American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History. Southwest Indian Hall; Indians of the Southwest; Southwest Indians Hall; Southwest Indian Hall; Southwest Hall; Hall of Indians of the Southwest; Southwest Indians
birth: approximately 1904
death: pproximately 1963-1966
Permanent exhibition. Opened approximately 1904 and closed approximately 1963-1966. Located on Floor 2, Section 4 from approximately 1904 to 1910 and Floor 1, Section 8 from 1910 to approximately 1966. The Southwest Indian Hall at the American Museum of Natural History opened as part of a new wing along with the Philippine Islands, South Sea Islands, and African Ethnology halls (1, 1910, p. 16). The hall exhibited ethnological objects of Native American cultures from the Southwest United States. The Hyde Exploring Expedition (1893-1899) contributed to gathering material for the hall (2, 1918, p. 21). Curators included Pliny Earle Goddard, Herbert J. Spinden, and Nels C. Nelson (AR 1913 p. 24). Artists for various groups included Mahonri Young, Howard MacCormick, Ushinosuke Narahara, and Louis Akin (1, 1915, p. 80; 3; 4; 1, 1912, p. 31). Major funding was provided by Museum Trustee Archer M. Huntington (1, 1913, p. 24).
Early exhibits on the second floor from circa 1904-1910 included those on the people of present-day California, southwestern United States, and northern Mexico, including the Hopi, Navajo, Pomo, Mutsun, Maidu, Shasta, Wintun, Pit River, Yoruk, Huichol (Wixáritari), Tepehuane (Tepehuan), Tarahumara (Rarámuri), Cora, Tarasco (Purépecha). Exhibits included objects from the Pueblo Bonito ruin in Chaco Canyon, the William Demuth Collection of pipes, the Basket Makers of Southeastern Utah, and mannequin groups. Tribes from southern Mexico and Guatemala were also represented in the hall despite greater representation from these geographic areas in the Hall of Mexico and Central America. Casts of two stelae from Quirigua, Guatamala, also more closely related the Hall of Mexico and Central America, were exhibited in the Southwest Indian Hall for lack of space in the former (2, 1904, p. 33-36). The collections from Mexico and Central America fully moved into this space in 1910, and the Southwest Indian Hall moved to the first floor.
From 1910, the hall featured exhibits on Southwest cultural groups including the Hopi, Apache, Navajo, Zuni, Pima, Havasupai, Papago, Pueblo, Acoma, Laguna, Santo Domingo, Indians of California and Northern Mexico, prehistoric cliff-dwellers, Ancestral Pueblo Indians and Aztecs (GG 1911 p. 24; GG 1916 p. 33; GG 1918 p. 21; GG 1931 p. 46; GG 1934 p. 54; GG 1939 p. 125). Items exhibited included pottery, basketry, masks, clothing, turquoise, and Navajo blankets and silverwork (GG 1939 p. 128).
The hall included diorama and miniature groups of Hopi, Navajo, and Apache by artists Mahorni Young, Howard MacCormick, and Ushinosuke Narahara, which included models of an Apache woman building a house, a Navajo medicine lodge, and the Hopi Snake Dance (1, 1915 p. 80; 3; 4; 1, 1912, p. 31). Louis Akin began murals for hall, but died before their completion (1, 1912, p. 31). Models of pueblos at Acoma and De Taos, models of homes of cliff-dwellers on the walls (2, 1911, p.24), and specimens from Aztec ruins with a scale model (2, 1931, p. 46) were also exhibited.
In 1927, as part of a larger experiment that included other halls, a projected narrow-width film of Hopi pottery-making and basket-weaving ran for 50 days with a count of 9,732 viewers (1, 1927, p. 102). The hall also displayed other temporary exhibits during its tenure (1, 1929, p. 70).
In 1932, the Curator-in-Chief, possibly Pliny Goddard or Nels Nelson, collaborated with W.S. Stallings in New Mexico for an exhibit on dating Southwestern ruins using the tree ring method; Schoichi Ichikawa installed the exhibit in the hall. In 1932, the Curator-in-Chief, possibly Pliny Goddard or Nels Nelson, collaborated with W.S. Stallings in New Mexico to create an exhibit using the tree ring method of dating Southwest ruins, and Schoichi Ichikawa installed the exhibit in the hall (1, 1932, p. 64).