American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History. Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life.; Oceanographic Hall; Court of Ocean Life; Hall of Ocean Life; Oceanic Hall; Oceanic Life Hall; Shells; Whales and Porpoises; Oceanic Mammals; Ocean Life; Hall of Invertebrates; Invertebrates and Ocean Life; Hall of Living Invertebrates; Gallery of Invertebrates; Living Invertebrates and Ocean Life; Hall of Living Invertebrates and Ocean Life; Biology of Fishes; Biology of Fishes Gallery; Hall of the Biology of Fishes; Hall of Ocean Life and Biology of Fishes; Ocean Life and the Biology of Fishes; Ocean Life and Biology of Fishes; Biology of Fishes Hall; Milstein Hall of Ocean Life; Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life; Hall of Fishes and Ocean LIfe
birth: 1933
death: present
Permanent exhibition. Opened May 2, 1933. Located on Floor 1, Section 10. The Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History highlights the undersea world and its diverse and complex web of life in an immersive marine-like environment (1, 1933, p. 16; 2). The hall has undergone two major renovations. The first renovation, 1962-1969, completely overhauled the look and feel of the hall, introduced the Museum's world-famous blue whale model, and reopened on February 26, 1969 (1, 1968/69, p. 3). The second renovation, 2002-2003, refurbished the whale and other exhibits, brought them up-to-date with current scientific research, and added audiovisual enhancements, and reopened on May 17, 2003 (1, 2001/03 p. 7). Expeditions that contributed to the hall included the Bahamian Coral Reef Expedition (1923), Phipps Bahamian Expedition (1926), Stoll-McCracken Expedition to the Siberian-Arctic Expedition (1928), Miner-Olsen Expedition to the West Indies (1933), and Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition (1933-1934) (1, 1926, p. 9; 3, 1939, p. 111; 1, 1935, p. 15). The hall's original curators included Roy Chapman Andrews, Roy W. Miner, Bashford Dean, Harold Anthony, Hubert Lyman Clark, Charles Breder, and Dorothy Bliss (1, 1921, p. 29; 1, 1940, p. 11; 1, 1958/59, p. 22; 1, 1927, p. 17). Curators Richard Van Gelder and Charles Breder led the first renovation in 1962-1969 (4, 2000, p. 28-29). The 2002-2003 renovation was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of curators led by Melanie Stiassny, and included Mark Siddall, Paula M. Mikkelsen, Neil H. Landman, and Robert S. Voss. The hall reopened on May 17, 2003 as the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life in honor of the renovation's major donors (5, 2001, p. 50; 1, 2001/03 p. 7, 25-26). Original artists included Roy W. Miner, Chris E. Olsen, Bruce C. Brunner, W.H. Southwick, George H. Childs, Hermann O. Mueller, Francis Lee Jaques, and Joseph Guerry (1, 1935, p. 10; 1, 1940, p. 11). Artists and members of the Exhibition Department who worked on the 1962-1969 renovation were Raymond de Lucia, Matthew Kalmenoff, Lyle Barton, and Gordon Reekie (1, 1966/67 p. 72; 6, 2006, p. 169). Artists, project managers, and members of the Exhibition Department who contributed to the 2002-2003 renovation included David Harvey, Melissa Posen, Stephen C. Quinn, Dina Langis, Harriet Urgang, Sean Murtha, Alan Walker, Jack Cesareo, Joyce Cloughy, Tory Ferraro, Nicholas Frankfurt, Aimee Keefer, Karl Matsuda, David Melton, Vivian Stillwell, Mike Tomeo, Laura Friedman, Timothy Nissen, Cleo Villet, Perry Gargano, David Kaplan, Tom Doncourt, David McConack, Richard Weber, Lindsay Foehrenbach, Sarah Chen, Judith Levinson, and Felicity Campbell (6, 2006, p. 29, 169). Major donors have included Arthus Curtiss James, Junius S. Morgan, George S. Bowdoin, and Irma and Paul Milstein (1, 1911, p. 20; 1, 1920, p. 30).
