Silhouette: "Chesapeake/Mississippi Indians"

This is one of five zinc silhouettes created in the summer of 1939 specifically for the Indian Affairs alcove in the original exhibitions of the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum. The silhouette was constructed from plate glass, chrome plating, molding, and zinc at an average cost of $35.31 per foot. The scene from left to right depicts: a tree; a canoe, with one man sitting in the middle paddling and one man standing in the bow; a cluster of trees and brush within a "lake" simulated by a piece of plastic; a shoreline with a woman standing stirring a pot; a woman standing and churning; a woman kneeling and washing, with four items hanging on line above strung between two poles; two domed abodes, one of which is complete and the other of which is only the framing; and a tree. This silhouette was originally displayed in a high, recessed backlit niche near the ceiling.