There is undoubtedly much truth to this explanation, but one must also examine the history of anthropology in order to understand the reasons for this relative neglect. Shortly after the turn of the century, the subjects anthropologists were seeking inevitably led them westward to the Plains, the Southwest, and other places where the frontier had only recently passed. Anthropology at that time meant studying peoples who still retained, or at most had only recently lost, their tribal organization. Tribal societies were rapidly disappearing and it was crucial that anthropologists bend all their efforts to creating a record of these peoples’ cultures before they were irretrievably lost. The small groups of surviving Algonkian Indians in southern New England, who retained few visible evidences of their traditional culture, therefore attracted almost no attention. Frank G. Speck is a notable exception among the younger anthropologists who were prominent in shaping the discipline in the United States. The practice of anthropology today is considerably different from the anthropology of 70 years ago. Tribal cultures and societies which are still relatively intact continue to be an important concern, but new dimensions for the study of man have appeared. These new developments make southern New England an important resource for anthropological study. Inter-ethnic relations are now attracting the attention of students to a society which is no longer considered an inevitable melting pot. Portuguese, French-Canadians, Italians, and other immigrants have been a prominent part of New England towns and cities for decades, but we do not yet understand the processes by which they have adapted to American culture. These ethnic segments include the Wampanoag and other Indian groups who have retained their Indian identity after over 300 years of intensive contact. They obviously represent an important phenomenon for study. Many Indian groups are now moving to large cities, including Boston, and some anthropologists are trying to understand how tribal peoples adapt to urbanism as a way of life. Ethnohistory, the writing of ethnographies from historical documents, is another relatively new way of practicing anthropology. Although the source materials for southern New England are not as rich as those from other areas in North America, there is still a great deal which can be mined from them. Early colonists traded, fought, and proselytized the Indians and the accounts and records they left contain many possibilities for studying cultural processes. We are learning that the value of documents as source materials is as much a function of their ability to answer the kinds of questions that intrigue us as it is a matter of bulk.