly been felt that information on the great South American civilizations, which left so deep an imprint on modern life, should be made generally available to scholars and laymen alike, for present sources on South American Indians are published in so many languages and places and frequently have such limited availability that no one could have access to more than a fraction of the literature. No comprehensive general work on the subject exists, and none has even been attempted, because the task has such magnitude that it could only be accomplished by the joint effort of a large number of specialists.

As the need for a comprehensive Handbook of South American Indians became more acute, the National Research Council, stimulated by the late Baron Erland Nordensk'iold, in 1932 appointed a committee consisting of Dr. Robert H. Lowie, Dr. John M. Cooper, and Dr. Leslie Spier to explore the possibilities of preparing one. This committee, subsequently expanded to include other anthropologists with a special interest in South America, prepared a statement Of the kind of work that was needed.

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