108 YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE. [Vol. I. 



HISTORICAL GROUPS 



"THE BATTLE OF CONCORD" AND "PERRY'S VICTORY 



ON LAKE ERIE"" 



By S. a. Barrett'" 



On March Uth and April 19, 1921, the two most recent his- 

 torical groups of the Milwaukee Public Museum were opened. 

 These were respectively the fourth and fifth in its series of seven 

 life-size groups depicting American history. The three preceding 

 groups are the "Colonial Village," 1750; "Solomon Juneau's Trad- 

 ing Post," 1820, depicting the founding of Milwaukee; and "The 

 Surrender of Black Hawk," 1832. The latter two are especially of 

 local interest. 



With the opening of the Concord and Lake Erie groups, (fig- 

 ures 56 and 57) this institution brings to the public the first two of 

 its series of four American war groups. The other two, both of 

 which are now partly completed, will follow^ in rapid succession 

 and present important events in the Mexican War and the Civil 

 War. The subjects are respectively, "The Storming of Chapulte- 

 pec," and "The Battle of Winchester." 



Further, these groups present the first of the newly adopted wax 

 modeling used in the anthropological figures. All exposed parts of 

 the body are either cast directly or are modeled in wax, while the 

 unexposed parts are made in the lightest possible form as paper 

 manikins. In the Concord group there are nine of these life-size 

 figures of the IMinute Men; in the Lake Erie group there are eight 

 figures of American sailors, all made, including costuming and all 

 accessories in the anthropological modeling studio by Mr. Chas. R. 

 Porteus under the supervision of the museum's artist, Mr. George 

 Peter, who designed the groups, painted the backgrounds and exe-' 

 cuted the foregrounds. 



The foregrounds and liackgrounds are joined with such pre- 

 cision that it is almost impossible to tell where either begins. This 

 is due not a little in the Concord group to the artist's careful paint- 

 ing of the remainder of the Minute Men in the immediate back- 

 ground and to the presence of one cut-ov;t figure, a part of which 



"Reprinted from "Museum Work" IV, pp, 51-55, 1921. 

 "Director, Milwaukee I'ublic Museum. 



