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INDIAN WARRIORS AND PIONEER MOTHERS: AMERICAN IDENTITY AND THE CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER IN PUBLIC MONUMENTS, 1890-1930 by Paul Scolari Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1987 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 1991 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2005 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Paul Scolari It was defended on April 1, 2005 and approved by Nancy Glazener, Associate Professor, English Barbara McCloskey, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture Terry Smith, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, History of Art and Architecture Kirk Savage, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture Dissertation Director ii Copyright by Paul Scolari, 2005. iii INDIAN WARRIORS AND PIONEER MOTHERS: AMERICAN IDENTITY AND THE CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER IN PUBLIC MONUMENTS, 1890-1930 Paul Scolari, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Abstract: At the end of the 19th century, Americans heralded the end of the westward march across the continent. The West had been won. The historian Frederick Jackson Turner put it best when in 1893 he proclaimed: “And now, four centuries from the discovery of America, at the end of a hundred years of life under the Constitution, the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.” Long understood as a geographically remote wilderness where the epic struggle between “civilized” and “savage” would determine the fate of America’s future, suddenly the frontier defined the nation’s past. Previous scholars, in examining the work of artists, writers, entertainers, and others, have explored how certain individuals fashioned a nostalgic legacy of western expansion at this moment in the nation’s history. My dissertation charts new territory in this field by exploring how Americans nationwide fashioned a legacy of western expansion in an assemblage of works of art neglected until now, sculptural monuments erected in public space. In so doing, it provides a fresh understanding of the nation’s defining legend, the myth of the frontier, and how this myth corresponds to the history upon which it is based. By employing the Smithsonian Institution American Art Museum Inventory of American Sculpture to examine the entire range of public monuments commemorating western expansion from 1890-1930, my study provides an unprecedented synthesis on this topic. Inventory iv research revealed one striking pattern--monuments focused overwhelmingly on two figures, the Indian and the pioneer. It also led to one surprising finding--while represented as combatants in the battle for the continent in the 19th century, both figures would be remembered heroically in the wake of western expansion, each the foundation upon which citizens would construct American identities in the early-20th century. Thus, in a series of case studies complementing my Smithsonian Inventory research, my dissertation examines the life of two mythic American figures, the Indian and the pioneer, and how these figures were used to fashion a legacy of western expansion in a rich array of artifacts including public sculptures, minted coins, and memorial highways. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE...................................................................................................................................... ix 1. IMPERIAL CONQUEST: FROM NATIONAL MISSION TO NATIONAL MEMORY..... 1 2. SIGNAL OF PEACE ............................................................................................................. 14 3. THE FIRST AMERICAN ...................................................................................................... 52 4. VENGEANCE ...................................................................................................................... 107 5. THE FIRST FAMILY .......................................................................................................... 146 6. EPILOGUE: RED POWER.................................................................................................. 193 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................... 221 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Cyrus Dallin, Signal of Peace, 1890. ......................................................................... 40 Figure 2. Cyrus Dallin, Medicine Man, 1899. ........................................................................... 41 Figure 3. Cyrus Dallin, Protest, 1904........................................................................................ 42 Figure 4. Cyrus Dallin, Appeal to the Great Spirit, 1909.......................................................... 43 Figure 5. Frederic Remington, Shotgun Hospitality, 1908. ....................................................... 44 Figure 6. Henry Kirke Brown, George Washington, 1853-56................................................... 45 Figure 7. Horatio Greenough, The Rescue, 1837-52. ................................................................ 46 Figure 8. Frederic Remington, Cavalry Charge on the Southern Plains in 1860, 1908. .......... 47 Figure 9. James Wehn, Chief Seattle, 1912. .............................................................................. 48 Figure 10. Cyrus Dallin, Massasoit, 1920. .................................................................................. 49 Figure 11. Thomas Hastings and Daniel Chester French, National American Indian Memorial Conceptual Design, 1913...................................................................................................... 50 Figure 12. John Reich, Thomas Jefferson Peace Medal, 1801-1809........................................... 51 Figure 13. Thomas Crawford, United States Capitol Senate Pediment, Progress of Civilization (Three Views), 1855-63........................................................................................................ 89 Figure 14. James Earle Fraser, Indian Head - Buffalo Nickel, 1913. ........................................... 90 Figure 15. Western Exchange Fire and Insurance Company, Two Dollar Note, 1857................. 90 Figure 16. James Earle Fraser, The End of the Trail, 1893-1915. ................................................ 91 Figure 17. Solon Borglum, The American Pioneer, 1915. ........................................................... 92 Figure 18. Martin de Vos, Personification of America, 1595....................................................... 93 Figure 19. Matthew Darly, The Commissioners, 1778. ................................................................ 93 Figure 20. P. Wagenaar, Holland Recognizes American Independence, 1782............................. 94 Figure 21. Liberty Coin, 1794....................................................................................................... 95 Figure 22. James Longacre, Indian Head Gold Dollar, 1854-56. ................................................ 95 Figure 23. James Longacre, Indian Head Cent, 1859-1909. ........................................................ 96 Figure 24. Bela Lyon Pratt, Indian Head $2.50 Gold Coin, 1908-29........................................... 96 Figure 25. Joseph Kossuth Dixon, Antoine Moise (Flathead), 1913............................................ 97 Figure 26. From S. G. Goodrich, A Pictorial History of the United States, 1865. ....................... 97 Figure 27. James Earle Fraser, Theodore Roosevelt, 1904........................................................... 98 Figure 28. James Earle Fraser, Theodore Roosevelt, 1940........................................................... 98 Figure 29. Buffalo Bill, c. 1875..................................................................................................... 99 Figure 30. Program, The Wild West, 1883.................................................................................. 100 Figure 31. Program, Buffalo Bill's Wild West, 1885................................................................... 101 Figure 32. Poster, I Am Coming, 1900........................................................................................ 101 Figure 33. Poster, Iron Tail, Date Unknown. ............................................................................. 102 Figure 34. Program, Iron Tail, 1907........................................................................................... 102 Figure 35. Gertrude Kasebier, Iron Tail, 1898. .......................................................................... 103 Figure 36. Gertrude Kasebier, Iron Tail, 1898. .......................................................................... 103 vii Figure 37. William Notman, Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, 1885. .............................................. 104 Figure 38. Poster, An American, 1893. ....................................................................................... 105 Figure 39. President Taft Breaking Ground with Indian Tool, 1913.......................................... 106 Figure 40. Joseph Kossuth Dixon, Emma Kickapoo, 1913......................................................... 106 Figure 41. Frederick MacMonnies, Kit Carson Pioneer Monument Fountain, 1911................. 138 Figure 42. Frederick MacMonnies, Pioneer Monument Fountain Conceptual Design with Indian Offering Signal of Peace, 1907..........................................................................................