The American Museum of Natural History and how it got that way / Colin Davey ; with Thomas A. Lesser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davey, Colin, author.

Lesser, Thomas A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American Museum of Natural History--History.

American Museum of Natural History.

Museums--United States--History.

Museums.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (232 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Empire State Editions, an imprint of Fordham University Press, 2019.

Summary:

An extensive history of the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium, featuring a cast of colorful characters. The American Museum of Natural History is one of New York City's most beloved institutions, and one of the largest, most celebrated museums in the world. Since 1869, generations of New Yorkers and tourists of all ages have been educated and entertained here. Located across from Central Park, the sprawling structure, spanning four city blocks, is a fascinating conglomeration of many buildings of diverse architectural styles built over a period of 150 years. The first book to tell the history of the museum from the point of view of these buildings, including the planned Gilder Center, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way contextualizes them within New York and American history and the history of science. Part II, "The Heavens in the Attic," is the first detailed history of the Hayden Planetarium, from the museum's earliest astronomy exhibits, to Clyde Fisher and the original planetarium, to Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and it features a photographic tour through the original Hayden Planetarium. Author Colin Davey spent much of his childhood literally and figuratively lost in the museum's labyrinthine hallways. The museum grew in fits and starts according to the vicissitudes of backroom deals, personal agendas, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Chronicling its evolution?from the selection of a desolate, rocky, hilly, swampy site, known as Manhattan Square to the present day?the book includes some of the most important and colorful characters in the city's history, including the notoriously corrupt and powerful "Boss" Tweed, "Father of New York City" Andrew Haswell Green, and twentieth-century powerbroker and master builder Robert Moses; museum presidents Morris K. Jesup, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Ellen Futter; and American presidents, polar and African explorers, dinosaur hunters, and German rocket scientists. Features a new preface by the author and a new foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson. "This is, in many ways, a particularly American story, and anyone interested in history or museums will find this a very satisfying read. Author Colin Davey had a life-long love affair with the museum, growing up in New York and spending many, many hours happily lost in the museum collections, and that shines through in his writing as does his fine, in-depth research. Plenty of excellent graphics and photographs support this fascinating history." --Seattle Book Review.

Contents:

Cover

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AND HOW IT GOT THAT WAY

Title

Copyright

Contents

Preface to the 2020 Paperback Edition

Foreword

How This Book Came to Be Written

Preface

Introduction

Part I: The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way

1 Manhattan Square

2 The Master Plan and the Bickmore Wing

3 The Jesup Years (1881-1908) and the Seventy-Seventh Street Façade

4 Robert Peary, the Journey to the North Pole, and the Cape York Meteorites

5 The Osborn Years (1908-1933)

6 The Akeley African Hall: From the Elephant in the Room to the Seven-Hundred-Pound Gorilla

7 The Evolution of the Dinosaur Exhibits

8 The Years 1936 to 1999

Part II: The Heavens in the Attic

9 From the Beginning of Time to October 2, 1935

10 Robert Moses and the Norman Bel Geddes Report

11 The Golden Age of Spaceflight and the Hayden Planetarium

12 A Visit to the Original Hayden Planetarium

13 The Rose Center for Earth and Space

Epilogue: The Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Electronic book.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on print record.

ISBN:

9780823287055

082328705X

OCLC:

1499718492