Mammoth and Giant Octopus from the Anthropology Building of the Chicago Exposition

Mammoth and Giant Octopus from the Anthropology Building of the Chicago Exposition

At Putnam's prodding, a "separate Anthropology Building on the fairgrounds" was meant to "prove the worth of building a permanent ethnological museum" (Rydell 57). Franz Boas and Joseph Jastrow were among the directors of this museum. This Mammoth and Giant Octopus fit into the theme of this building, which was in part to show, according to one of Putnams assistants: "From the first to the last, the exhibits of this department will be arranged and grouped to teach a lesson; to show the advancement of evolution of man." The Mammouth and Giant Octopus, while themselves testaments to Man's ability to harness and "preserve" nature also bore testament to the spectacle of the Anthropologists at the Fair itself-- particularly in the Anthropology section and along the Midway. The spectacle of the different races fit into the evolutionary narrative of the Fair, and into the narrative of the superiority of man (the white man).

-ben horwitz

by The Werner Company. 1893.


Mammoth and Devil Fish [or Giant Octopus]. Dept. of Ethnology Interior of Anthropology Building. From Columbian Gallery: A Portfolio of Photographs of the World's Fair

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