Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China Records

In the early 1970s, in an effort to improve its relations with the West, the Chinese government organized and circulated, to various cities in Europe and North America, the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China, which consisted of 385 objects discovered after the Communist Revolution in 1949. In the spring of 1973, the exhibition opened in Paris. It subsequently traveled to London, Vienna, Stockholm, Toronto, and Washington, D.C., before coming to Kansas City. The Kansas City venue was secured by a combination of factors: Laurence Sickman's reputation; the Nelson's Chinese collection; the city's central location; and assistance from Leonard Garment, a member of the White House staff. Attracting over 280,000 visitors, the exhibition, which was shown from April 20-June 8, 1975, was the largest exhibition ever to come to the Museum. Fifteen exhibition rooms in the east wing and one-third of Kirkwood Hall was used for the display of the objects. Costs far exceeded anything previously attempted by the Museum and were offset by a nearly $500,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Marc Wilson, then curator of the Asian art collection, was given charge of the exhibition and its ancillary activities such as the editing of the illustrated catalog, designing and constructing of the installations, advertising and promotion, and security.