> "Henry B. Crawford"<[log in to unmask]> writes,
> >I am investigating the representation of native peoples in museums,
> >particularly the use of dioramas.  Can any body help me? This part of a
> >larger post-doc project looking at this and issues surrounding
> >repatriation.  I am looking at the relationship between museum
> >representations and repatriation policies (if there is one).
> >I look forward to anything that anyone may have with respect to the
> >history of the diorama or representations.

As part of a larger project, ca 1987-88, I produced a "Brief Illustrated
Report on the Manikins, Lay Figures and Life Groups Illustrating North
American Ethnology in the National Museum of Natural History" (or some
such title). It covered all, or almost all, of the North American
manikined dioramas in the Smithsonian from ca 1879 thru 1987, pointing out
that a number of the currently displayed manikins were made for the 1893
Columbian Exposition, and several of the figures have changed ethnicity
(as in real life, ethnicity is variable). I have the original. A copy is
in the National Anthropological Archives, NMNH.

tk