William Henry Holmes

William Henry Holmes (1846 – 1933) was an American anthropologist, archaeologist, geologist and museum director.

Life

William Henry Holmes was born in Harrison County, Ohio, on December 1, 1846. As a small child Holmes developed a passion for art when he discovered he had a genuine talent. His father, a farmer, indulged this talent and did not actively discourage it.

At the age of eighteen Holmes entered the McNeely Normal School to become a teacher. He recognized that a teaching career was the only viable option if he was to escape a farmer's life. Holmes graduated from McNeely Normal College in 1870 and briefly went into teaching.

In 1871 Holmes moved to Washington, DC, to study under the artist Theodore Kaufman. He began working at the Smithsonian Institute as a sketch artist after a referral by a friend. While working there Holmes met Spencer Baird and Ferdinand Hayden. These men would play a major part in shaping Holmes' scientific career.

Ferdinand Hayden invited Holmes to work as an artist on his 1872 survey of Yellowstone National Park. Haydon's previous expedition to Yellowstone had made him America's most famous geologist and explorer. Once on the survey Holmes worked as a geologist and cartographer as well. He contributed pioneering reports on the terrain and geologic phenomena of Yellowstone, and completed early geological reconnaissance work in Colorado.

As an artist, he was responsible for illustrative material in an atlas of the Grand Canyon. During these years Holmes traveled widely from the Northern Rockies to the Southwest. After it was absorbed into the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879, he was assigned to work as a geologist in the southwestern United States.

In 1875, Holmes began studying the remains of the Anasazi culture in the San Juan River region of Utah. He became particularly interested in prehistoric pottery and shell art, producing published works including Art in Shell of the American Indians (1883) and Pottery of the Ancient Pueblos (1886). He expanded these studies into textiles, and became well known as an expert in both ancient and existing arts produced by Native Americans of the Southwest.

Holmes left the Geological Survey in 1889 to become an archaeologist with the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology. He left Washington temporarily, from 1894 to 1897, to serve as curator of anthropology at the Field Columbian Museum. He returned to the Smithsonian in 1897 to serve as head curator of anthropology at the U.S. National Museum. From 1902 to 1909 he served as Chief (director) of the Bureau of American Ethnology; during this period he studied the Etowah Indian Mounds of the Mississippian culture in Georgia. In 1910, he became chairman of the Division of Anthropology of the U.S. National Museum. In 1920, Holmes became the director of National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), where he assembled exhibits of Indian arts from the Northwest Coast.

He retired from the Smithsonian in 1932 at the age of 86. He died in Royal Oak, Michigan on April 20, 1933.

Work

He published many works on archæological and anthropological subjects. He edited geological publications including Hayden's Atlas of Colorado and the eleventh and twelfth reports of the Geological Survey. His books include: "Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities" (1919).

Artist

Holmes began his career drawing specimens for scientists and was soon invited to join the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories. During his years in the western territories, Holmes refined his skills as an artist achieving a reputation for his panoramic landscape paintings of the Grand Canyon. He also produced many delightful watercolors. His paintings that were described as "orgies of pure color" (Artists at Work: Creativity at the Smithsonian William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) Renaissance Man Retrieved May 7, 2008.)

He was a member of several art societies as well as the Cosmos Club, a social club founded by his colleague John Wesley Powell, which included in its stated goals "the advancement of its members in science, literature, and art" (Cosmos Club Retrieved May 7, 2008.). A member of the Washington Watercolor Club, he held a number of exhibitions of his paintings at important venues such as the Corcoran Gallery Washington Water Color Association Retrieved May 7, 2008.).

Holmes was curator of anthropology for the Smithsonian (1897-1932) while also serving as curator and director of the emerging National Gallery of Art (1906-1932), now the National Museum of American Art.

While geological training had sharpened his intellect and embedded a sense of scientific rigor, Holmes brought quite another perspective to his archaeological reports that of an artist. The precision of his drawings is astounding, and can be appreciated even in the smallest sketch book. He believed that archaeologists needed to grasp the fundamental principles of art in order to meet the demands of science. To determine the "authenticity of unidentified relics of primitive art" he laid out certain guidelines:

Every proper product of the shaping arts is intended for some normal use. In indigenous work, vessels made for use in the domestic arts are suitable to that end; those made for ceremonial purposes are adapted to that end, and are embellished with symbols suitable to their office.... Forms are not interchangeable and embellishments, especially those of an ideographic character, are not used indiscriminately (Smithsonian Expeditions William Henry Holmes Papers, 1870-1931).

Legacy

William Henry Holmes was a significant figure in the evolution of American museology and anthropology. He wrote prolifically on archaeological and anthropological subjects, focusing especially on the origins of Native Americans as well as the evolution of "primitive" art. His work in these areas seriously influenced national debate for some years. He also pioneered the use of diorama in museum exhibits.

Publications

• 1883. Art in Shell of the American Indians. Gustav's Library Reprint. ISBN 978-0781242813
• 1885. Evidences of the Antiquity of Man of the Site of the City of Mexico.
• [1886] 1986. Pottery of the Ancient Pueblos. Shorey's Bookstore. ISBN 978-0846640530
• 1886. Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art.
• 1894. Earthenware of Florida: Collection of Clarence B. Moore.
• 1894. Natural History of Flaked Stone Implements. Schulte Pub. Co.
• 1895. Archaeoœlogical Studies among the Ancient Cities of Mexico. Field Columbian Museum.
• 1897. Field Columbian Museum Anthropological Series.
• 1897. Stone Implements of the Potomac-Chesapeake Tidewater Province. Bureau of Ethnology.
• 1902. Anthropological Studies in California. Government Printing Office.
• 1903. Aboriginal Pottery of the Eastern United States. Government Printing Office.
• 1919. Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities. Smithsonian Gov Printing.
• [1919] 2007. Handbook Of Aboriginal American Antiquities: Part I, Introductory, The Lithic Industries. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1430499701
• 1921. On the Race History and Facial Characteristics of the Aboriginal Americans. Reprint Services Corp. ISBN 978-0781242592
• 1977. Holmes Anniversary Volume: Anthropological Essays Presented to William Henry Holmes in Honor of His Seventieth Birthday, December 1, 1916. AMS Press. ISBN 978-0404106270

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Fernlund, Kevin J. 2000. William Henry Holmes and the Rediscovery of the American West. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0826321275
• Meltzer, David J. 1992. The Archaeology of William Henry Holmes (Classics of Smithsonian Anthropology). Washington and London: Smithsonian. ISBN 1560981520
• Sabloff, Jeremy A., & Gordon R. Willey. 1993. History of American Archaeology. New York: W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd. ISBN 0716723719

External links

• Works by William Henry Holmes. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved December 15, 2007.
• William Henry Holmes (1846 - 1933) Retrieved April 25, 2008.
• William Henry Holmes Retrieved April 25, 2008.
• An Artist's View: William Henry Holmes Retrieved April 25, 2008.
• William Henry Holmes Papers, 1870-1931 Retrieved April 25, 2008.

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