American Museum of Natural History. Hall of Animal Behavior.

Exist Dates

1939 - 1944

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Permanent exhibition. Opened 1939 and closed approximately 1944. Located on the Lower Level in 1943. The hall may have existed or have been planned for Floor 3, Section 12a. The Hall of Animal Behavior at the American Museum of Natural History, curated by the Department of Experimental Biology, briefly exhibited on the lower level, was intended to “[tell] the story of the animal mind” using interactive exhibits covering a wide-range of animals and behaviors (1, 1937, p. 15). The curator for the hall was G. Kingsley Noble (1, 1940, p. 6).

The hall, based on physiological and psychological research was inspired by visitors’ frequent questions about animal behavior and a “dynamic” exhibition at the Chicago World’s Fair (1, 1937, p. 15). The dynamic exhibits planned for the Hall of Animal Behavior were interactive and based on visitor responses. The rationale for this was that behavior itself is dynamic. By 1937, a third of the hall was complete with help from artists, sculptors, and technicians made available by the WPA. The exhibits demonstrated the world as seen by animals such as dogs, hens, trout, snapping turtles, house flies, and even one-celled organisms. Other exhibits included schooling in fish and color change in animals as well as the chemistry of parental behavior. (1, 1937, p. 15-16). Work continued on the hall into the 1940s. Around 1941, live snakes, birds and mammals were exhibited in small habitat groups highlighting the ecological factors involved in each animal's life history (1, 1941, p. 17).

The hall’s last documentation is in the 1943 General Guide, which instructs visitors to go "down to [the] Exhibit of Animal Behavior" from section 12 (2, 1943, p. 16); information on the hall's exact location is unclear. A space initially planned for a cafeteria in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, possibly what is the large cafeteria as of 2017, was intended to be the Hall of Animal Behavior. The 1940 Annual Report states that the hall opened in 1939 (3, 1940, p. 6), and while new installations continued to be added as late as 1941, the hall was never officially completed. The Hall does not appear in the 1945 General Guide. The Department of Animal Behavior, not open to the public, is mentioned in the General Guides for 1953, 1955, and 1957.

Sources

(1) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1937-1941.

(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, 1943.

Information for the hall appears in the following Museum publications:

American Museum of Natural History Annual Reports for years 1937 (page 27); 1938 (page 9); 1939 (page 8); 1940 (page 6); 1941 (page 17)

General Guides for years 1943 (page 16)

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

Department of Experimental Biology
(1, 1937, p. 15)

Noble, G. Kingsley (Gladwyn Kingsley) 1894-1940
Curator for the hall (1, 1940, p. 6).

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