The Ethnographic Society has been working for more that one hundred years - since 1893. Its original name - Czechoslavonic Ethnographic Society - reflected the tendency of the period towards the Slavonic nations. The society played an important role in the successful presentation of ethnographic materials in the great Czechoslavonic Ethnographic Exhibition in 1895. These materials were aftewards stored in the Ethnographic Museum, opened in 1896 in Prague under the administration of L. Niederle. Since 1922 the collections have been in charge of the National Museum. - The Czechoslavonic Ethnographic Society has been publishing the (Czechoslavonic) Ethnographic Bulletin since 1897 and has been operating its own library. - Till the early 1960 the Czechoslavonic Ethnographic Society was the only voluntary organization in the field of ethnography and folklore studies. In 1956 its name was changed to Czechoslovak Ethnographic Society., Moreover, the other society, which associated especially professional ethnographers, was founded in 1958 under the name Society of Czechoslovak Ethnographers of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In 1962 both societies merged into the Czechoslovac Ethnographic Society of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The subjectivity of the Society and its financial resources were reduced, but both its members and correspondents continued in their work and the Buleltin was published regularly. - Since 1993 (after the split of Czechoslovakia) the Society is called Ethnographic Society. New statutes of the organization were accepted in 1999. The supreme executive body of the Society is formed by the general assembly, the central committee has nine members. The society publishes the Ethnographic Bulletin and Newsletter of the Ethnographic Socety. It also organizes scientific conferences and it evaluates the most outstanding events in the field. It financially supports research activities (even of students). The society has 242 members and 185 correspondents., and Anglický abstrakt s šifrrou (št) uveden na str. 192-13.