An on-line news service devoted to museums and exhibitions in New York City and vicinity. John Hammond, Editor Emeritus • Jonathan Slaff, Publisher • copyright © 2007
The Anne & Bernard Spitzer HALL OF HUMAN ORIGINS
At the American Museum of Natural History
By Glenn Loney
The the American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
212-769-5100This new densely-packed multi-media Exploration of the Origins of Humans & Their Habitats is going to be extremely popular with school-groups and parents-with-kids on weekends. You can make things happen as you wander among the fascinating sections of this Primal Show!
An Australopithecus couple walking side-by side. Photo by Denis Finnin. Yes, Virginia, Anne & Bernard are the super-generous parents of our new Governor, Elliot Spitzer! This degree of financial-security augurs well for the Intended Reforms up in Albany. Obviously, Gov. Spitzer doesn't have to be involved in some of the recent questionable real-estate & policy decisions in the State Capitol.
If you are convinced that Intelligent Design explains it all, this installation should soon demonstrate the falsity of that Creationist Premise. In fact, the millennia-long Evolution of Humankind is documented, with a humanoid head from Chad having survived over six-million years!
If you loved Halloween, you may also love all the Skeletons you will see in this haunting Hall!
After inspecting the Human Origins Hall, members of the press were invited into the Upper Sancta of the American Museum. Here, endless hall-cabinets are bursting with labeled artifacts from Museum Digs around the world. Your scribe saw box after box of what looked like Mayan ceramic gods. But they could have been Aztec or Inca…
We crowded into the office-lab where the lifelike heads of the Museum's exhibition-installations of Prehistoric Men--and Women--are researched and fabricated. We admired an amazing DNA-analysis robotic.
When a pipe burst and flooded one of the historic hallways upstairs, we were assured that all the specimens & artifacts are stored in the ultimate of protective boxes & files.
Such Behind-the-Scenes tours are powerful reminders that--quite aside from maintaining magnificent Public-Spaces, with Night at the Museum-quality displays--the American Museum's primary mission is scientific-exploration & research, plus teaching. A PhD will soon be offered!
This is one of the world's greatest--if not THE Greatest--Natural History research-institutions. Generous tax-deductible contributions are always welcome!
