Images from the article
Anyone familiar with the American Southwest might recognize
the scene in the photograph (right) as being the famous adobe pueblo of Taos,
situated in northern New Mexico. Under a sunny southwestern sky, five
traditionally dressed Indians (a man, two women and two babies) are gathered
near the entrance to the ceremonial kiva, while another cloaked man, barely
visible, stands atop the highest section of the pueblo building, surveying the
scene. But the photograph deceives us.
This "pueblo" never stood in New Mexico, and these Indian
"residents" are many miles from home. What then does one see here, and what is
the meaning of this photograph, taken by the young photographer/archaeologist
Jesse L. Nusbaum, in 1914?
In the early years of the twentieth century, the City of San
Diego decided to hold an exposition to celebrate the completion of the Panama
Canal. Unlike other expositions of the era, which were more international in
scope, the Panama-California Exposition focused on Latin America and the western
United States, with a decidedly Spanish and Indian flavor pervading the
architecture and exhibits.
For an exhibit in the commercial section of the exposition, the Santa Fe
Railway produced, for the delight and edification of the tourist, a
recreation of southwestern Indian life. Author Eugen Neuhaus described it:
Skillfully and with fine regard for the effect of genuineness,
the habitations of the cliff dwellers and the "Logans" [sic] of the
Navajos and the other nomadic tribes are here set up. Even the towering pueblos
of the Zuni and Hopi are in evidence. One gets a very ' real and lasting
impression of a unique and old civilization of Indian life with which very few
people are familiar.1
In the official brochure for the exhibit the railroad company explains that:
Realizing that many people have neither the time nor the means to visit
the Indian tribes which inhabit the country adjacent to the railway from the
Colorado-New Mexico line to the Pacific, and knowing the deep interest that all take
in the "First Americans," it was decided lo reproduce at the Panama-California
Exposition, in their Painted Desert Exhibit, typical Indian settlements of the
sedentary and nomadic tribes of the GreatSouíhwest.2
Of course, it was also implicit that some of these visitors to the exhibit might,
encouraged by the picturesque sights they beheld there, find the time and means to
visit, via the railroad, the actual locations represented. Increased tourism was
certainly one of the primary goals of the commercial exhibitors at the Exposition.
The Painted Desert was, by all accounts, one of the most popular attractions on the
Isthmus, as the commercial midway of the Exposition was called. Construction, which
ran about $150,000, began in April, 1914, nearly nine months before the official
opening on January 1, 1915, on a site which encompassed five acres of land. Two large
units of Indian dwellings were erected, one called the Zuni Building, the other the
Taos. Also, there were ceremonial kivas, beehive-shaped outdoor ovens for bread
baking, Navajo hogans, Apache teepees, summerhouses of sticks, and cliff dwellings
set in brightly colored rock meant to look like the Arizona Painted Desert from which
the entire exhibit took its name. Authentic materials used in the construction were
hauled in on the railroad; southwestern cholla cactus, sagebrush and yucca, as well as
willow, cedar posts and sandstone flagging from Colorado. The cliffs were created of wire
and colored cement over a wooden frame, sculpted to resemble rock. Indian families
from San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico were brought in to assist with the
construction. During the two years of the Exposition's existence, a number of Indians
from various tribes, including the now famous San Ildefonso potters Julian and Maria
Martinez, lived at the exhibit. The Indians demonstrated their skills at such
tasks as jewelry making, bread baking, blanket weaving, and pottery decorating,
as well as performing traditional dances and ceremonies for the enlightenment of
the visiting tourists. All of these activities were duly reported in the local
press.3
As supervisor of their Painted Desert construction, the Santa Fe Railway hired
Jesse Nusbaum, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, at a salary of $100 per month. Nusbaum
was born in Greeley, Colorado, on September 3, 1887, the son of Edward M. and
Agnes Nusbaum. During his youth, Jesse learned the building trade from his father,
a general contractor and brickyard owner. He also became a proficient self-taught
amateur photographer. After finishing his secondary schooling, young Nusbaum earned
his education degree, in 1907, at the State Normal School in Greeley. He was
immediately hired by the New Mexico State Normal in Las Vegas, to teach science
and manual arts. In 1909, he moved to Santa Fe to become one of the first employees
of the Museum of New Mexico and the School of American Archaeology, both under the
directorship of Dr. Edgar L.Hewett, who had been president of the New Mexico State
Normal when Nusbaum was hired there. Nusbaum's most active period of picturemaking
occurred between 1907-1915, during which time he made several trips to Guatemala,
Honduras, and Mexico, in the company of such eminent personalities as archaeologist,
Sylvanus G. Morley and folklorist, Charles Lummis, to photograph important Maya sites.
In New Mexico, between these expeditions, he continued to work as a photographer and
an archaeologist. From 1909-1913 he acted as superintendent for the renovation of the
Palace of Governors in Santa Fe, which he also recorded with his camera. He was living
and working in New Mexico's capital city when the Santa Fe Railway engaged him to
oversee the creation of their exhibit at the Panama-California Exposition.
