Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico - 1907

HANBOOK 

OF 

AMERICAN INDIANS 

NORTH OF MEXICO

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

Edited By Frederick Webb Hodge

Printed in 1907

Part 1
https://archive.org/details/handbookamindians02hodgrich (online reading and access to various files type)
https://ia700307.us.archive.org/33/items/handbookamindians02hodgrich/handbookamindians02hodgrich.pdf

Part 2
https://archive.org/details/handbookamindians01hodgrich (online reading and access to various files type)
https://ia600306.us.archive.org/2/items/handbookamindians01hodgrich/handbookamindians01hodgrich.pdf

Yes, they made an "error" in the naming of the files. 

The pdf files are big,  ~150 Mo ; downloading them first may be easier that reading them online. 

The "read online" option provides a fast and handy (once you get used to the user interface) way of browsing / zooming / reading / searching online.

Those books form an encyclopedia, with articles arranged in alphabetic order ; their title being mainly English keywords, but also words and names in various Native Indian languages.

Each page illuminates the mind of the ignorant (like me) with a wealth of fascinating information. For instance I'm still intrigued by the reports about the use of metals (copper, silver, meteoric iron, ...) in various part of Northern America [ the common man tends to think that the use of metals was unknown in North America and that a few metals (gold, ...) were in use in Central America and South America, but with no knowledge of smelting ].

More books have been published on the same subject by the Smithsonian Institution (not all freely accessible on the Internet ?). See what says Wikipedia : 

"The Handbook of North American Indians  [...] published [...] beginning in 1978." in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbook_of_North_American_Indians

"The Handbook of South American Indians  [...] published [...] between 1940 and 1947" in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbook_of_South_American_Indians