Sir: In connection with the Department letter of May 22 last, detailing you for duty as superintendent of the Indian exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, you are hereby detailed to erect the required building, perfect the details of the transfer of Indian families and pupils from their homes and schools to St. Louis, install and conduct the exhibit and supply the Indians with necessary food, shelter, and medical attendance.
You are hereby authorized to disburse the funds appropriated by act of Congress approved June 28, 1902 (32 Stats., p. 445), so far as expenditures are required by your duties in connection with the exhibit.
You are hereby also authorized to pay your actual necessary traveling expenses incurred in connection with the exhibit, including transportation and sleeping-car fare, payable out of $40,000 appropriation.
The exhibit occupied a reservation of about 10 acres in the northwest corner of the fair grounds, and its location at the extreme end of the anthropological exhibit typified the advancement of a primitive people toward civilization. Around the border of the reservation were arranged in a semicircle the native dwellings of the "blanket" or uncivilized Indians, as follows: Beginning at the western end of the semicircle, a Kickapoo bark house; the Maricopa-Pima group in two kees, one tent and summer houses; Arapaho group, one stockaded tepee; Geronimo, the great Apache medicine man, one (decorated) tepee; Pawnee group, ceremonial earth lodge or residence temple; Wichita group, grass lodge, summer house, and one tepee; Pueblo group, two tents and two summer sheds; Pomo group, one tent; Apache group, two tepees. These habitations were erected by the Indians themselves.
The Indians were grouped as follows: Six Pima, Arizona; 5 Maricopa,
Arizona; 23 Arapaho, 35 Cheyenne, 50 Pawnee, 35 Wichita, 5 Comanche, 9
San Carlos Apache, 20 Osage, all from Oklahoma; 29 Pueblo and 23 Navaho,
New Mexico; 35 Sioux, Rosebud, S. Dak.; 2 Pomos, California; 8 Jicarilla
Apache; 25 Chippewa, Minnesota; a total of 310.
The school building was a two-story structure of the old Mission style of architecture, standing at the rear of the reservation and extending the width of it. A hall ran the length of the building on either side of which were the booths containing the exhibits. The idea was to show the contrast between the civilized and uncivilized Indians, and to this end the booths on the west side of the hall were occupied by the old Indians working at their crude, primitive trades, and those of the east side by the new Indians (pupils of the various Indian schools) pursuing the up-to-date methods taught them by the white man.
The exhibits were as follows: On the west side, beginning at the south end of the building, Chilocco School exhibit, showing work in agriculture and stock husbandry, methods of instruction and results; Pueblo, San Juan, N. Mex., expert potters and weavers with needle loom, primitive millers, and bakers of wafer bread; Pomo, California, makers of fine baskets, mats, stone tools, and musical instruments; Pima, Arizona, makers of coiled baskets and pottery; Maricopa, Arizona, makers of fancy pottery and basket workers; Navaho, Arizona, famous blanket weavers, workers in silver, shell, and turquois; Sioux, South Dakota, decorative artists with porcupine quills, beads of buckskin, manufacturers of bows and arrows, and the calinite pipes, axes, and hammers; Apache, Arizona, expert weavers of blankets and makers of pottery; Apache, New Mexico, makers of coiled basketry of a peculiar type; Navaho, Sante Fe, N. Mex., Indian School, modern blanket weavers; Navaho, reservation, N. Mex., workers in silver, shell, and turquois; Pueblo, New Mexico, makers of pottery, blanket weavers and silversmiths.
On the east side, beginning at the south end of the building; Chilocco class in domestic science, model dining room, furnishings made by the pupils of the Chilocco School, Chilocco, Okla. This class gave daily demonstrations in cooking and serving food, Miss Peters in charge. Laundry class from the Chilocco School, under the charge of Miss Peters. Class in printing the Indian School Journal, printed daily by a class of students from the Chilocco School, E.K. Miller in charge. Painting, blacksmithing, and wheelwrighting classes from Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kans., K.C. Kaufman in charge. Manual training, Haskell Institute, C.F. Fitzgerald in charge. Domestic art class, students from Haskell Institute, Miss Taylor in charge. Harness-making class from Genoa, Nebr., School, J. McCallum in charge.
The halls were decorated with the work of the Indian pupils in penmanship, literary composition, arithmetic, sewing, lace work, bead work, and basketry. Every school in the service was represented in this display, except Carlisle, Phoenix, and Riverside. The exhibit was remarkable for its beauty and extent. In the model dining room the tables, dishes, napkins, rug, floor, chairs, wall paper, and general furnishings were all manufactured by pupils of the Chilocco School.
In the rear-center of the building was the assembly hall, where were held the daily classes, under the direction of Miss Harrison, and the musical and literary programmes, under the direction of Miss Crawford. There were in attendance at the school during the exhibit 150 boys and girls.