Exist Dates
1902 - 1991
Biographical or Historical Note
- abstract
- Permanent exhibition. Opened approximately 1902 and closed 1990-1991. Located on Floor 4, Section 3. The Hall of Late Mammals
at the American Museum of Natural History exhibited fossil mammals from many periods, including specimens collected by the
Third Asiatic Expedition (1, 1923, p. 32). In 1904 it was the Museum's only fossil mammal hall, but by 1911 it exhibited Tertiary
mammals and the later fossil mammals moved into the Hall of the Age of Man (2, 1904, p. 13; 2, 1911, p. 77). After the closure
of the Age of Man Hall and the opening of the Hall of Early Mammals in the 1950s and 1960s, the Hall of Late Mammals exhibited
more advanced fossil mammals such as those formerly in the Age of Man Hall (2, 1962, p. 37). Exhibits were periodically modified
over many years, and the hall was rearranged in the 1930s and 1940s, between 1971 and 1973, and again in 1988-1989 with assistance
from exhibition coordinator Lowell Dingus (1, 1932, p. 60; 1, 1971/72 p. 31; 1, 1972/73, p. 8; AR 1988-1989 p. 38). Curators
for the hall included Edwin H. Colbert, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Walter Granger (1, 1933, p. 6: 1, 1937, p. 12; 1, 1941,
p. 9).
The Hall of Late Mammals, along with contemporary and later fossil mammal halls, had its origins in the original fourth floor
fossil exhibits from the Museum's 1877 building, which included dinosaurs. The hall, initially the Hall of Fossil Vertebrates,
even exhibited a small collection of dinosaurs before the fossil reptiles were transferred to their own hall. By 1903 the
hall, now named the Fossil Mammal Hall exhibited the Frick Collection, including primitive hoofed mammals, mastodons, elephants,
carnivores, and even-toed hoofed mammals, and the Evolution of the Horse (3, 1902; 2, 1904, p. 13; 1, 1987/88, p. 49). By
1911, the new Quaternary Mammal Hall, later named the Age of Man Hall, opened and the mastodons, mammoths, and other advanced
mammals were moved there. The Fossil Mammals of the Tertiary Period, as the Hall of Late Mammals was then known, exhibited
fossil camels and giraffes; giant pigs and pygmy hippopotamus; ancestors of the rhinoceros; primitive dogs and cats, including
the saber-toothed tiger; titanotheres and uintatheres; and the Evolution of the Horse, which included the skeleton of Eohippus,
and paintings and models by Charles R. Knight (2, 1911, p. 74-80). By 1919, fossil primates, rodents, and marsupials were
added (2, 1919, p. 106).
Specimens may have moved between the Hall of the Age of Man and the Hall of Late Mammals during hall revisions. Some specimens
from the Late Mammals Hall, such as the Toxodon, Glyptodon, Macrauchenia, Uintatherium, and giant sloths appear in the Hall
of Early Mammals in the 1950s. The mammoths and mastodons moved to the Hall of Late Mammals following the closure of the Hall
of the Age of Man in the 1960s (2, 1953, p. 64-67; 4, 1967). In the early 1990s the Halls of Early and Late Mammals were closed
to make way for the Hall of Primitive Mammals and the Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals (1, 1990/91 p. 1). Many
of the same fossil exhibits from the previous halls can be viewed in the current halls.
Sources
(1) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1923-1990/91.
(2) American Museum of Natural History. General Guide to [the Exhibition Halls of] the American Museum of Natural History.
New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1904-1962.
(3) Matthew, W.D., The Hall of Fossil Vertebrates. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1902.
(4) American Museum of Natural History. American Museum of Natural History: A Pictorial Guide. New York: American Museum of
Natural History, 1967.
Information for the hall appears in the following Museum publications:
American Museum of Natural History Annual Reports for years: 1919 (page 94); 1921 (page 96); 1923 (page 32); 1927 (page 32);
1928 (page 6); 1929 (page 59); 1930 (page 38, 52); 1931 (page 60); 1932 (page 59); 1936 (page 9); 1937 (page 11); 1969 (page
43); 1971 (page 31, 43); 1972 (page 8, 24, 32); 1985 (page 55); 1986 (page 55); 1987 (page 49); 1988 (page 38, 45); 1990 (page
1)
American Museum of Natural History General Guides for years: 1911 (page 73, 77); 1913 (page 87, 90); 1914 (Table of Contents,
96, 99); 1916 (page 103, 108); 1918 (Table of Contents, 96, 101); 1919 (Table of Contents, 99, 101); 1920 (Table of Contents,
99, 103) 1921 (Table of Contents, 99, 103); 1922 (Table of Contents, 99, 103); 1923 (Table of Contents, 99, 103); 1926 (page
31, 39); 1927 (page 31, 39); 1928 (page 93); 1929 (Table of Contents, 93); 1930 (Table of Contents, 93); 1931 (Table of Contents,
107); 1932 (Table of Contents, 107); 1933 (Table of Contents, 109); 1934 (Table of Contents, 111); 1935 (Table of Contents,
111); 1936 (Table of Contents, 111); 1939 (page 19, 45); 1943 (page 19, 45); 1945 (page 46); 1947 (page 46); 1949 (page 46);
1953 (Floor plans, 67); 1956 (Table of Contents, 74); 1958 (Table of Contents, 74); 1962 (page 13, 37, 44); 1964 (page 13,
37, 44)
Matthew, W.D., The Hall of Fossil Vertebrates. Supplement to the American Museum Journal Vol. II, No. , January, 1902, Guide
Leaflet No. 3
Matthew, W.D., The Collection of Fossil Vertebrates: A Guide Leaflet to the Exhibition Halls of Vertebrate Palaeontology at
the American Museum of Natural History. Published by the Museum as a supplement to the American Museum Journal Vol. III, No.
5, October, 1903, Guide Leaflet No. 12
American Museum of Natural History Pictorial Guide 1967.
American Museum of Natural History: An Introduction 1972, page 5, 9, 67.
American Museum of Natural History Official Guide 1984, page 22.
Terms
- place
- New York
AMNH: Floor 4, Section 3.
1926, 1927, 1934-1936 General Guides indicate the hall was located in Southeast Wing section. 1956, 1958 General Guides indicate
the Hall Number 4-U.