While working in that capacity, Nusbaum made a thorough photographic documentation
of the project. He captured on his five by seven inch glass plate negatives all stages
of construction. There are images of workers creating the cliffs of wire and plaster,
Indian men building an horno for the bread baking, and putting the finishing
touches to the interior of a ceremonial kiva. There are also photographs of the Indians
engaged in their time honored daily activities. With his dramatic use of light and shadow,
strong diagonal elements, and varied perspectives such as low camera angles and
bird's-eye-views, Nusbaum created photographs that were not only informative
documents, but visually and aesthetically pleasing compositions as well. The
Santa Fe Railway utilized Nusbaum's sensitive photographs to advertise and
publicize their Indian exhibit, with eleven of his pictures appearing in the
official "Painted Desert" brochure. Some of his popular images, such as
that of the Indian women firing pottery, were made into post cards and sold by the
Railway through the Fred Harvey concessions.
Reviewers of the Exposition frequently singled out the Painted Desert, from among
the many Isthmus concessions, for special praise as being more than a mere
entertainment, and cited Nusbaum as the person most responsible for its successful
creation. An article from El Palacio proclaims that "Jesse Nusbaum,
for years superintendent of construction for the Museum [of New Mexico] and School
[of American Archaeology], has reared a monument of tremendous proportions and interest,
as distinctive as anything that has ever been created for any exposition and withal
wonderfully instructive." Furthermore, the article continues, " . . . it is an
ethnological exhibit of uncommon human interest and attractiveness and there is probably no
other man who could have created it as satisfactorily as Mr. Nusbaum."4
In fact, the overall emphasis at the Panama-California Exposition was on the
educational, on processes rather than on mere display of products. When the idea
was first conceived in San Diego to hold an exposition to celebrate the completion
of the Panama Canal, the construction of something along the lines of a traditional
world's fair was envisioned. However, shortly after the Exposition committee filed
their Articles of Incorporation in Sacramento, announcement came that San Francisco
intended to hold the offical celebration of the Canal opening. This move was sanctioned
by the Federal Government, which extended a formal invitation to the Latin American
countries to take part in San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition. Thus, San Francisco
commenced to plan and construct an international fair along the lines of those previously
held in Chicago and St. Louis with their white cities of Greek and Roman inspired edifices.
Mark S. Watson, in Out West Magazine observed:
This left San Diego with the realization that if a similar
plan were followed in the southern city there would be mere duplication of
effort with a certainty of competition and a likelihood of
mutual injury.Thus, largely through necessity, came the germ of the new idea. Eventually
it would be seen that San Francisco's stand was really the most fortunate
possible event for San Diego, for the southern city was practically forced by
good judgment to start out afresh and create something new.5
What was created was an exposition strongly thematic and distinctively regional
in character when they decided to honor the Spanish and Indian heritage of the
Southwest. The site chosen for the Exposition was Balboa Park, formerly 1,400
acres on top of a sun-baked, arid mesa covered with scrub and cactus, which was
turned into a veritable Eden of flowering gardens by the deft planning of the fair's
landscape architects. The high, nearly level plateau was ideally situated less than a
mile from the center of the city, commanding a superb view of the surrounding country
with its ranges of mountains to the south and east. The city and bay lay immediately
below the plateau, with Coronado Beach and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The main entrance
to the Exposition was reached by an impressive concrete bridge spanning Cabrillo Canyon,
at the far end of which arose the Spanish Colonial city with its towers and tiled domes
glistening in the sun. Edgar L. Hewett, the Exposition's Director of Exhibits
described it thus:
On the right are grouped on the edge of the Canyon the various state
buildings, that of New Mexico, taken from the archaic mission of Acoma, standing out
among the others. On the left, in the background, there are the structures of the
Isthmus, terminated by the Painted Desert, the very successful exhibit of the Santa
Fe Railway. In the center rise the magnificent tower and dome of the California
Quadrangle.6
In keeping with the Exposition's intention to demonstrate
processes, especially those relevant to the Southwest, many other unusual
exhibits besides the Painted Desert were featured. The Lipton Tea Company
created a tea plantation, complete with Singalese gardeners tending the plants
brought in from Ceylon, and young women stripping and curing the leaves and
preparing the beverage for serving to visitors. There was also a small scale
working farm, employing the latest in modern machinery and methods for intensive
innovative agriculture. It was hoped that through such exhibits new industries
would be introduced into the region, and that a back-to-the land movement would
open up development of thousands of acres of uncultivated land in southern
California and the Southwest. These activities would, of course, generate
increased trade and commerce through San Diego's harbor, and make it an
important port for goods flowing through the Panama Canal.
Some 3,800,000 people visited the Panama-California Exposition during its two
years of existence. In the second year a number of foreign exhibitors transferred
their displays to the San Diego site when the Panama-Pacific Exposition closed in
San Francisco, giving it a somewhat more international flavor.
