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

American Museum of Natural History. Hall of Dinosaurs.; Dinosaur Hall; Hall of Fossil Fishes; Fossil Fish Hall; Hall of Dinosaurs; Dinosaurs; Age of Dinosaurs; Hall of Fossil Reptiles; Hall of Fossil Reptiles and Fishes; Fossil Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes
birth: 1903
death: 1928
Permanent exhibition. Opened approximately 1903 and closed approximately 1937-1938. Located on Floor 4, Section 5 from 1903 to 1926 and Floor 4, Section 9 from 1927 to 1938. The Hall of Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History originally exhibited fossil reptiles (including dinosaurs), amphibians, and fishes. The growth of the exhibition collection led to overcrowding, and the dinosaur specimens were relocated to a larger hall and reopened on March 9, 1927 (1, 1927, p. 138-139). Paleontologists Barnum Brown and Henry Fairfield Osborn oversaw the installation (1, 1925, p. 29).
In 1902, the Museum's dinosaurs were exhibited with other fossil vertebrates in what later became the Fossil Mammal Hall. By 1903, the fossil reptiles, amphibians, and fishes moved into their own hall. This hall included the Brontosaurus, Diplodocus, fossil crocodiles, fossil turtles, and pterodactyls (2, 1902; 3, 1903). The Fossil Fish Hall, in a connecting tower, exhibited a collection of fossil fishes (4, 1911, p. 84-87). The collection of dinosaurs grew quickly and soon the hall was "badly crowded", so much so that the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was initially exhibited in the Age of Man Hall until it was moved into the dinosaur hall in 1917 (4, 1920, p. 107; 1, 1917, p. 87-88). Then in 1926-1927, the dinosaurs were transferred to a larger, adjacent hall; and the fossil fishes remained in the tower to become the Bashford Dean Memorial Hall of Fossil Fishes (4, 1927, p. 39).
The Hall of Dinosaurs contained the Cope Collection and featured mounts of Gorgosaurus, Struthiomimus, Triceratops, Trachodon, Corythosaurus, Saurolophus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Brontosaurus, Allosaurus, Anklyosaurus, and Paleoscincus, Eryops, Narosaurus and Brontosaurus restorations, and the dinosaur mummy (5, 1906; 4, 1913, p. 95-101; 1, 1928, p. 97-100). The Stegosaurus was added in 1932, Plateosaurus in 1934, and Leptoceratops in 1935 (1, 1932, p. 60; 1, 1934, p. 8; 1, 1935, p. 10).
By 1929 plans were already underway to create more public space for the dinosaurs. The 1929 Annual Report bemoans a lack of funds for a “new Jurassic Dinosaur Hall” and for an unnamed “superb dinosaur” offered to the Museum for $14,000. The report also mentions a need for more laboratory production, including more employees, in order to open the proposed new dinosaur hall in two years (AR 1929 p. 2). By 1930, the Dinosaur Hall was being replanned and funds were acquired from the City of New York for the construction of the new Jurassic Hall that year (1, 1930, p. 938; 1, 1932, 76).
By 1938, the new Jurassic Hall (Hall of Early Dinosaurs) was complete and the east wing housing the Hall of Dinosaurs was rearranged to become the Hall of Cretaceous Dinosaurs (Hall of Late Dinosaurs) (1, 1938, p. 2).