HENRY HERING and the 

 Case of the Missing Maidens 



by David M. Walsten 



Tiventy-eight beautiful young women were scheduled 

 to travel from New York to Chicago, sometime dur- 

 ing World War I, their destination being the Field 

 Museum's new building in Grant Park. Some of the 

 ladies were lucky enough to make the trip, some never 

 did, and some didn't arrive until several years later. 



It's worth noting that despite their beguiling fea- 

 tures, these women, without exception, had hearts of 

 stone — as well as arms and legs and everything else of 

 stone.* They were the creations, or intended creations 

 of New York sculptor Henry Hering (1874-1949), who 

 was commissioned in 1916 to do all the statuary, as well 



'A little artistic license here 

 stone. 



-four of the figures were of plaster, not 



as has relief figures, commemorative plaques, and other 

 decorative items for the building. 



The statues which made the trip to Chicago more 

 or less according to plan included the alabaster-white 

 figures ("Science," "Research," "Record," and "The 

 Dissemination of Knowledge") now to be seen prevail- 

 ing on high in Stanley Field Hall and eight caryatids 

 (female statue-pillars) on the small porches flanking 

 the north and south entrances. Those statues which 

 never materialized pose a number of intriguing ques- 

 tions, which might never be answered. Why, for exam- 

 ple, do we see four of those "missing" figures today in 

 duplicate sets, above the north and south entrances to 

 the Museum of Science and Industry? That institution 

 took up residence in the Field Museum's original quart- 



Clay model of "Zoology," one of four panels representing thie Museum's curatorial departments. These panels are to be seen today as 

 1 3-foot marble figures on the building's exterior. This model was photographed in the Manhattan studio of the sculptor, Henry Hering, 

 16 in 1916. 



