180 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



old name and continuing to give his 

 services in his old profession, Mr. 

 Akeley has set a new standard for all 

 workers in museum preparation, more- 

 over making it possible that men of great 

 ability shall come into the ranks and 

 impossible for men of poor ability to 

 rise there. This in itself, striking as it 

 does at the foundation for improvement, 

 is bound to influence museums in the 

 future. Fortunately however and yield- 

 ing more immediate and definite results 

 than this, Mr. Akeley has crystallized 

 into workable plans the ideas gained 

 through his study of museum exhibition. 

 These were largely perfected some years 

 ago for the P'ield Museum, Chicago, 

 but are now offered in more matured 

 form to the American ]VIuseum in the 

 shape of an African hall for the new 

 wing under construction. 



During the past year working in one 

 of the old North American mammal 

 halls of the second floor of the Museum, 

 rechristened the "elephant studio," 

 Mr. Akeley has supervised the con- 

 struction of a very beautiful model of 

 the African hall. The following is his 

 own description of the hall as portrayed 

 by the model : 



This new hall will be devoted entirely to 

 Africa — to African scenes and African ani- 

 mals and African natives in their relation to 

 the animals. The hall proper will have a 

 floor measurement of sixty by one hundred 

 and fifty-two feet and a height of seventeen 

 feet to the gallery at the sides and thirty feet 

 to the ceiling over the center. The open 

 space of this hall will be encroached upon 

 only at the corners by the elevators, that is 

 the actual open floor space without columns 

 or any obstruction whatever will be sixty by 

 one hundred and sixteen feet. In the center 

 of this large hall will stand a group of four 

 African elephants treated in statuesque 

 fashion, mounted on a four-foot base with no 

 covering of glass. It is suitable that the 

 elephant should dominate this hall since it is 

 typical of Africa, is the largest land mammal 



in the world to-day and one of the most 

 splendid of all animals of past or present. 



As a result of late developments in the 

 technique of taxidermy we are able to treat 

 these pachyderms so that they will not suffer 

 because of lack of protection under glass. 

 Changing atmospheric conditions will have 

 no effect upon them and they can receive 

 essentially the care given to bronzes. 



The elephant group will be flanked at one 

 end by a group of black rhinos, a bull at one 

 side, a cow and calf at the other, and at the 

 other end by a similar group of white rhinos, 

 the rhino groups being prepared for the same 

 exposure as the elephant group. The ele- 

 phants and the rhinos, with the addition of 

 two fountains, one at either end facing the 

 entrances of the hall and consisting each of a 

 single native figure, life-size in bronze, will 

 constitute the only installation in this hall 

 proper. 



If we stand in this hall where are the 

 elephants and rhinos and look to right and 

 left out through what might seem the win- 

 dows of the hall, we shall see typical African 

 scenes, for the groups of the African hall will 

 surround the main floor in a sort of annex 

 which will not encroach upon the measure- 

 ments of the hall proper. These animal 

 groups with panoramic backgrounds ' will be 

 twenty in number on the main floor, with 

 twenty more of the same type although some- 

 what smaller in dimensions, in the gallery. 



The forty canvases for the groups will be 

 painted by the best artists available and from 

 studies made in Africa, and will give a com- 

 prehensive idea of the topography of Africa 

 from the Mediterranean on the north to the 

 Tableland Mountain at Cape Town and from 

 the east coast to the west coast. 



The foregrounds of the groups will combine 

 to represent in the most comprehensive way 

 the animal life of the continent. They will be 

 composite — that is, as many species will be 

 associated in each of the groups as is legiti- 

 mate with scientific fact. For example one 

 of the large corner groups will represent a 



1 The paintings making the backgrounds of 



these forty groups wiU range in size as follows: 



In the gallery, canvas measurement 16 feet 



by 28 feet for groups 13 feet in width by 7^ 



feet in depth 

 On the main floor, canvas measurement 30 



feet by 70 feet for the four large corner 



groups, 24 by 24 feet 

 Also on the main floor, canvas measurement 



25 feet by 42 feet for sixteen groups each 



15 by 13 feet 



