Anthropology Goes to the Fair: The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition

14. The Experiences of an Exposition

377 14. The Experiences of an Exposition The Anthropology exhibit has the interest of strangeness, for it is an exhibit of races of men whose lives and whose crafts have no counterpoint in our lives and crafts. WJ McGee Although tired and ill as the fair wound to a close, McGee wanted to try again to assemble the world’s peoples but he was not given the opportunity and his overtures to the organizers of the next exposition—the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, in Portland—were respectfully declined. He had learned much from St. Louis and had definite ideas about how anthropological displays could be done right the next time. On November 15, 1904, he presented a paper to the Anthropological Society of Washington entitled “Anthropology at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.” A note in the American Anthropologist states it dealt with race and how the exposition’s activities had helped to clarify the concept. Joining McGee were Alice Fletcher, who talked about the Indian School and the history of Indian Service participation in expositions, and William Henry Holmes, who discussed how he had illustrated the aesthetic achievements of Indians in the Smithsonian displays.1 Each spoke only about the successes of their endeavors. McGee was more forthcoming in his final report to the lpec, which he submitted on May 10, 1905. He began by noting his successes, despite the lack of financial support, and the difficulties he had encountered, getting in one more dig at the lpec officials for the lack of foresight and not agreeing with his grandiose plans. The exposition had not been personally rewarding. “The experiences of an exposition” had included many mistakes, much “arduous labor, [and] innumerable disappointments,” and only a few “fortunate accidents , rare recreations, [and] infrequent gratifications.” But he had a wealth of suggestions for the next corporation that attempted exposition anthropology displays. All were subsumed under a single general recommendation. | The Experiences of an Exposition 378 A conscientious review of Anthropology at the Universal Exposition of 1904, and a careful weighing of methods and results: of the expressions of thousands of visitors and of the vague ideas hardly expressed by all; of the fact that a third of the paying attendants took the long journey from the Main Picture to the meagerly supplied Anthropology Grounds; of the fact that despite tardy beginning and relatively minute results, Anthropology at the Fair inspired a full third of the spontaneous press publicity given the Exposition; of the fact that despite strong prejudice the Philippine Exposition proved the most attractive exhibit at St. Louis—the weighing of these and other considerations warrant the judgment that if another million dollars had been added to the Department of Anthropology there would have been three million additional admissions, and if two million dollars had been added, the take at the gates would have been five and ten million greater—and the permanent benefit of the Exposition to the public mind would have been many times multiplied. (McGee 1905d, 413) To McGee, St. Louis would remain his, and anthropology’s, missed opportunity , stymied by short-sighted others who lacked his vision. He never lost his belief that if only he had been given ample funds he could have fulfilled his life-long dream. Unfortunately for him, no one else shared his vision of a complete assemblage of the world’s peoples, and no future expositions ever attempted it on any scale. McGee concluded by conveying his contemporary-sounding views on education , showmanship, and exhibits, views that speak to all educators and museologists today. He knew Americans’ short attention spans necessitated novelty. One had to capture their attention and imaginations to encourage learning. This was the duty of anthropologists. “It is the chief lesson of this Exposition that the public must be attracted by the prospect of seeing that which it has not seen before—and so long as human nature remains as it is, the human mind can conceive of no more novel and attractive spectacle than an assemblage of all the world’s peoples living in their accustomed ways” (McGee 1905d, 413). Anthropology Moves On In 1904 anthropology was just becoming established in American universities. It was in transition from a “field of study” pursued by self-taught individuals The Experiences of an Exposition | 379 to a “scientific discipline” practiced by those properly...