| During the 1870s, William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) served with Ferdinand V. Hayden's United States Survey of the Territories as an artist-topographer, cartographer, geologist, and archaeologist. In later years, Holmes offered his many talents to the United States Geological Survey, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Field Columbian Museum, the United States National Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art.;In addition, this study examines Holmes's work on primitive art, his contributions to museum exhibition, his help in establishing archaeology as a profession, and, finally, his leading role in the controversy over the antiquity of man in America.;This study of Holmes's career as an explorer begins with his first trip to Yellowstone National Park in 1872 as a young, inexperienced artist-topographer and ends twenty-three years later with his field work among the ancient cities of Mexico. Throughout this narration, which takes Holmes to such places as the Colorado Rockies (including the Mount of the Holy Cross), the cliff-dwellings of the Southwest, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the focus is on the cultural significance of Holmes's many exploratory activities and his artistic and scientific accomplishments. |
