AMERICAN INDIAN EXHIBITS—EWERS 519 
Methodical arrangement of the ethnological exhibits along these 
lines was begun by Otis T. Mason shortly after he became curator of 
ethnology in 1884. Mason was one of the most able students of 
American Indian technology. His writings are classics in the field. 
With Mason in charge, the Smithsonian announced its plan “to con- 
tinue this system in the remaining portions of the collections, with the 
view of better unfolding through the arts of savagery the origin and 
development of civilization.” (Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst., 1885, 
p. 32.) 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIFE-SIZED GROUP 
As early as 1870 the Smithsonian Institution had employed life- 
sized wax figures to display the costumes worn by the Arctic explorer 
Dr. E. K. Kane and members of his party. A number of costumed 
figures were shown in the Indian exhibits at the Centennial Exposi- 
tion in 1876. (PI.2.) Thereafter, individual life-sized figures were 
installed in the museum to display costumes, to show the characteris- 
tics of the different races, and to illustrate the methods of use of 
weapons and instruments and the process of various arts and handi- 
crafts. 
In the early nineties, under the direction of William H. Holmes, 
who combined to a remarkable degree the talents of an artist with 
a knowledge of the American Indians, the Smithsonian Institution 
began to experiment with a new type of exhibit, a grouping of 
two or more costumed figures to provide a lifelike portrayal of 
some of the typical activities of a particular Indian tribe. The first 
series of these exhibits was prepared under the direction of Holmes 
for exhibition at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 
1893. Holmes himself designed a group of Powhatan Indians 
quarrying material for the manufacture of stone implements. The 
figures were modeled, then cast in plaster by the Washington sculptor 
U.S. J. Dunbar, and wigs were added. Additional groups were made 
to portray typical activities of the Zufii, Navaho, Kiowa, Sioux, Hupa, 
and Kutchin Indians for exhibition at the 1893 fair. Although 
these groups were placed in small, poorly lighted cases, they proved 
to be very popular exhibits. The viewer gained the impression 
that he was actually watching Indians at work or play. These 
groups were placed on exhibition in the Smithsonian after the close 
of the Chicago Fair. (PI. 4.) 
By 1901, when the Smithsonian Institution exhibited at the Pan- 
American Exposition in Buffalo, Holmes had further perfected the 
life-sized group. In addition to several smaller ones, he presented 
two groups housed in roomy 12-by-8-foot cases. These he termed 
“family groups” composed of men, women, and children with their 
appropriate clothing and accessories engaged in typical group activi- 
