American Museum of Natural History. Hall of New York State Mammals.

Exist Dates

1972 - present

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Permanent exhibition. Located on Floor 3, Section 7a. The Hall of New York State Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History introduces visitors to the diversity of local mammalian wildlife. Arranged in cased displays of discrete specimens, the hall presents a range of more than 50 land mammals—from shrews to bats, beavers to bobcats—and invites comparisons of their distinctive external features, such as fur, claws, ears, body shape, and size (1).

The exhibits in the Hall of New York State Mammals were originally part of the New York State Exhibits, which opened in 1939 and was located on the first floor of the Roosevelt Memorial. While on display in the Roosevelt Memorial, the mammals were displayed with New York region birds, insects, invertebrates, minerals, and reptiles and amphibians (2, 1953, p. 106). The mammal exhibits in the Roosevelt Memorial featured cutouts of whales and other sea animals as well as skins of moderately-sized local mammals (2, 1939, p. 113), the latter of which remained on display when the exhibit moved to the third floor in 1972 (3, 1971/72, p. 28). The Hall of New York State Mammals adjoins the Hall of New York City Birds (1).

The exhibits in the hall include (1):

*Skins of small and medium-sized mammals

*Skulls

*Mounted specimens

*Models

*Photographs

*Illustrations

Animals represented in the hall include (1):

*Raccoons

*Weasels

*Lynx

*Coyote

*White-tailed deer

*Squirrels

*Woodchucks

*Chipmunks

*Mice

*Porcupines

*Rabbits 

*Skunks

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

Sources

(1) American Museum of Natural History, “Hall of New York State Mammals” accessed accessed November 16, 2018, http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/birds-and-reptiles-and-amphibians-halls/hall-of-new-york-city-birds.

(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, 1939-1953.

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

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

American Museum of Natural History. Hall of New York City Birds
Companion hall and also once a part of the New York State Exhibits (2, 1953, p. 106). )

American Museum of Natural History. New York State Exhibits
Collection of the New York State Mammals was a part of the New York State Exhibits from 1936-1971 (2, 1939, p. 113).)

Related Resources

American Museum of Natural History Annual Reports
1931 (page 6), 1939 (page 9), 1967 (page 46), 1970 (page 30), 1971 (page 28)

American Museum of Natural History General Guides
1939 (pages 5, 113); 1943 (pages 5, 16); 1945 (pages 5, 16); 1947 (pages 5, 16); 1949 (pages 5, 16); 1953 (Table of Contents, page 125); 1956 (Table of Contents, page 135); 1958 (Table of Contents, page 135), 1962 or 1963 (page 20), 1964 (page 20)

subjectOf

American Museum of Natural History. “Hall of New York State Mammals.”
Official Museum webpage for hall

American Museum of Natural History Special Collections vertical files
Repository: AMNH Special Collection [Under Permanent Halls, Folder Title “Mammals of New York State”: photocopies pages of 1939, 1970, and 1971 Museum Annual Reports]

subjectOf

Historic Halls of the American Museum of Natural History
Curated digital images of permanent halls in the American Museum of Natural History Library, Digital Special Collections.

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