Colonial furnishings on the 

 east side of the foyer in 1949. 



These were moiwd to Hall 

 25, and later to the Museum 

 of History and Technology. 



foyer was dismantled in the 1970s. In 1975 the foyer 

 changed again, with the installation of the escalator and 

 the permanent exhibit Out Changing Land. Room 43 

 and all the others disappeared. A large meeting room, 

 the Ecology Theater, was installed on the east side. 



Beginning in the 1980s, the character of the foyer 

 was altered once more with the installation of the Evans 

 Gallery. This is an excellent place for temporary shows, 

 the largest such space within the Smithsonian complex. 

 The Museum was concerned that the gallery might be 

 deluged with shows not germane to natural history, but 

 that has not happened. 



Three major "in-house" exhibits have been prepared. 

 First, in 1982, came Inua, a display and study of Eskimo 

 artifacts collected a century ago by E. W. Nelson of the 

 Biological Survey. The scanning electron microscope 

 exhibition of 1984 was next. In 1985, a show celebrating 

 Lieutenant Charles Wilkes's round-the-world expedi- 

 tion marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the build- 

 ing. The Evans Gallery's handsome wood floor, worn 

 by the feet of millions of visitors, has already been 

 refinished twice, and may have to be replaced within 

 the next few years. 



The Lobby 



Little has been recorded about the lobby, or portico, 

 to the north of the foyer. For many years a huge paint- 

 ing by Thomas Moran, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 

 hung on the south wall of the west side, next to the 



men's restroom — where, incidentally, spittoons were 

 cleaned. The painting of the World War I diplomats 

 on the east side was not nearly so large or impressive 

 as Moran's work. 



There are occasional references to displays in the 

 lobby. In 1929 "the two Feathered Serpent Column 

 models, the mutilated originals of which are still in place 

 in the portal of the Pyramid Temple known as the 

 'Castillo' or castle, in Chichen Itza, Yucatan, were re- 

 moved from the lobby to the second floor, thus taking 

 their place with the archaeological collections to which 

 they pertain." ' The columns were replaced by a striking 

 holly-wood mantelpiece and fiieplace that remained 

 there until after World War II. Tecumseh, a statue por- 

 traying the death of the Shawnee chief, stood near the 

 stairs on the east side from the 1920s until the National 

 Museimi of American Art opened. Near the elevator, 

 a couple of cases that did not fit in well anywhere else 

 were filled with silver, or miniature paintings, or lace 

 fans. During the 1950s a few temporary cases replaced 

 these relics. There used to be a clock on the west wall. 

 This later was replaced by a grandfather clock, and still 

 later that disappeared. "Can you tell me the time, please?" 

 is another common question asked of the guards. 



foday the lobby still contains the guard room and 

 elevators in their original positions in the northwest 

 corner. A tiny room on the northeast side of the lobby — 

 once a storeroom, then an education office — now func- 

 tions as a checkroom. The stairway is unchanged, but 



Public Places 



183 



