The three Halls that I visited at the American Museum of Natural History were: Halls of the Pacific Peoples, Northwest Coast Indians and Asian peoples. All of these Halls were distinctly different from each other, although I enjoyed viewing all three, my favorite Hall was that of Asian Peoples. Of special interest was the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians, since I was able to witness and play in my head, a reel of the transformations it has gone through since the time of Franz Boas, as described in an article “A Magic Place”. Reading the article beforehand helped make me aware of the changes that were made to the exhibit since the time of Franz Boas, while I was exploring the Northwest Coast Hall.
The article, “A Magic Place” provides a very descriptive analysis of the changes made to the Hall by Boas and why he made certain alterations. The Hall before Boas was distinctly different, in part due to its arrangement as a department store. Similar items were grouped together on shelves of glass, and many of the artifacts were grouped by collector. This arrangement went through drastic changes during Boas reign from 1845-1905. Boas had a preference for life groups and dioramas which depicted the people of the culture performing daily activities. Boas was first commissioned to collect materials for the display of a life group, later he commissioned a set of objects made of cedar bark for a display depicting women using these cedar barks and other crafts so that the scene could be photographed. One of boas’ greatest achievements was directing the Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Boas made considerable changes to the arrangement of the Hall. He shifted the arrangements so that it was in a tribal order, with a general synopsis...
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...of each Hall and how that adds to the overall atmosphere each Hall is trying to depict. It was a bit tricky navigating through the museum. The website on AMNH was informative about each Hall and gave a very brief overview of each Halls importance and general purpose. I felt that the website left you wanting to go to the museum yourself and see the Halls since limited information was offered on each that left you craving for more. The website was helpful in planning what floors to visit to view each Hall, but once in the museum you realize that it’s a bit trickier to get around. Nonetheless, deciphering my way through the museum added to the feel that I was going on an adventure through each region of the world and each culture, the Halls were each distinct in their style and presentation of their respective cultures, which kept the tour all the more exciting.
In 1893, Simon Pokagon spoke at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. He was a prominent tribal leader who was known for this speech. So much so, it was printed and turned into an informative pamphlet. The speech encompassed American history and it’s push Westward, detailing the destruction of the Native lands and culture forever. He begins by telling the crowd about how he cannot celebrate with them in this great big new city, because it reminds him of all that was lost. Pokagon states, “where stands this “Queen City of the West” once stood the red man’s wigwams;” (Page 32). A bold statement follows about how nature was plentiful, until pale face came with their
Dr. Daniel K. Richter is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History at University of Pennsylvania. His focus on early Native American history has led to his writing several lauded books including Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Past, and The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization. Richter’s Facing East is perhaps, a culmination of his latter work. It is centered from a Native American perspective, an angle less thought about in general. Through the book, Richter takes this perspective into several different fields of study which includes literary analysis, environmental history, and anthropology. Combining different methodologies, Richter argues Americans can have a fruitful future, by understanding the importance of the American Indian perspective in America’s short history.
The display that I will be focusing my research on is called First Californians. The display encompasses many of the different artifacts pertaining to the first Native Americans of California. All artifacts are displayed behind glass cases with brief description of how the items were used. Artifacts from many tribes are displayed. However, the two most prominent tribes displayed are the Chumash Natives of the Northern Channel Islands and the Gabreilino (Tongva) natives of modern day LA and Orange County Regions. In the center of the room lay...
The discovery of America to the rest of the world, otherwise known as “Columbian Encounter”, was one of the majestic period in the European history. But nonetheless it was a starting to a tragic end for the Native Americans. Axtell calls attention to how the term, encounter, is largely a misfit in this situation because the
In a lively account filled that is with personal accounts and the voices of people that were in the past left out of the historical armament, Ronald Takaki proffers us a new perspective of America’s envisioned past. Mr. Takaki confronts and disputes the Anglo-centric historical point of view. This dispute and confrontation is started in the within the seventeenth-century arrival of the colonists from England as witnessed by the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the Wamapanoag Indians from the Massachusetts area. From there, Mr. Takaki turns our attention to several different cultures and how they had been affected by North America. The English colonists had brought the African people with force to the Atlantic coasts of America. The Irish women that sought to facilitate their need to work in factory settings and maids for our towns. The Chinese who migrated with ideas of a golden mountain and the Japanese who came and labored in the cane fields of Hawaii and on the farms of California. The Jewish people that fled from shtetls of Russia and created new urban communities here. The Latinos who crossed the border had come in search of the mythic and fabulous life El Norte.
