The World Beneath Our Feet...Minerals (Exhibition)

Exist Dates

1967 October 1 - 1968 December 31

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Exhibition. Opened October 1, 1967 and closed December 31, 1968. Located in Section 5, Floor 2 in the Corner Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. The World Beneath Our Feet...Minerals featured 250 minerals from the Museum's collection arranged to demonstrate evolutionary sequence and was curated by D.M. Vincent Manson, Assistant Curator of the Department of Mineralogy.

Summary

The World Beneath Our Feet...Minerals featured 250 minerals from the Museum's collection arranged to demonstrate evolutionary sequence and was curated by D.M. Vincent Manson, Assistant Curator of the Department of Mineralogy. The exhibition was the Museum's contribution to the New York Cultural Showcase Festival, which celebrated the city's cultural institutions from October 1-15, 1967. Minimal text accompanied the specimens on view to emphasize the "dependency of beauty on diversity" and feeling over memorization of facts (1, p. 1). The exhibition was constructed in a circle with 34 panels representing processes in the evolutionary path of earth history arranged in the circle to which the minerals were attached. The panels were individually lighted with subtle gradations of color, suggesting the hot or cool conditions under which the specimens were formed (1, p. 2). The exhibition was designed by Yang/Gardner and Associates (2, p. 8) and many of the minerals were from the Museum's Morgan Hall of Minerals and Gems, which was closed at the time for renovations (1, p. 2).

Highlights (1, p. 1-3; 2, p. 8):

*16-foot-high abstract sculpture, designed by Yang/Gardner, representing arrangement of atoms most common in minerals. Programmed lighting illuminated spiraling tetrahedrons to demonstrate growth and development.

*Large specimens of petrified wood, meteorite, and stalagmite visitors could touch at the base

*Quartz crystals from the Herkimer County "diamonds" donated to the Museum by Clarence H. Van der Veer

This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.

Sources

(1) American Museum of Natural History. Press Release. "'The World Beneath Our Feet...Minerals' Opens at the American Museum of Natural History." October 1, 1967. Departmental Records, DR 101. American Museum of Natural History Library.

(2) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports, Departmental. "Report from the Chairman of the Department of Exhibition and Graphic Arts 1 July 1967 – 30 June 1968." 1968. Departmental Records, DR 098. American Museum of Natural History Library.

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

American Museum of Natural History. Corner Gallery.
Location of exhibition 1967 October 1 – 1968 December 31 (1, p. 1)

American Museum of Natural History. Department of Mineralogy.
Related department

American Museum of Natural History. Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems.
Specimens in exhibition were from the Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems, which was under renovation at the time (1)

Manson, D. M. Vincent
Curator of exhibition; Assistant Curator of the Department of Mineralogy (1, p. 1)

New York Cultural Showcase Foundation, Inc.
Institutional partner (1)

Yang/Gardner and Associates
Designed exhibition, including center sculpture (2)

Related Resources

American Museum of Natural History. Annual Report. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1966-1967: 54

American Museum of Natural History. Annual Report. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1967-1968: 4, 50-51, 71.

American Museum of Natural History annual reports, 1902-2001.
American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports, Departmental. "Department of Mineralogy 1967-1968 (Summary)." 1968.

American Museum of Natural History photographic drawers
Repository: AMNH Special Collections [Black and white photo prints of exhibition on view]

American Museum of Natural History press releases, 1933-1990s.
"'The World Beneath Our Feet...Minerals' Opens at the American Museum of Natural History." October 1, 1967.

American Museum of Natural History Special Collections vertical files
Repository: AMNH Special Collections [Invitations to exhibition preview, photocopy of Central Archives card]

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