The Whale Court or Court of Ocean Life first appears in the Museum's 1911 Annual Report with plans for it to adjoin the Halls of Fishes and Biology (Darwin Hall) (1, 1911, p. 20; 1, 1916, p. 23). Early plans for the first Hall of Ocean Life included a diving model of a humpback whale, but it never came to fruition (1, 1928, p. 27-28). The Hall of Mammals contained a "misplaced whale", a model of a sulphur-bottom (blue) whale constructed by Roy Chapman Andrews in 1907, but it was too large to move to the new Hall of Ocean Life (4, 2000, p. 26). Planning was interrupted by World War I (1, 1919, p. 18), but began again in 1922 (AR 1923 p. 26) opening to the public on May 2, 1933 (GG 1933 p. 35). Original exhibits in the Hall of Ocean Life included hanging models of a killer whale, blackfish, giant squid, dolphins, and porpoises; skeletons of a sperm whale, finback whale, right whale, California gray whale, and narwhal; mural paintings of American whaling scenes by John Prentiss Benson; and the Museum's collection of shells, formerly displayed in the Shell Hall, on the mezzanine level. The lower level showcases habitat dioramas including the Coral Reef Group (completed in 1935), Elephant Seal Group, Fur Seal Group, Sea Lion Group, and Florida Manatee Group, and a shell of the giant clam, Tridacna, was on view at the hall's entrance. Charles Lindbergh's plane was also on exhibit at this time (3, 1928, p. 44; 3, 1935, p. 32-35) and in 1933-1934, the Bathysphere was on special exhibit in the hall (1, 1934, p. 9).
Prior to the first major renovation, several notable additions were made in the Hall of Ocean Life. The Pearl Divers Group opened on June 10, 1941 (1, 1941, p. 11), the Pacific Walrus Group was completed by 1939, and murals by Francis Lee Jaques surrounding the Coral Reef and Pearl Divers dioramas, were completed by 1943 (3, 1939, p. 111; 3, 1943, p. 61-63). In 1952 habitat groups from the Darwin Hall which included the Salt Marsh Group, Sound-Bottom Group, Wharf Pile Group, Pond Life Group, Rock Pool Group, and Eelgrass Group (Woods Hole), as well as glass models of invertebrates by Hermann Mueller were moved to the Hall of Ocean Life (3, 1953, p. 75-82).
The Hall of Ocean Life and the Hall of Fishes closed for renovation in May 1962. The invertebrate exhibits in Ocean Life were to move into the space occupied as the Hall of Fishes, and the Hall of Ocean Life was completely remodeled. These new and reimagined exhibitions were part of the Museum's ten-year program to update and create new halls (1, 1961/62, p. 55).
Before its renovation, the Hall of Ocean Life was one of the less visited halls in the Museum. It was sparsely stocked and often closed when there was a shortage of heat or electricity. In order to reinvigorate the hall, the Museum decided on a whale centerpiece. Curators Richard Van Gelder and Charles Breder and Gordon Reekie of the Exhibition Department were tasked with creating a striking blue whale model without hanging it from strings (4, 2000, p. 27). Suspending such a sculpture from the ceiling without strings seemed an impossible feat before Lyle Barton from the Exhibition Department came up with the idea to bolt the whale to the ceiling (4, 2000, p. 28-29). The fiberglass model is based off of a female blue whale found in 1925 near the southern tip of South America; it weighs 21,000 pounds and is 94 feet long (7).
In addition to the now iconic blue whale, the new hall, which opened on February 26, 1969 (1, 1968/69, p. 3), featured a new habitat group, the Sperm Whale and Giant Squid (6, 2006, p. 169) and an exhibition of the Biology of Fishes, which included a large diorama depicting marine biota along the coast of Newfoundland on the gallery level (1, 1969/70 p. 27; 1, 1965/66).
In 2002-2003, the Hall of Ocean Life underwent its second major renovation. The original plans for the renovation included an actual aquarium with schools of model fish floating above, which was ultimately not installed (8, 2000). The hall was updated to reflect current scientific research and concepts, the lines of the original Beaux Arts architecture were restored, fourteen classic dioramas were renovated and eight more added, hands-on and interactive displays, videos, and ocean soundscapes were installed, and the blue whale was repainted and modified to reflect current scientific knowledge. Mini-dioramas of the Ordovician, Permian, and Cretaceous seas, originally displayed in the John Lindsley Hall of Earth History, were added to the mezzanine level. The hall reopened on May 17, 2003 as the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life in honor of the major donors to the renovation (5, 2001, p. 50; 1, 2001/03 p. 7, 25-26).
Featured dioramas include:
Andros Coral Reef
Common Dolphin and Tuna
Diving Birds
Elephant Seal
Harbor Seal
Northern Sea Lion
Pearl Divers
Sargasso Sea
Polar Bear
Sea Otter
Sperm Whale and Giant Squid
Tiger Shark and Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Walrus
West Indian Manatee (9; 6, 2006, p. 169)