Skip to main content

American Museum of Natural History

 Organization

Found in 134 Collections and/or Records:

Men of science

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 212
Scope and Contents This film introduces the scientists, technicians, artists, and their work at the AMNH in 1938. It was made by AMNH photographer Charles H. Coles and is narrated by Charles Russell, curator of the Department of Education. Though mostly filmed at the museum, scenes from AMNH expeditions are included to show the relationship between the work-in-the-field and at the museum. The film opens with a view of the exterior of the museum and a general introduction. William H. Barton, of the AMNH-Hayden...
Dates: 1938

Men of the Montaña

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 56
Scope and Contents Harry Tschopik, curator of ethnology at the AMNH, is interviewed for this program, which examines the cultural characteristics of a small Indian tribe living near the Amazon River in the Montana region of Peru and Ecuador. Tschopik recently returned from a perilous ten-month expedition (the AMNH Tschopik Expedition to Peru) in the Montana area, where he studied and recorded the cultures of the Shipibos, Conibos and Campas tribes before they encountered Western culture (recent discoveries of...
Dates: 1954

Mohammedanism

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 101
Scope and Contents

Walter Ashlin Fairservis, AMNH anthropologist, examines Mohammedanism. The first in a three-part series on Oriental religions, this program traces the beginnings of Mohammedanism to about 600 A.D., when Mohammed preached. The history and role of Mohammedanism in the daily lives of its followers is discussed. Film footage shown includes a pilgrimage to Mecca, produced by the Arabian American Oil Company.

Dates: 1955

Mountain climbing

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 52
Scope and Contents William O. Douglas, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Maurice Herzog, author of the best-seller Annapurna (an account of his expedition to the Himalayas), are the celebrated guests of this program. Douglas, an avid mountain climber, wrote several books on his travel experiences including Beyond the High Himalayas, Of Men and Mountains, and Strange Lands and Friendly People. The two men speak of the dangers, rewards, memorable experiences, and the physical equipment...
Dates: 1953

Mountain climbing with native guides

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 112
Scope and Contents A discussion of the need for native guides in mountain climbing expeditions is the subject of this broadcast. Sherpa and Hunza men, for example, greatly aided the German expedition ascending Nanga Parbat, in the Himalayas. Author-lecturer James Ramsey Ullman and Charles Collingwood discuss the two-fold problem of native guides on mountain climbing expeditions, which first involve the actual physical dangers and secondly include cultural fears of gods and demons of the mountains. In film...
Dates: 1955

Musicale of primitive instruments

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 85
Scope and Contents Willard Rhodes, Columbia University anthropologist specializing in musicology, discusses numerous musical instruments from the AMNH collection. Dancers appear on a large keyboard set to illustrate Rhodes's concepts concerning primitive music. A group of musicians give a music performance with a score especially created for this program by Samuel Barber, noted composer and Pulitzer Prize winner, using nose flutes, water gongs, a Congo piano, and other exotic and aboriginal musical instruments...
Dates: 1954

Navajo Indians

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 46
Scope and Contents The cultural conflict resulting from differences in the basic way of life of the Navajo Indian and the white man in America, is discussed in detail on this program. Hosted by Charles Collingwood and Adventure science reporter, Robert Northshield, the program is enhanced by the expertise of Clyde Kluckhorn, chairman of Harvard University's Department of Anthropology and a leading authority on the Navajos. Paul Curtis and the American Mime Theatre act out pantomime interpretations of the...
Dates: 1953

New Mexican descendants of conquistadores

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 106
Scope and Contents This broadcast discusses the inhabitants of Truchas, New Mexico, who were direct descendants of the Spanish conquerors who opened the North American continent to colonization and development. The Spanish conquerors were searching for the seven golden cities of Cibola, but found only Indians, pueblos and mud huts instead of gold. The Spanish government commissioned the Cortes and Velazquez expeditions after receiving reports of gold. Bernard De Voto, a noted lecturer and Pulitzer Prize...
Dates: 1955

Niagara Falls ; Navajo

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 78
Scope and Contents SEGMENT 1: Niagara Falls. This remote broadcast from Niagara Falls features Bobb Schaeffer, AMNH paleontologist, and Dr. Anderson, Niagara Park official, discussing a disaster which occured six weeks earlier when Prospect Point broke away from the Falls. The forces of nature are dramatically observed through films of the point at Niagara Falls breaking away and plunging into the gorge. SEGMENT 2: Navajo. The second segment of the season's premiere describes the Adventure crew's three-week...
Dates: 1954

Northwest Coast Indians

 Collection
Identifier: Film Collection no. 98
Scope and Contents The story of the Northwest Coast Indians and the loss of their culture is the subject examined. Harry Tschopik, AMNH ethnologist, discusses the recent disappearance of the Coast Indians' culture as a result of an obsession with a tribal institution called potlatch. A ceremony in which tribal members try to outdo each other by giving away their most prized possessions, this practice eventually undermined their economic and traditional value system. Some of the artifacts, such as carvings,...
Dates: 1955