Peabody Museum of Natural History: Difference between revisions

| name = Peabody Museum of Natural History

| image = Yale Peabody Museum 2.JPG

| imagesize = 220

| caption = Entrance to the Peabody Museum

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| coordinates = {{coord|41.317538|-72.919863|display=inline}}

| established = 1866

| dissolved =

| location = [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], [[Connecticut]], US

| type = {{Museum|Natural}} Natural History

| owner = [[Yale University]]

| director = David Skelly

| curator =

| publictransit = {{bus icon}} [[File:CTtransit logo.png|16px|link=Connecticut Transit New Haven]] 228, 229

| website = {{url|peabody.yale.edu}}

The '''Peabody Museum of Natural History''' at [[Yale University]] (also known as the '''Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History'''<ref name="PAbout"/> or the '''Yale Peabody Museum'''<ref name="PAbout">{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://peabody.yale.edu/about |website=Yale Peabody Museum |publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History |access-date=2023-04-18}}</ref>) is one of the oldest, largest, and most prolific university [[List of natural history museums|natural history museums]] in the world. It was founded by the [[philanthropist]] [[George Peabody]] in 1866 at the behest of his nephew [[Othniel Charles Marsh]], an early [[paleontologist]]. The museum is best known for the Great Hall of Dinosaurs, which includes a mounted juvenile ''[[Brontosaurus]]'' and the {{convert|110|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} mural ''[[The Age of Reptiles]]''. The museum also has permanent exhibits dedicated to [[Human evolution|human]] and [[Mammalian evolution|mammal evolution]]; [[wildlife]] [[diorama]]s; [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifact]]s; local [[bird]]s and [[mineral]]s; and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] of [[Connecticut]].

In 2020, the Peabody Museum closed for its "first comprehensive renovation in 90 years."<ref name="PEvolved">{{cite web |title=Envisioning Yale's New Home for Natural History |url=https://peabodyevolved.yale.edu/ |website=Peabody Evolved |publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History |access-date=2023-04-18}}</ref> It reopened, with more than twice the exhibition space, on March 26, 2024.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cummings |first1=Mike |title=Inspiring wonder again: Peabody Museum reopens |url=https://news.yale.edu/2024/03/26/inspiring-wonder-again-peabody-museum-reopens |access-date=30 March 2024 |work=YaleNews |date=26 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Revitalized Yale Peabody Museum to reopen March 26 |url=https://news.yale.edu/2024/03/11/revitalized-yale-peabody-museum-reopen-march-26 |access-date=30 March 2024 |work=YaleNews |date=11 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

The Peabody Museum is located at 170 [[Whitney Avenue]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]] and is staffedbynearly a hundred staff members. The original building was demolished in 1917; it moved to its current location in 1925, and has since expanded to occupy the Peabody Museum, the attached Kline Geology Laboratory, the Class of 1954 Environmental Sciences Center, parts of three additional buildings, and a field station at [[Long Island Sound]]. The museum also owns [[Horse Island, Connecticut|Horse Island]] in the [[Thimble Islands]], which is not open to the public; it is used for experiments. The Class of 1954 Environmental Science Center, completed in 2001 and connected to the museum and the adjacent Kline Geology Laboratory, hosts approximately one-half of the museum's 13 million specimens.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

On August 28, 2018, [[Yale University]] announced a contribution of $160 million by [[Ed Bass|Edward P. Bass]] towards the cost of the renovation of the museum.<ref name=NytRenovationAnnouncment>{{cite news|title=Yale Receives $160 Million Gift for Peabody Museum|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/arts/design/peabody-museum-yale-gift.html|work=The New York Times|date=28 August 2018 |access-date=28 August 2018|last1=Libbey |first1=Peter }}</ref><ref name=YaleNewsRenovationAnnouncment>{{cite web|title=Edward P. Bass '67 makes lead gift toward renovating Yale Peabody Museum|date=28 August 2018 |url=https://news.yale.edu/2018/08/28/edward-p-bass-67-makes-lead-gift-toward-renovating-yale-peabody-museum|publisher=Yale University Office of Public Affairs & Communications|access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref> The landmark commitment ranks among the most generous gifts to Yale and is the largest known gift ever made to a natural history museum in the United States,{{cn|date=April 2023}} helping to fund the renewal and expansion of the museum.<ref name="PPlan">{{cite web |title=The Plan |url=https://peabodyevolved.yale.edu/the-plan/ |website=Peabody Evolved |publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. |access-date=2023-04-15}}</ref>

