hibit, appreciated by the local press: "Advances in nuxl- 

 ern lighting and electronics, used by the Institution tor 

 the fnst time, unobtrusively make the hall come alive. 

 The visitor entering the hall will automatically activate 

 a 'proximity switch' to start a tape recording that briefs 

 hii7i on what he will see. "' 



One day, at the time "Everyday Life ' was being in- 

 stalled, the elevator shaft was found teeming with thou- 

 sands of ants, and panic ensued. Remington Kellogg 

 put out an emergency call for Jack Clarke of the Di- 

 vision of Entomology. Clarke was at linich, and tele- 

 phone messages arrived every few minutes in his off ice. 

 After Clarke returned and took a quick look, he had 

 a good laugh. The Museum was not being invaded by 

 ants. These were carpenter ants from the dismantled 

 old Colonial houses, and now that spring had come, 

 they were trying to get outdoors to build a nest. As 

 Clarke predicted, the ants were gone the following clay. 



Exhibits Philosophy 



The new exhibits progr am was well under way before 

 its philosophy was articulated by director Kellogg, or 

 whoever wrote the Annual Report for the year ending 

 June 30, 1957. "The curators of the National Museum 

 have twofold objective in planning their halls and ex- 



hibits," it read — "lo give the Museum visitor the ex- 

 perience of viewing objects of significant historical or 

 scientific interest and rarity; and to show these objects 

 in exhibits so effectively explanatory that they increase 

 the visitor's knowledge, not only of the object, but also 

 of the history, science, technology, or art to which the 

 object relates. The attainment of this objective and the 

 authenticity, scholai ship, and factual content whit h dis- 

 tinguish the exhibits reflect the devoted and time- 

 consuming work of many fjusy scientists and historians 

 of the curatorial staff."'" 



Even though Ewers was in charge of all exhibit plan- 

 ning for fifty-five halls in the yet-to-be-opened Museum 

 of History and Technology, he completed a second 

 display in the Museum of Natural History devoted to 

 Indian and Eskimo cultures. Opened in December 1957, 

 this exhibit (Hall 9) was linked to Ewers's first anthro- 

 pological hall by a map adjacent to the north elevators. 

 The exhibits collectively were called "The Native Peo- 

 ples of North America." A dramatic open case of wooden 

 masks had to be removed later for security reasons after 

 a few youngsters jumped into it. 



When it came time for the biological halls to be re- 

 vised, the American buf falo group Hornaday had pre- 

 pared in 1888 was removed from public view and dis- 



Table 1: Openings of Major Natural History Exhibits: 1954—1967 



Hall 23 ^ 



Highlights of Latin American Archeology 



April 14, 1954 



Hall 1 1 



American Indian Hall 



June 2, 1955 



Hall 13 



Birds of the World 



March 22, 1956 



Hall 26 



Everyday Life in Early America 



January 26, 1957 



Hall 12 



North American Mammals 



April 30, 1957 



Hall 9 



North American Indians and Eskimos 



December 8, 1957 



Hall 19 



Hall of Gems and Minerals 



July 31, 1958 



Halls 14 and 15 



The World of Mammals 



November 25, 1959 



Hall 4 



Fossil Plants and Invertebrates 



June 6, 1961 



Hall 5 



The Age of Mammals in North America 



June 6, 1961 



Hall 3 



Fossil Reptiles and Amphibians 



June 6, 1961 



Hall 2 1 



North American Archeology 1 



June 24, 1961 



Hall 8 



Cultures of the Pacific and Asia 



June 28, 1962 



Hall 22 



North American Archeology 2 



November 16, 1962 



Hall 16 



Life in the Sea 



February 18, 1963 



Hall 2 



Hall of Fossil Reptiles 



June 25, 1963 



Part of Hall 19 



Gem and Jade Halls (revised) 



Summer, 1965 



Part of Hall 20 



Hall of Meteorites 



December, 1966 



Hall 25 



Physical Anthropology 



Spring 1965(?) 



Hall 28 



Osteology 



Fiscal Year 1965 



Part of Hall 29 



Cold-blooded Vertebrates 



Fiscal Year 1966(?) 



Hall 7 



Cultures of Africa and East Asia 



August 25, 1967 



New Faces, New Funds, New Exhibits 



91 



