Hopi Indian snake-dance group in a modern case on the south side of Hall 11; the labels are below, at the Jront of the case. 

 A similar photograph appears in the Annual Report for 1955. 



cultural event of Pan-American week. Secretary and 

 Mrs. Carmichael, in order to be present, gave up the 

 voyage on the Queen Maty that they had planned and 

 traveled to Europe by air instead. 



The following year saw the opening of "Indians of 

 the Americas" (Hall 11) on the first floor in the west 

 north range. This was the first overhauling clearly un- 

 der the aegis of Friedmann, chairman of the natural 

 history exhibits group. Ewers, who did an excellent job 

 on it, described the strong and weak points of the hall 

 before its renovation: 



Visitors to this hall used to be impressed by the 

 sheer number of exhibits and objects on view — 

 more than 6,500 specimens. The magnitude of the 

 collections could be sensed by merely walking 

 through the hall without stopping to examine a 

 single exhibit. But what did it all mean? . . . Yet 

 there were islands of interest in that uncharted sea 

 of information that comprised the old installation. 

 These were the always popular, large groups of 

 life-sized figures of Indians wearing real articles of 

 clothing and engaging in typical activities 

 demonstrating the making or uses of tools and 



domestic utensils, weapons and handicrafts. These 

 exhibits were designed by the talented artist- 

 anthropologist, William H. Holmes, some of them 

 more than half a century ago. They were some of 

 the oldest exhibits in the museum. Yet they 

 possessed human interest qualities which attracted 

 the attention of museum visitors of all ages and 

 both sexes. However these groups were glassed on 

 four sides. Their effectiveness was hampered by 

 inadequate lighting. Fheir realism was impaired by 

 the distracting sight of adjoining cases crowded 

 with unrelated materials showing through their 

 plate-glass backgrounds. 



Problems of modernizing exhibits in an old 

 museum differ considerably from those of 

 developing an entirely new one. The legacy of 

 high ceilings, internal pillars, large windows, 

 antiquated heating, lighting and ventilating systems 

 impose very real problems. Still more obvious are 

 overall space problems." 



In addition to the old life-size figures, some miniature 

 dioramas were prepared. (It costs far less to make a 

 small figure than a large one, and only few new large 



New Faces, New Funds, New Exhibits 



89 