The galleries were planned to be open through June 30, 2020 (the Great Hall of Dinosaurs was open through January 1, 2020), but had to close in March due to [[COVID-19]] and did not reopen until the conclusion of renovations in 2024.<ref name="PPlan"/><ref name=EvolvedSupport>{{cite web|title=Peabody Evolved: Support|url=http://peabodyevolved.yale.edu/support|publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History|access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref> The renovation more than doubled the exhibition space, added 10 classrooms, and included a new education center for K-12 students.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cummings |first1=Mike |title=Inspiring wonder again: Peabody Museum reopens |url=https://news.yale.edu/2024/03/26/inspiring-wonder-again-peabody-museum-reopens |access-date=30 March 2024 |work=YaleNews |date=26 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

The Peabody has several world-important collections. Perhaps the most notable are the vertebrate paleontology collections which are among the largest, most extensive, and most historically important fossil collections in the United States (see [[Othniel Charles Marsh]], [[R.S. Lull]], [[George Gaylord Simpson]], [[John Ostrom]], [[Elisabeth Vrba]], and [[Jacques Gauthier]]), and the [[Hiram Bingham III|Hiram Bingham]] Collection of [[Incan]] artifacts from [[Machu Picchu]], named for the famous Yale archaeologist who rediscovered the [[Peru|Peruvian]] ruin. Also notable are the extensive ornithology collection, one of the largest and most taxonomically inclusive in the world,{{cn|date=April 2023}} and the associated William Robertson Coe Ornithology Library, one of the best in the United States. The collection of marine invertebrates is also extensive, having benefitted from the work of prolific invertebrate zoologists including [[Addison Emery Verrill]]. The Yale Herbarium is part of the Peabody Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://peabody.yale.edu/collections/botany|title=Botany {{!}} Collections : Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History|date=2010-11-09|website=peabody.yale.edu|access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref>

Faculty curators for the collections are drawn from Yale's departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geology and Geophysics, and Anthropology. Because the departments maintain a strong tradition of hiring faculty to perform collections-based research, especially after the renewed support for organismal biology at Yale under President [[Richard Charles Levin]] and in particular former provost [[Alison Richard]], nearly all of the collections are under active internal use and enjoy continuous and considerable growth. {{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

[[File:Peabody-Torosaurus-0001.jpg|thumb|Full-scale sculpture of ''Torosaurus'']]

[[File:INTERIOR OF PEABODY MUSEUM OF YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CT.jpg|thumb|The Great Hall of Dinosaurs (1981-2007) includes the mural, ''[[The Age of Reptiles]]'']]

[[File:Peabody-Museum-Squid.jpg|thumb|[[Giant squid]] inside the entrance hall]]

Permanent exhibits before renovations have included:

* The Great Hall of Dinosaurs (this exhibit will be in the same place with same mural after renovation) with the skeleton of a ''Brontosaurus''.<ref>{{cite news |author= Kelly Glista |title=Those Old Bones? It Really Is A Brontosaurus |url=http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-brontosaurus-is-back-0415-20150414-story.html |work=Hartford Courant |date=April 14, 2015 |access-date=2015-04-26 }}</ref><ref name=TMB2015>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.7717/peerj.857| title = A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)| journal = PeerJ| volume = 3| pages = e857| year = 2015| last1 = Tschopp | first1 = E. | last2 = Mateus | first2 = O. V. | last3 = Benson | first3 = R. B. J. | pmid=25870766 | pmc=4393826| doi-access = free}}{{open access}}</ref>

* ''Fossil Fragments: The Riddle of Human Origins'' is a new exhibit dedicated to [[human evolution]].

* There are eleven dioramas on the ecology of Connecticut with plants and vertebrates. They were designed by [[James Perry Wilson]], F. Lee Jaques, and Ralph C. Morrill.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

* The Hall of Mammalian Evolution includes ''The Age of Mammals'' mural, also painted by Zallinger.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

* An extensive collection of minerals, primarily from Connecticut

* Native American artifacts from Connecticut

* The Hall of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts

* The museum has displayed one of the longest known preserved [[fulgurite]]s, approximately {{convert|4|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length.<ref name=YBC>{{cite journal|title=New Peabody hall offering high-tech lessons about Earth and space|journal=Yale Bulletin & Calendar|date=June 9, 2006|volume=34|issue=30|url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v34.n30/story3.html|access-date=2013-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106212409/http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v34.n30/story3.html|archive-date=November 6, 2014}}</ref>

{{Asof|2024}}, the director of the Peabody Museum is David Skelly, a [[curator]] of [[vertebrate zoology]] and a professor of [[ecology]] in the Department of [[Ecology]] & [[Evolutionary Biology]], and the [[Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies|School of Forestry and Environmental Studies]]. He was named director in 2014.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Peabody kid becomes the museums director |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/3928-a-peabody-kid-becomes-the-museums-director |access-date=30 March 2024 |work=yalealumnimagazine.org |language=en}}</ref>

