CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Touted as the largest and most magnificent exposition of all time, the New York World’s Fair opened at Flushing Meadows in April 1939. In the Court of States, one exhibition was strikingly different from the rest: the Virginia Room, “an island of quiet” amid the fair’s raucous and more sensational attractions. Leslie Cheek, Jr., chair of the Department of Fine Arts at the College of William and Mary and designer of the Virginia Room, and his team of artists developed a plan for a spacious circular lounge with the visitor’s focus drawn to an ornamental fountain theatrically lit from above and below. The design offered tired fairgoers a place to sit, a chance to enjoy a complimentary glass of ice water served by a white-jacketed waiter, and an array of large photograph albums prepared by the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce.
The Virginia Room albums can be thought of as a sprawling infomercial for the state, promoting it as a place not just of historic shrines and natural beauty, but as one of scientific, artistic, and intellectual sophistication. A modern state of concrete highways, world-class museums, unversities, and business-friendly public policies. When the World’s Fair closed, it was estimated that more than one million people had visited the Virginia Room and viewed its photograph collection. The photograph of the Pocahontas statue was one of the images selected to be in the Virginia Room.
By this period Pocahontas had moved into mythological status as the daughter of paramount chief Powhatan, conversion to Christianity, and marriage to colonist John Rolfe. Her images frequently were incorporated to promote Virginia and Virginia made products.
The statue of Pocahontas by William Ordway Partridge was erected at Historic Jamestowne National Park in 1922. The statue became an iconic image of Pocahontas that was often used in advertisments and for decades formed the basis for imagery of Indigenous women in major film and televison productions. Then as now, visitors photograph themselves holding hands with the staute as a momento of their visit to the park.Citation: Virginia New York World’s Fair Commission, 1939, Visual Studies Collection, Library of Virginia.
Standards
Suggested Questions
Artistic Exploration: Look at the photograph of the statue of Pocahontas, her size, dress, and posture. What, if anything, can you infer from these attributes? Be specific.
Post Activities
Form an Opinon: The statue of Pocahontas has become a recognizable image that has been used for everything from advertisments for products to major film productions. Why is this image appealing even though it is likely not an accurate depiction of what Pocahontas looked like in real life?
Current Connection: Statues of historical figures can sometimes be controversial. Write a paragraph in which you express your feelings about the Pocahontas statue and what, if any, alternative figures might be memorialized in a statue at a modern World's Fair.