Museum Focus Week: The Field Museum

     As the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition was winding down, the State of Illinois created the Columbian Museum of Chicago, which was incorporated to further the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science and history".  But the state had a problem.  Just where would they put this magnificent new museum?  As the fair was winding down, the former buildings were being opened up for usage.  Most of the structures were built to be temporary and started to fall apart.  Others were initially recommended for preservation but were destroyed by a fire in 1894.(this is of course, in addition to the 1896 fire that destroyed the original Republic statue)  However, the Fair's Palace of Fine Arts was a more permanently built structure, so the nascent museum moved in.  In 1894, the museum's name was changed to the Field Columbian Museum in recognition of Marshall Field, who supported the institution through earnings from his trail-blazing department store.  By 1905 the name had been changed once again to the Field Museum of Natural History so as to better define the mission of the institution.

     In 1921 the museum decided to move to a more permanent home, so a new venue was constructed on the south end of Grant Park(somewhat close to where the Illinois Central Railroad had their tracks leading into the city).  When they left the Palace building, the place fell into disuse for several years, before ultimately becoming the home of the Museum of Science and Industry(which exhibits [among other things] the Pioneer Zephyr, the U-505 Submarine, and the largest airplane to ever land at Meigs Field).  But that's another story.  When the Field Museum left the South Side, it was to move into a brand new building built by the architectural firm of Daniel Burnham.  So in 1921, the Field Museum of Natural History opened up its doors at its present location.

     One hallmark of the museums early years was its trailblazing efforts in the field of taxidermy.  This expertise came from the Museum's association with pioneering taxidermist Carl Akeley.  All sorts of artifacts were stuffed, including donated specimens from local institutions, as well as specimens that had been collected in the wild.  The primary person leading these ventures was Akeley.  The premade dioramas that Akeley designed for the Field were some of the first ones ever made for a museum.  As far as the wild specimens go, Akeley took several trips to Africa so that he could personally collect the animals.  Over the course of his travels, Akeley realized that gorillas should be protected, and devoted the rest of his life to the creation of nature preserves so that they would be safe in their natural habitat.  One more item of note on Akeley and his legacy of taxidermy.  When Bushman the Gorilla died at the Lincoln Park Zoo on January 1, 1951, the Zoo decided to send his body down to the Field in order to be preserved and ensure that Bushman's story was told into the 21st Century and beyond.

     Another hallmark of the Museum's early years was its role in the study of Ancient Egypt.  In 1894, Edward Ayer(the first President of the Field) went on a trip to Egypt and purchased an ancient mummy, as well as 250 other artifacts from that mysterious land, and that formed the basis of the Field's relationship with Egyptology.  Fast forward to 1908, and while the Cubs were busy winning their second World Series in a row, the Field purchased a chamber from the tomb of Unis-Ankh, an Egyptian who lived(and died) some 5,000 years ago.  That tomb was eventually incorporated with some fabricated chambers of a more recent vintage into the main museum as part of a larger exhibit on Egypt.  Another note on Egyptology at the Field: In 1951, scientists were perfecting the art of Carbon-14 dating, which was at that time a new method to ascertain how old objects are.  One of the many Egyptian artifacts in the Field's collection was a piece of wood that experts knew to be from 1850 BC, so if the C-14 dated it to that time frame, the test would be proven accurate.  The test proved to be correct, and Carbon dating is a method that is still used in the field of archaeology to this day.  And of course, this section would be incomplete without pausing to mention the 3 times that the artifacts of King Tut came to the museum(in 1962, 1977, and 2006)  These 3 visits will be explored more in-depth in a later entry.

     Some of Field's other highlights include a display of rare stones and minerals, many more preserved specimens, a gallery donated by the Rice Family, and the Evolving Planet exhibit.  This exhibit started out its life known as Life over Time.  The exhibit contained numerous galleries detailing the evolution of life on the planet earth, culminating in the centerpiece of the exhibit, a large hall of dinosaurs, which displays all sorts of dinos from their genesis to their extinction.  The exhibit then goes on to tell the story of life after dinosaurs all the way to the present day.  Several years ago, the exhibit was renovated and renamed Evolving Planet, though the main gist of the exhibit was still maintained.  One of the biggest changes in the museum's history cam in 1998, with the addition of the Museum Campus.  Now the Field was part of a large park directly on the lakefront, putting it within walking distance of both the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium(and its Man with Fish statue) as well as Another Thought and Kelpies(to give two examples)

     Other than that, the biggest draw that the museum has is Sue.  Sue is the largest intact T-Rex fossil ever discovered, coming in at almost 90 Percent complete.  In 2011, the Field's lower-level bathroom won an award for "Best Bathroom"(I am being completely serious.)  Recent times have seen the Museum falling on some hard times economically, due to mismanagement of the museum's funds and outspending their budget to fund additions and special exhibits.  Regardless of their current troubles though, the Field Museum still endures as the preeminent natural history museum in Chicago, and looks to educate us all for generations to come.