1994.0022- "The Song of Hiawatha" program

Object Details

Creator: Dixon, Joseph K. (Joseph Kossuth) (1856-1926); Wanamaker, Rodman, 1863-1928
Collection Creator: National Museum of the American Indian (U.S.)

Creator: Dixon, Joseph K. (Joseph Kossuth) (1856-1926); Wanamaker, Rodman, 1863-1928

Biographical / Historical: Rodman Wanamaker (1863-1928) was the sole surviving heir of Philadelphia-based department store magnate, John Wanamaker. Rodman, among his other philanthropic endeavors with the arts, believed that Native Americans were a "noble, though vanishing race," whose lives needed to be recorded before they disappeared. Because of this belief, he funded three expeditions (1908-1913) to "perpetuate the life stories of the first Americans." In addition, he also strove, and ultimately failed, to create a National Indian Memorial to be situated in New York City which would rival the Statue of Liberty. Joseph K. Dixon (1858-1926) was born in New York, and received a bachelor of divinity degree from the Rochester Theological Seminary before becoming a lecturer for the Eastman Kodak photographic company in 1904. Two years later he was hired to work in Wanamaker's department store, and by 1908 he was chosen to lead the three Wanamaker expeditions (1908-1913) to document the lives and cultures of Native peoples of the United States. For the remainder of his life, Dixon frequently lectured on and continued to photograph the lives of Native Americans.

Collection Citation: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); General Manuscripts and Ephemera collections, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.

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Scope and Contents: A program for the production of "the Song of Hiawatha" at the Wanamaker Auditorium in New York, New York, circa 1908-1913. The show was produced by Joseph K. Dixon.

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