Momaday decides to take the fifteen hundred mile trip to Rainy Mountain that his people experienced many many years ago. The way to Rainy Mountain was a long and hard one for the Kiowa people. His journey began “from the headwaters of the Yellowstone River eastward to the Black Hills and south to the Wichita Monuntains” (Momaday 1). Along the way he stopped at historical landmarks like Devil’s Tower and pondered events that had taken place, ones he heard from his grandmother. However along the way, the Kiowa people faced ...
The implementation of the NAGPRA has provoked a ranging conflict in interest between two groups, the scientists on one hand and the Native American tribes on the other. As expressed by Burt, scientists have held that the skeletal remains are a source of information that helps in relating the early and the new world (304). They argue that understanding the human evolution is beneficial to the modern communities as they are able to appreciate their history and origin. Conversely, the Native American tribes are of the views that preserving human remains prevents their spirits from resting. Unrest of the spirits may bring misfortune on the current and future generations. In terms of learning their history, the Native Americans bel...
Francis, L. (1998). Native time, a historical time line of native America. New York: St Martins Press.
"Pilgrim Hall Museum - About the Pilgrims - The Pilgrim Story." Pilgrim Hall Museum - About the Pilgrims - The Pilgrim Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .
In his essay, “The Indians’ Old World,” Neal Salisbury examined a recent shift in the telling of Native American history in North America. Until recently, much of American history, as it pertains to Native Americans; either focused on the decimation of their societies or excluded them completely from the discussion (Salisbury 25). Salisbury also contends that American history did not simply begin with the arrival of Europeans. This event was an episode of a long path towards America’s development (Salisbury 25). In pre-colonial America, Native Americans were not primitive savages, rather a developing people that possessed extraordinary skill in agriculture, hunting, and building and exhibited elaborate cultural and religious structures.
Native American’s place in United States history is not as simple as the story of innocent peace loving people forced off their lands by racist white Americans in a never-ending quest to quench their thirst for more land. Accordingly, attempts to simplify the indigenous experience to nothing more than victims of white aggression during the colonial period, and beyond, does an injustice to Native American history. As a result, historians hoping to shed light on the true history of native people during this period have brought new perceptive to the role Indians played in their own history. Consequently, the theme of power and whom controlled it over the course of Native American/European contact is being presented in new ways. Examining the evolving
Worsnop, Richard L. "Native Americans." CQ Researcher 8 May 1992: 385-408. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Johansen, Bruce E., Pritzker, Barrym. Ed. Encyclopedia of American Indian History. Vol I. Santa Barbara: ABC.CLIO Inc, 2005. Print.
The Natural History Museum is extraordinary place to explore and learn. It’s fun and breathtaking. The museum served as an agricultural fairground from 1872 until 1910. The original structure of the building from the 1913 and today’s structure are combined with a blend of many styles. Like a Spanish Renaissance ornamentation in the terracotta trimmings. There is a Romanesque style in the arched windows and the brick walls. The Beaux-Arts tradition is a T-shape floor plan. The building measures 75 feet in diameter with three wings. The Rotunda’s walls are made of Italian marble and the floors have a mosaic tile. The statue in the center of the floor called “Three Muses.” The Rotunda’s dome is 58 feet high with a skylight 20 feet across on top, which has been restored recently into a bright colored stained glass design. The museum had its first grand opening on November 6, 1913 and was called “The Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art. It was opened formally to the public. The museum was joined by other major cultural facilities in the park; the Memorial Coliseum, Sports Arena, Swimming Stadium, California Science Center, California African American Museum and the largest Municipal-Owned Rose Garden in the nation, with a beautiful water fountain in the center.
Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.