Exist Dates
1929 - present
Biographical or Historical Note
- abstract
- Permanent exhibition. Opened April 11, 1929. Located on Floor 2, Section 2. The Hall of Birds of the World (1929-) at the
American Museum of Natural History (1, 1934, p. 59) is the second hall to use this name. The original Hall of Birds of the
World was a systematic hall. The two halls were both open between 1930-1945. The original hall closed by 1947 and the second,
consisting of twelve habitat dioramas, remains open of 2017 (1, 1934, p. 59). Curator Frank M. Chapman (2,1926, p. 66) and
artists Albert E. Butler, Raymond deLucia, Arthur Jansson, Francis Lee Jaques, Matthew Kalmenoff, Frank J. Mackenzie, George
Petersen, Raymond Potter, Stephen C. Quinn, Fred Scherer, and David Schwendeman (3, 2006, p. 169) contributed to the hall.
The Byrd Antarctic Expedition provided the King Penguin Group (2, 1931, p. 45).
Annual Reports from 1926-1928, indicate that the new bird hall with habitat dioramas may have been considered a part of and
compliment to the synoptic Hall of Birds of the World, referring to the new hall as "twelve large built-in cases for habitat
groups in the Hall of Birds of the World" (2, 1926, p. 145), but were later considered two different halls. On April 11, 1929,
the first two habitat groups in the new hall, the South Georgia Island and Panama Groups, opened to the public (2, 1929, p.
20). The last habitat group in the hall, the Japan Group, was completed in 1959 (2, 1959/60, p. 23-24).
The 12 dioramas in the hall are:
Alps
American Tropical Forest
Australia
Congo Forest
East African Plains
Europe (England)
Gobi Desert
High Andes
Japan
Pampas
South Georgia
Tundra (3, 2006, p. 169)
Sources
(1) 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, 1934.
(2) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1926-1959/60.
(3) Quinn, Stephen C. Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History. New York: Abrams;
New York: American Museum of Natural History, 2006.
Information for the hall appears in the following Museum publications:
American Museum of Natural History Annual Reports for years 1925 (page 122); 1926 (page 145); 1927 (page 16, 17, 139); 1928
(page 26, 92); 1929 (page 20); 1930 (page 40); 1931 (page 45, 60); 1932 (page 57, 77); 1933 (page 6); 1934 (page 11); 1935
(page 12); 1936 (page 53); 1939 (page 9); 1940 (page 18); 1941 (page 4, 18, 34); 1958 (page 16); 1959 (page 23); 1960 (page
48); 1962 (page 44, 57); 1963 (page 71); 1969 (page 43); 1992 (page 75)
American Museum of Natural History General Guides for years 1929 (page 71); 1930 (page 71); 1931 (page 66); 1932 (page 58,
66); 1933 (page 60, 68, 69); 1934 (Table of Contents, page 59, 69); 1935 (Table of Contents, page 59, 69); 1936 (Table of
Contents, page 59, 69); 1939 (page 17, 92); 1943 (page 17, 89); 1945 (page 17, 88); 1947 (page 17, 88); 1949 (page 17, 88);
1953 (Floor plans, page 118); 1956 (page 129); 1958 (page 129); 1962 (page 12, 42); 1964 (page 12, 42)
American Museum of Natural History: A Pictorial Guide 1967.
American Museum of Natural History: An Introduction 1972 (page 7, 100)
American Museum of Natural History Official Guides for years 1984 (page 31); 1993 (page 27, 50); 2001 (page 61)
Terms
- place
- New York
AMNH: Floor 2, Section 2.
