Coming of Age in Chicago

The 1893 World's Fair and the Coalescence of American Anthropology

Curtis M. Hinsley, David R. Wilcox

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780803268388
• eBook ISBN:
  9780803284470
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Social Sciences

Coming of Age in Chicago explores a watershed moment in American anthropology, when an unprecedented number of historians and anthropologists of all subfields gathered on the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition fairgrounds, drawn together by the fair's focus on indigenous peoples. Participants included people making a living with their research, sporadic backyard diggers, religiously motivated researchers, and a small group who sought a "scientific" understanding of the lifeways of indigenous peoples. At the fair they set the foundation for anthropological inquiry and redefined the field. At the same time, the American public became aware, through their own experiences at the fair, of a global humanity, with reactions that ranged from revulsion to curiosity, tolerance, and kindness. Curtis M. Hinsley and David R. Wilcox combine primary historical texts, modern essays, and rarely seen images from the period to create a volume essential for understanding the significance of this event. These texts explore the networking of thinkers, planners, dreamers, schemers, and scholars who interacted in a variety of venues to lay the groundwork for museums, academic departments, and expeditions. These new relationships helped shape the profession and the trajectory of the discipline, and they still resonate more than a century later.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• Essay 1. Anthropology as Education and Entertainment
• Document A. Franz Boas, “Ethnology at the Exposition”
• Document B. Frederic Ward Putnam, “The Columbus Memorial Museum”
• Document C. “Man and His Works”
• Essay 2. Ambiguous Legacy
• Appendix
• Document D. William Henry Holmes, “The World’s Fair Congress of Anthropology”
• Essay 3. Anthropology in a Changing America
• Document E. Excerpts from the Diary of Frank Hamilton Cushing at the World’s Fair
• Document F. Monthly Report of Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing
• Document G. The Pueblos at Home
• A Visual Interlude
• Essay 4. Refracting Images
• Essay 5. Relic Hunters in the White City
• Document H. Cushing’s Analysis of the Hazzard Cliff Dweller Collection
• Document I. The Ancient Man
• Essay 6. Patrons, Popularizers, and Professionals
• Document J. Warren King Moorehead, “The Ancient Man: The Anthropological Exhibit at the World’s Fair”
• Essay 7. Going National
• Appendix
• Document K. Daniel Garrison Brinton, “The Aims of Anthropology”
• Document L. Franz Boas, “The Limitations of the Comparative Method of Anthropology”
• Afterword
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index
• About Curtis M. Hinsley
• About David R. Wilcox