The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-06-12
PROF. PuTNAM,s WONDERFUL Elk
HIBIT

1 =
SEE TIE MOST COMPLETE DISPLAY
EVER MADE RELATING TO PRE-
HISTORIC MAN AND THE RACES In
HABITING AMERICA CENTURIES
AGO.
|. All possible phases Of prehistoric
man in America and the life of the alb
brightness ut the time of the landing of
Columbus will be illustrated at the
Worlds Columbian exposition by the
department archaeology and ethnolo-
gy. Prof. +. w. Putnam, of Harvard
University,is the chief of this depart
ment, ard is pronounced the most
competent man in America for the po-
sition, He has been granted 10000
for immediate work in his department
and has already begun with great en-
thusiasm the task of collecting and
preparing most extensive exhibit.
He has arranged with the Perry ex-
petition to Greenland to get models of
Eskimos and their huts and equip
ments. A similar collection will be
made from tribe of Aleuts. He has
planned to produce portions of the
celebrated stone ruins in Yucatan.
For several weeks under Prof. Put
nam's direction, excavations have been
processing in the vicinity of Fort An
cient Ohio, the greatest known earth
works of the Mound Builders. A large
number of skeletons, some of them in
a good state of preservation, has been
exhumed, and numerous stone uten-
sils and various ornaments found. The
graves and skeletons i'm them will be
shown at the Exposition in exactly
the same state, except for the earth
covering them, in which they have
existed for thousands of years.
To'a newspaper correspondent Prof.
Putnam recently outlined as follows
his ideas of the exhibit which his de-
partment will make at the Exposition:
"The conditions under which man
was living when his existence in
America was first traced, will be
shown in diagramatic painting repre-
senting the terminal portions of the
ice-sheet, with the clay and gravel de-
posits and boulders at the edge, the
flora and fauna of the time, and man
associated with animals since extinct.
This series is< planned to contain the
skeletons OF the mammoth and the
mastodon, with mounted specimens of
Northern animals living at that early
period far south of their present
abode. With portions of skeletons of
man will be objects of handiwork and
other representations pertaining to
that time. In connection with the
habitations of the Eskimo, models of
men, women and children will be
shown, made from casts taken and
colored from life and dressed in ma
tive costumes. These figures will
be made in extended number
to illustrate all types of man.
kind. The work in part is in
papier mache, with the figures draped
i'm actual garments.
One of the most interesting and
striking representations will illustrate
the architecture of Yucatan in casts
taken from some of the ruins. To
make the moulds for complete cast
of any single building will be not only
a gigantic operation, but will cost
several thousand dollars. The selec-
ton of subjects is not determined
with absolute certainty, but the great
portal from the court at sLabna is one
of the subjects approved for the series.
Others are the Temple of the Sun at
Chicken-Itza, the House of the Nuns
at Uxmal, aud an old house at Merida
(1549 with richly carved ornamental
ton. The entire collection of casts
recently arrived at the Peabody Mu.
scum from Paris, which were made
from moulds taken by NJ. Desire Char
nay during the Lorillard expedition
to Yucatan and other southwestern
parts of the continent will also be ex-
hibited.
In another group will he shown the
origin and development of the prim-
tive arts, and the progress of nations
during the historic archaeological per-
iod will be illustrated. This repre-
sentation will contain such important
objects as models of ancient vessels
and models to illustrate ancient build
ings, particularly the various habita-
tons in the form of huts, etc., built
in this country. A third group will
be in illustration of navigation and
cartography. A complete series of
maps of the world will be collected,
both of those anterior to Columbus
and of others illustrating discoveries
down to the present time. In the
case of the most rare maps only re-
productions will be presented, al
though the loan of many originals is
expected. a fourth group will exhib-
it inventions, arranged to illustrate
progress, with amelioration OF life and
labor. In this will be shown originals,
copies and models of notable inven-
tons, supplemented by a collection of
portraits of distinguished inventors.
Other collections of similar COM
pleteness will represent all the prin-
cipal tribes of the northern part of the
continent, the Indian races of the in
terror, the inhabitants of the West