524. ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
subdivided into alcoves, each devoted to a culture, and the exhibits 
were planned to illustrate the ingenuity of the people in using the 
natural resources of their environment for food, clothing, shelter, 
weapons, household utensils, religious paraphernalia, and the produc- 
tion of artsand crafts. (P1.7.) 
The majority of the life-sized groups were completely refurbished 
and reinstalled in larger cases against monochrome backgrounds and 
were dramatically lighted. A new life-sized group was developed 
around a full-scale Arapaho tipi. Six dioramas portrayed in mini- 
ature interesting aspects of Indian life. Of these the scene showing 
Lucayan Indians of the Bahamas at the moment of their discovery of 
Columbus’s ships approaching their island village has become a 
favorite exhibit of many children. Like the Polar Eskimo group it 
combines ethnological detail with dramatic incident. (PI. 8.) 
Within each culture area wall-case exhibits interpreted Indian 
uses of natural resources. These exhibits employed artifacts to 
illustrate ideas and the objects were supplemented by such graphic 
devices as were needed to show their functions. Under the direc- 
tion of John E. Anglim and Rolland O. Hower, talented artists com- 
bined light, color, and design to create exhibits which would be as 
attractive as they were meaningful. 
OUR SMITHSONIAN HERITAGE 
It may seem a far cry from the small display of Indian curiosities 
exhibited in the Smithsonian Building a century ago to the Smithso- 
nian’s many educational exhibits of today. However, these contrasts 
are no more remarkable than has been the continuity of the Smith- 
sonian’s American Indian program over this hundred-year period. 
In reality today’s displays have been more than a century in the mak- 
ing. They could not have been developed without the aid of the 
many farsighted men of the past who collected, recorded, and pre- 
served the basic ingredients of these exhibits—the artifacts themselves. 
In the American Indian halls are still displayed specimens col- 
lected by John Varden and by the Wilkes Expedition which were 
shown in the Smithsonian’s first exhibits. Here, also, are artifacts 
sent to the Smithsonian by collaborators in response to Secretary 
Henry’s call for assistance in the 1860’s, objects collected by Army 
physicians stationed at lonely frontier posts before and during the 
Plains Indian wars, grotesque masks and a totem pole obtained by 
James Swan for the Centennial Exposition of 1876, and the Arapaho 
tipi collected by Vincent Colyer for that exhibition more than 80 
years ago. After more than 50 years William H. Holmes’s life-sized 
groups continue to delight and instruct visitors to the Smithsonian 
Institution. And it is especially noteworthy that the culture-area 
concept, conceived by Otis T. Mason while planning Smithsonian ex- 
