About 4,000 people gathered in Stanley Field Hall to hear His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama speak on ethics for the new millennium, an event co‑organized by the Field Museum and the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago. Actress Goldie Hawn introduced the morning program, followed by an afternoon roundtable with journalists and scholars, including Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Wills. Diane Alexander White’s photographic role As the Field Museum’s staff photographer, Diane Alexander White documented:
The Dalai Lama’s arrival and movement through the museum
The morning keynote in Stanley Field Hall
Goldie Hawn’s introduction
Audience reactions and the scale of the gathering
The consecration of the Tibetan thangka
The afternoon roundtable with scholars and journalists
Her photographs capture both the public ceremony and the quiet, intimate moments behind the scenes—an approach consistent with her broader museum work documenting dignitaries, cultural leaders, and major institutional events. During the event, the Dalai Lama also consecrated a Tibetan thangka from the museum’s collection—an extremely rare moment in which a sacred object in a major U.S. Museum received a formal religious blessing. This assignment sits at the intersection of Diane’s specialties:
Cultural documentation — The Dalai Lama’s message on ethics and Tibetan identity aligns with her long-standing interest in cultural heritage.
VIP and institutional photography — She frequently photographed high-profile visitors, but few events matched the global significance of this one.
Museum collections — The consecration of the thangka created a rare moment where museum objects became part of an active religious ritual.
The resulting images are part of her Field Museum special events archive, alongside her documentation of exhibit installations, anthropology collections, and other dignitary visits.
