The Epic of American Civilization Mural

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The Epic of American Civilization is a mural by the social realist painter Jose Clemente Orozco. It is located in the basement reading room of the Baker Memorial Library on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover.

The mural, painted between 1932 and 1934, consists of a series of 24 fresco panels, whose principal themes are the impact of both indigenous Native Americans and European colonists on North America, and the impact of war (particularly the Mexican Civil War and the First World War) and rapid industrialization on the human spirit.

The two themes of the mural are arranged in separate wings of the reading room. The west wing contains ten panels on the first theme, that of Native Americans. The second are applied to totem poles in the eastern half of the room.

The mural was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2013.