The Peabody Museum has curators representing [[anthropology]], botany, [[entomology]], [[invertebrate]] [[zoology]], invertebrate [[paleontology]], [[vertebrate]] zoology (with individual curators for [[herpetology]], [[ichthyology]], [[mammalogy]], and [[ornithology]]), [[paleobotany]], vertebrate paleontology; [[mineralogy]] and [[meteoritics]]; and historical [[Measuring instrument|scientific instrument]]s.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

There are almost 100 full-time and part-time staff, including curators, assistant curators, curators emeriti, curatorial affiliates, and [[Volunteering|volunteer]]s. Curators and assistant curators are also [[Faculty (teaching staff)|faculty]] members in related departments.<ref name=PeabodyStaff>{{cite web|title=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History: Administrative Staff|url=http://peabody.yale.edu/about-us/administrative-staff|publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History|access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref><ref name=PeabodyCollectionsStaff>{{cite web|title=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History: Collections Staff|url=http://peabody.yale.edu/collections/collection-contacts|publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History|access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Original Peabody Museum, Yale University. Architectural sketch by J. Cleaveland Cady.jpg|thumb|Original Peabody Museum (1874)]]

[[File:Minerological Department Peabody Museum Kingsley II.jpg|thumb|Displays of minerals (c. 1879)]]

[[File:PostcardNewHavenCTPeabodyMuseum1909postmark.jpg|thumb|right|The museum as shown on a postcard mailed in 1909]]

[[File:Peabody-ornithology-0002.jpg|thumb|An [[ornithology]] exhibit]]

[[Othniel Charles Marsh]] was an undergraduate and later the Professor of Paleontology at Yale University. His education was paid for by his wealthy uncle [[George Peabody]], who began to donate much of his accumulated wealth to various educational institutions at the end of his life. Marsh and his teams discovered dozens of new genera of dinosaurs and other fossil animals, including ''[[Triceratops]]'', ''[[Brontosaurus]]'', and ''[[Hesperornis]]''. At the request of Marsh and to house some of his discoveries, Peabody founded Yale's Museum of Natural History in 1866 with a gift of $150,000.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

Yale's collection at the time was mostly minerals, collected by the [[geologist]] and [[mineralogist]] [[Benjamin Silliman]]. Marsh was one of the museum's first three curators and when Peabody died in 1869, he used his inheritance to fund expeditions bringing back specimens which greatly increased the museum's collections. His primary interest was [[dinosaur]]s. During the infamous period in paleontological history known as the [[Bone Wars]], he discovered 56 new species of dinosaur and literally shipped tons of fossils back from the [[American Southwest]]. His finds also included fossils of vertebrates and invertebrates, [[fossil trackway|trackway]]s of prehistoric animals; and archaeological and [[ethnology|ethnological]] artifacts.

The museum officially opened to the public in 1876. In 1917, it was demolished and replaced by the [[Harkness Memorial Quadrangle]] dormitory.{{cn|date=April 2023}} When [[World War I]] began most of the collections were put in storage until December 1925, when the current building was dedicated.{{cn|date=April 2023}} The new building had a great, 2-story hall designed specifically to hold Marsh's dinosaurs.

* In 1930, donation of the [[Harry Payne Bingham]] Oceanographic Collection, including the work of artist [[Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson]].<ref name=PeabodyYale>{{cite web|title=Harry Payne Bingham|url=http://peabody.yale.edu/collections/archives/biography/harry-payne-bingham|website=peabody.yale.edu|publisher=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History|access-date=30 August 2015}}</ref><ref name=YalePeabodyBronson>{{cite archive |first= |last= |item= |type= |date= |series= |file= |box= |collection=Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson Archives |repository=Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History |institution=Yale University |location= |collection-url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/15/resources/11149}}</ref><ref name=Slack>{{cite book|last1=Slack|first1=Nancy G.|title=G. Evelyn Hutchinson and the Invention of Modern Ecology|date=2010|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-16138-0|page=125 of 457 }}</ref>

* In 1931, the mounting of Marsh's ''Brontosaurus'' was finished, after 6 years of work.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

* In 1959, Bingham Laboratory was completed.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

* In 1963, Kline Geology Laboratory was completed.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

* In 1972, the Birds of Connecticut Hall opened.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

* The museum was featured in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Burns, Baby Burns]]". In the episode Mr. Burns has had a relationship with Lily Bancroft and produced an illegitimate son (voiced by [[Rodney Dangerfield]]). He is shown in a flashback to 1939 for his 25th graduation class reunion. They make love in the museum, specifically in an exhibit which features [[Inuit]] and penguins.<ref>[[The Simpsons Archive]][http://www.snpp.com/episodes/4F05.html "Burns, Baby Burns"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060115061945/http://www.snpp.com/episodes/4F05.html |date=2006-01-15 }} Retrieved July 8, 2012</ref>