Within a few months after the closing of the Panama-California Exposition, the United
States became involved in World War I, and the Indian Buildings of the Painted Desert
were given over to the military for use by the Twenty-First Artillery for the duration
of the conflict. After the war, the army moved out and the Boy Scouts moved in. They
utilized the Indian Village for their various activities for many years. In 1927, $35,000
was raised by public subscription for renovation of the Indian Buildings. Showers, a
mess hall and a swimming pool were added to the area. During the Second World
War, the Boy Scouts relinquished the buildings, which were once again occupied
by the military. In 1946 the structures were declared unsafe for habitation and
subsequently destroyed by the local Fire Department, and the area landscaped for
other park use. A few reminders of the Exposition, such as the stately Spanish
Colonial California Building, which became the San Diego Museum of Man, still
remain today in Balboa Park. Some, though, have gone the way of the Santa Fe
Railway's Painted Desert Exhibit, relegated to the domain of memory. Thus, that
tribute to Spanish and Indian heritage, champion of process over product, the
San Diego Exposition, so photographic in form itself, being a surrogate for the
real thing, has faded away like an old tintype. However, the wonderfully
authentic, make-believe Indian Village will continue to exist, frozen in time,
in the perceptive photographs of Jesse L. Nusbaum.
NOTES
1. Eugen Neuhaus, The San Diego Garden Fair (San Francisco: Paul Elder
and Company, 1916), p. 45.
2. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Painted Desert Exhibit; San
Diego Exposition (United States, n.p., n.d.), n.p.
3. See "Indian Tribes Will Be Brought to Exposition to Live and Work in
Replicas of Their Real Homes," San Diego Union, August 21, 1913, p. 1,
cols. 4-5, p. 7, col. 6; "Indians at Work on Exhibit for Exposition,"
San Diego Union, October 6, 1914, p. 7, col. 1; and "Santa Fe Railroad's
Indian Pueblo Marvel of Primitive Crafts," San Diego Union, January
1, 1915, Sec. II, p. 7, cols. 6-7.
4. "Museum and School Share in San Diego's Triumph," El Palacío,
2, No. 2 (1915), 2, p. 2.
5. Mark S. Watson, "Process, Not Products," Out West Magazine, n.s. 8
(1914), p. 92.
6. Edgar L. Hewett and William Templeton Johnson, "Architecture of the
Exposition," Archaeological Institute of America Papers of the School of
American Archaeology, 32 (1916), p. 35.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allwood, John. The Great Exhibitions. London: Cassell and Collier
Macmillian Publishers Ltd., 1977.
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Exposition. [United States]: n.p., n.d.
"The Big Fair Ready at San Diego With Many Special Features." Santa Fe
Magazine, December 1914. pp. 21-23.
Christman, Florence. The Romance of Balboa Park. San Diego: Committee of 100, 1977.
Goodhue, Bertram Grosvenor. The Architecture and the Gardens of the San
Diego Exposition. San Francisco: Paul Elder and Company, 1916.
Hewett, Edgar L. and William Templeton Johnson. "Architecture of the
Exposition." Archaeological Institute of America, Papers of the School of American
Archaeology, 32 (1916).
"Indian Tribes Will Be Brought to Exposition and Live and Work in Replicas of Their
Real Homes," San Diego Union, August 21, 1913, p. 1, cols. 4-5, p. 7, col. 6.
"Indians at Work on Exhibit for Exposition," San Diego Union, October
6, 1914, p. 7, col. 1.
"Magic Spanish City at San Diego," Out West Magazine, n.s. 8 (1914), 290-306.
"Museum and School Share in San Diego's Triumph," El Palacio, 2, No. 2
(1915), 2.
Neuhaus, Eugen. The San Diego Garden fair. San Francisco: Paul Elder
and Company, 1916.
"The New City of Old Spain," Out West Magazine, 41, No. 3 (1915),
122-125.
"News Notes from the Beautiful Fair at San Diego." Santa Fe
Magazine, April 1915, pp. 35-39.
"San Diego Exposition Jottings." Santa Fe Magazine, July 1915, pp.
35-39.
"San Diego Exposition Opens in Blaze of Glory." Santa Fe
Magazine, January 1915, pp. 21-22.
"Santa Fe Railroad's Indian Pueblo Marvel of Primitive Crafts," San Diego
Union, January 1, 1915. Sec. II, pp. 7, cols. 6-7.
"Sidelights on the Great Exposition at San Diego." Santa Fe Magazine,
February 1915, pp. 47-49.
Walter, Paul A. F. "New Mexico's Contribution to the Panama-California
Exposition," El Palacio, 3, No. 1 (1915), 3-16.
Watson, Mark S. "Process, Not Products," Out West Magazine, n.s. 8
(1914), 87-93.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS are courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico.
