Alfred Louis Kroeber
Letter to F. W. Putnam
1 November 1902
“I urge upon the Committee that thorough training courses are essential to the development of the Department as a research Department …”
Having decided to continue to offer instruction, Kroeber faced a decision on which of two paths the curriculum would follow. Concluding the Department could “either a vehicle primarily of scientific research or of popular diffusion of knowledge,” Kroeber argued for the former. His decision partly rested on the fact that this course would not significantly interfere with research, and he also believed an important goal was the training of “future investigators in California anthropology.”