Field Museum of Natural History , museum in chicago ,

Field Museum of Natural History,,,,

The Field Museum of Natural History (abbreviated FMNH) is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago. The museum collections contain over 21 million specimens,[2] of which only a small portion are ever on display. The president of the museum is Richard W. Lariviere.

Description of Field Museum of Natural History,,,,,

 

 Some prized exhibits in the Field Museum include a large collection of dinosaur skeletons in the Evolving Planet exhibit, a comprehensive set of human cultural anthropology exhibits (with artifacts from ancient Egypt, the Pacific Northwest, the Pacific Islands, and Tibet), a large and diverse taxidermy collection (with many large animals, including two prized African elephants and the infamous Lions of Tsavo featured in the 1996 movie The Ghost and the Darkness), the Ancient Americas exhibit devoted to a large collection of Native American artifacts, and Sue (the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton currently known).

 History of Field Museum of Natural History,,,,,

 

 The Field Museum was incorporated in the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago with its purpose the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science and history." The museum was originally housed in the World's Columbian Exposition's Palace of Fine Arts (which is today home to the Museum of Science and Industry). In 1905, the museum's name was changed to Field Museum of Natural History to honor the museum's first major benefactor, Marshall Field, and to better reflect its focus on natural history. In 1921, the museum moved from its original location to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown, where it is part of the lakefront Museum Campus that includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. In 2006, the Field Museum was the number one cultural attraction in Chicago but surrendered the title in 2007 to the Shedd Aquarium.

Library.....

 

 The library at the Field Museum was organized in 1893 to meet the research needs of the museum's scientific staff, visiting researchers, students, and members of the general public interested in natural history and are an essential resource for the Museum’s research, exhibition development and educational programs. The 275,000 volumes of the Main Research Collections concentrate on biological systematics, environmental and evolutionary biology, anthropology, botany, geology, archaeology, museology and related subjects. Some highlights of the Field Museum Library include:
Ayer Collection: The private, chiefly ornithological, collection of Edward E. Ayer, the first president of the museum. The collection contains virtually all the important works in history of ornithology and is especially rich in color-illustrated works.
Laufer Collection: The working collection of Dr. Berthold Laufer, America’s first sinologist and Curator of Anthropology until his death in 1934. The Library houses approximately 7,000 volumes in Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and numerous Western languages on anthropology, archaeology, religion, science, and travel.
Photo Archives: A compilation of over 250,000 images in the areas of anthropology, botany, geology, and zoology. The collection also documents the history and architecture of the museum, its exhibitions, staff and scientific expeditions. Two important collections from the Photo Archives are now available via the Illinois Digital Archives (IDA): World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 from The Field Museum and Urban Landscapes from The Field Museum. In April 2009, the Photo Archives became part of the Flickr Commons .
Karl P. Schmidt Memorial Herpetological Library: Named for Karl Patterson Schmidt. A research library that contains over 2,000 herpetological books and an extensive reprint collection.

In popular media ,,,,,

 

 The Field Museum of Natural History served as the setting in the 1997 horror film The Relic. Many parts of the film, though, were created with computer graphics or with sets that bear only a passing similarity to the actual museum.
It was used in several scenes for the Kevin Bacon movie She's Having a Baby.
A chase scene in the 1996 Keanu Reeves thriller Chain Reaction combined the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, located several miles to the south, into one museum.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Museum_of_Natural_History

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DuSable Museum of African American History , musem in chicago

DuSable Museum of African American History,,,,

The DuSable Museum of African American History was founded in 1961 by Dr. Margaret Burroughs and her husband, Charles Burroughs. Dr. Burroughs is an artist, teacher, and art historian. 

DuSable Museum of African American History - outside : 

 

 

 The museum is dedicated to preserving, studying, and exploring the experience of Americans of African descent. The collections and programming cover a wide range of topics, including arts, culture, and the collection and preservation of more than 50,000 artifacts. It is one of the only independent institutions of its kind in the country.

The museum was named for explorer Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, who was among the first settlers to arrive in Chicago in 1779.

 History of DuSable Museum of African American History,,,

 

 The DuSable Museum was originally chartered on February 16, 1961.Its origins as the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art began following the work of Margaret and Charles Burroughs to correct the perceived omission of black history and culture in the education establishment.The museum was originally located on the ground floor of the Burroughs' home at 3806 S. Michigan Avenue. In 1968, the museum was renamed for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian fur trader and the first non-Native-American permanent settler in Chicago.[6][7] During the 1960s, the museum and the South Side Community Art Center, which was located across the street, founded by Taylor-Burroughs and dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt, formed an African American cultural corridor. This original museum site had previously been a boarding house for African American railroad workers.[6]
The DuSable Museum quickly filled a void caused by limited cultural resources then available to African Americans in Chicago. It became an educational resource for African American history and culture and a focal point in Chicago for black social activism. The museum has hosted political fundraisers, community festivals, and various events serving the black community. The museum's model has been emulated in numerous other cities around the country, including Boston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.


The Harold Washington Wing
In 1973, the Chicago Park District donated the usage of a park administration building in Washington Park as the site for the museum.The current location once served as a lockup facility for the Chicago Police Department. in 1993, the museum expanded with the addition of a new wing named in honor of the late Mayor Harold Washington, the first African-American mayor of Chicago.In 2004, the original building became a contributing building to the Washington Park United States Registered Historic District which is a National Register of Historic Places listing.[
The DuSable Museum is the oldest and largest caretaker of African American culture in the United States. Over its long history, it has expanded as necessary to reflect the increased interest in black culture.This willingness to adapt has allowed it to survive while other museums faltered due to a weakening economy and decreased public support.The museum was the eighth one located on Park District land.Although it focuses on exhibiting African American culture, it is one of several Chicago museums that celebrates Chicago's ethnic and cultural heritage.
Antoinette Wright, director of the DuSable Museum, has said that African American art has grown out of a need for the culture to preserve its history orally and in art due to historical obstacles to other forms of documentation. She also believes that the museum serves as a motivational tool for members of a culture that has experienced extensive negativity.In the 1980s, African American museums such as the DuSable endured the controversy of whether negative aspects of the cultural history should be memorialized.In the 1990s, the African American genre of museum began to flourish despite financial difficulties.

Facilities  :

 

 The original north entrance contains the main lobby of the museum and features the Thomas Miller mosaics, which honor the institution's founders. The building was designed c.1915 by D.H. Burnham and Company to serve as the South Park Administration Building in Washington Park on the city's south side.[3] The new wing is 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2). The museum has a 466-seat auditorium, which is part of the new wing, that hosts community-related events, such as a jazz and blues music series, poetry readings, film screenings, and other cultural events. The museum also has a gift shop and a research library.[4] As of 2001, the museum operated with a US$2.7 million budget, compared to a $55.7M budget for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.The museum's funding is partially dependent upon a Chicago Park District tax levy.
After the 1993 expansion of the new wing, the museum contained 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of exhibition space. The $4 million expansion was funded by a $2 million matching funds grant from city and state officials.