America the Beautiful: American Indians and the Promotion of National Parks

When the U.S. government and railroad companies began encouraging leisure travel to National Parks in the first half of the twentieth century, they often used images of American Indians on promotional materials. Focusing on publicity for three parks—Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon—this installation marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park system through a display of brochures, calendars, postcards, and souvenir artwork that depicted Native Americans in spectacular landscapes and traditional dress as a way of drawing visitors to these romantic, “exotic” new tourist destinations.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website