American Museum of Natural History
Organization
Found in 134 Collections and/or Records:
Solar and lunar eclipses
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 59
Scope and Contents
Charles Collingwood interviews Joseph M. Chamberlain, astronomer at the AMNH-Hayden Planetarium, on solar and lunar eclipses. The program includes a demonstration in the studio, using models, and Origin of the Earth, a Harvard University film on solar explosions and eclipses narrated by Chamberlain. (An eclipse of the sun was to occur June 30, 1954).
Dates:
1954
Space
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 90
Scope and Contents
Joseph M. Chamberlain, chief astronomer of the American Museum-Hayden Planetarium is introduced as a guest on this program, along with G. R. Pendray, a noted pioneer in American rocketry. The history of rockets and man's attempts to learn more about the earth and space by rising above the earth's atmosphere are discussed in detail. Scientists predicted that within a few years of this broadcast, rockets built on a three-stage principle would leave the earth's atmosphere carrying instruments...
Dates:
1955
Spear hunting jaguars ; Evolution of man
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 72
Scope and Contents
SEGMENT 1: Spear Hunting Jaguars. This first segment consists of a 25-minute documentary on the exploits of Sasha Siemel, who recounts his experiences about killing 300 jaguars with various weapons in the Mato Grosso area of Brazil. Some excerpts from the motion picture Tigrero, based on a book written by Siemel, are broadcast on this program. A discussion of Sasha Siemel's career also took place on another broadcast in this series, aired Aug. 16, 1953. SEGMENT 2: Evolution of Man. Harry L....
Dates:
1954
Spear hunting jaguars ; Kontiki
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 37
Scope and Contents
SEGMENT 1: Spear Hunting Jaguars. Charles Collingwood, narrator of the Adventure series, interviews Sasha Siemel, a professional hunter for 35 years who makes his living spear hunting jaguars for cattle ranchers in South America. Siemel, who has lectured at the AMNH, shows films of various forms of wildlife around his home in Mato Grosso, Brazil, and also lets the viewers see his hunting activities: capturing a cub in the jungle and spearing a jaguar. (Jaguars are the largest cats in the New...
Dates:
1953
Spiders ; A day in the life of a lion
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 28
Scope and Contents
SEGMENT 1: Spiders. This segment is concerned with the world of spiders and includes a presentation of a live tarantula and other smaller specimens. John C. Pallister, research associate in the AMNH Department of Insects and Spiders, opens the segment with a discussion on the difference between tarantulas and small spiders. He examines live spiders in the television studio and presents a film about spiders, and their attempts to obtain prey both with and without webs. Different types of webs...
Dates:
1953
Spiders ; The Sahara ; Snake farm
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 77
Scope and Contents
SEGMENT 1: Spiders. The mythology and scientific reality of spiders are the subjects of the first segment. Willis John Gertsch, curator of the AMNH Department of Insects and Spiders, is interviewed, and films depicting close-up views of spiders eating, spinning webs, and tracking prey are shown. SEGMENT 2: The Sahara. Shown here is the documentary record of a 16,000-mile African expedition by Claude Bernheim and his family. Harry L. Shapiro, curator in the museum's Department of...
Dates:
1954
Stone age culture of New Guinea
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 84
Scope and Contents
Ernest Thomas Gilliard, AMNH ornithologist, presents specimens of birds of paradise he has collected on a recent expedition to the Sepik River Valley in New Guinea. The feathers from these rare birds, found almost exclusively in New Guinea, are used by the natives in their decorative costumes. Thomas Gilliard's wife Margaret demonstrates how the headdresses are made. Margaret Mead, noted ethnologist at the Museum, narrates a film excerpted from Thomas Gilliard's 1953-1954 Sepik Expedition...
Dates:
1954
The American look
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 48
Scope and Contents
This program examines the historical development and nature of the American physical type with the help of Harry L. Shapiro, AMNH anthropologist. The look of a typical American is revealed to be a hybrid of several different cultures. The discussion is illustrated with two figures, Norma and Norman, created by Abram Belskie, a sculptor, and based on statistical information compiled by Robert Latou Dickenson, a well-known New York gynecologist. The Peter Birch dancers perform a shadow play...
Dates:
1953
The Aymara Indians, heirs of the Incas
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 60
Scope and Contents
This broadcast is concerned with the story of the Aymara Indians of Peru and Bolivia. The extinction of the Incas, it is believed, came about as a result of a tyrannical class-conscious society. Appearing on this program are Harry Tschopik, museum ethnologist and Junius Bouton Bird, AMNH archaeologist. Discussions focus on the present Aymara Indians, the descendants of the Incas. Scenes of contemporary Aymara Indians farming, celebrating rituals and going through the motions of daily life...
Dates:
1954
The Bakuba of the Belgian Congo
Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 66
Scope and Contents
The first segment of this program, a commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, narrated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Bernard De Voto, is missing from this tape. The rest of the broadcast is a documentary on a Bakuba (i.e. Kuba) tribal wedding ceremony in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire). Harry L. Shapiro, AMNH anthropologist, discusses the ceremonial aspects of African tribal marriage and narrates the documentary, produced by Andř Couvin, which includes excerpts from Couvin's...
Dates:
1954
American Museum of Natural History
Museum Archives at the Gottesman Research Library
200 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024-5192