American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History. Shell Hall; Shell Hall; Recent Shells; Hall of Molluscs; Shells; Hall of Shells; Hall of Mollusks; Mollusk Hall
birth: approximately 1901
death: approximately 1924-1925
Permanent exhibition. Opened approximately 1901 and closed approximately 1924-1925. Located on Floor 5, Section 2 from approximately 1901 to approximately 1911, and on Floor 3, Section 8 from approximately 1911 to approximately 1925. The Shell Hall at the American Museum of Natural History was arranged to exhibit mollusks according to Lamarckian classification and curated by Louis Gratacap (1, 1901, p. 30; 2, 1904, p. 5; 2, 1911, p. 7; 1, 1917, p. 61).
The Museum's shell collection was initially exhibited with the gem and mineral collections on the fourth floor and moved to the fifth floor in 1899-1901 to form the Shell Hall. At the same time the Department of Conchology split off from the Department of Geology (AR 1901 p. 30; AR 1898 p. 10). The Shell Hall contained many donated collections, including the Jay-Wolfe (1873), Haines (1895), Crooke (1893), and D. Jackson Steward collections (2, 1904, p. 11), the Gabay Collection of Ornamental Shells, and the Gomez Collection of Abnormalities (1, 1913, p. 66).
The hall moved to the third floor by 1911 (1, 1912, p. 62) and featured a huge shell of the giant clam, Tridacna (1, 1916, p. 97) at the new entrance. The hall contained 100,000 specimens of nearly 15,000 species. As the hall was arranged by classification, specimens were displayed as table cases of land shells, upright cases of bivalves, sloping cases of univalves, and special exhibits. Other cases contained exhibits illustrating anatomy and habits, colored transparencies, a collection of deformed shells, a series of ornamental uses of shells (2, 1914, p. 97), and a colored photograph series illustrating stages in the United States pearl button industry (1, 1918, p. 90). The shell exhibits included picture labels of families and distribution maps (1, 1919, p. 92). When the hall closed, some of the shell collection on exhibit was transferred to the new Hall of Ocean Life (1, 1924, p. 57).