Historic Halls of the American Museum of Natural History

The Historic Halls Collection highlights the American Museum of Natural History’s iconic permanent exhibition halls throughout its history. The over 3,000 images in this collection were selected to provide representations of each of the Museum exhibit halls for a thorough view of the gallery spaces through time, space, and concept, and therefore a glimpse into the evolution of the presentation of science and culture to the public. The Historic Halls Collection may be searched through scientific discipline or topic as well as by more than 100 permanent and historic hall names, creating a virtual tour of the Museum over time through archival photographs.

The Historic Halls Digitization Project, generously supported through funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Leon Levy Foundation, is an effort to provide the public with the opportunity to explore the rich history of scientific topics, collections, and cultures exhibited in the Museum's halls. By browsing thousands of images documenting the Museum’s famous galleries over its nearly 150 year history from the renown Photographic Collections housed in the Museum's Library, researchers may trace the presentation of science through the evolution of the Museum's exhibits. Accompanying the photographic descriptions, each image record includes the evolution of hall name changes and a link to a rich history of the hall in which the photograph was taken. For several short-lived historic halls the search for images continues, while historic notes may be accessed through the project website. Historic notes include a variety of information, such as the chronology of each hall, major exhibits, habitat groups and dioramas, scientists, artists, funders and contributors, architects, hall concept and design, expeditions from which collections and exhibits were comprised, and major changes over the years. A bibliography of sources provided for each hall can help further research and context in the life of the halls and their places within Museum. 

Funding/Credits

The Historic Halls Digitization Project was generously supported through funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Leon Levy Foundation.

Browse by Discipline

Anthropology	Invertebrate Zoology
Arctic Exploration	Mammalogy
Astrophysics	Museum Views
Biodiversity	New York State
Earth and Planetary Sciences	Ornithology
Forestry and Environment	Paleontology
Herpetology	Public Health
Ichthyology

Browse by Hall

Akeley Gallery	Hall of Plains Indians
Akeley Hall of African Mammals	Hall of Prehistoric Cultures
Allen Hall of North American Mammals	Hall of Primates
Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins	Hall of Primitive Mammals
Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites	Hall of Public Health
Audubon Gallery	Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians
Bashford Dean Hall of Fossil Fishes	Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals	Hall of Small Mammals
Bird Art Gallery	Hall of South American Peoples
Chinese and Siberian Collections (Hall)	Hall of the Age of Man
Collections from the Philippine Islands	Hall of the Natural History of Man
Darwin Hall	Hall of Vertebrate Origins
Eskimo Hall	Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Minerals
Evelyn Miles Keller Memorial Exhibit	Hayden Planetarium
Felix M Warburg Memorial Hall of New York State Environment	Hayden Planetarium Main Lobby
Fossil Fish Hall	Hayden Planetarium Sky Theater
Gallery 3	Insect Hall
Gallery	Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life
Gardner D Stout Hall of Asian Peoples	Jesup Hall of North American Woods
Grand Gallery	John Burroughs Corridor (Exhibit)
Hall of African Peoples	John Lindsley Hall of Earth History
Hall of Asian Mammals	LeFrak Theater
Hall of Biodiversity	Leonard C Sanford Hall of North American Birds
Hall of Birds of the World (1929-)	Lower Hall
Hall of Birds of the World (circa 1900-1946)	Main Hall
Hall of Dinosaurs	Mammals of the Polar Regions (Hall)
Hall of Early Dinosaurs	Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples
Hall of Early Mammals	Mollusks of New York State (Exhibit)
Hall of Eastern Woodlands Indians	Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems
Hall of Fishes of the World	New York State Roosevelt Memorial
Hall of Geology and Invertebrate Palaeontology	North Asiatic Mammals (Hall)
Hall of Human Biology	Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals
Hall of Late Dinosaurs	Polar Maps (Exhibit)
Hall of Late Mammals	Pro-Astronomic Hall
Hall of Living Invertebrates	Recent Fishes (Hall)
Hall of Mammals	Rose Center for Earth and Space
Hall of Mexico and Central America	Rose Center for Earth and Space Hayden Planetarium
Hall of Mollusks and Mankind	Sanford Memorial Hall of the Biology of Birds
Hall of Mongolian Vertebrates	Shell Hall
Hall of New York City Birds	Siberian Hall
Hall of New York State Mammals	South Sea Island Hall
Hall of North American Forests	Southwest Indian Hall
Hall of Northwest Coast Indians	Upper Hall
Hall of Oil Geology	Ward-Coonley Meteorites (Hall)
Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs	Whitney Memorial Hall of Oceanic Birds
Hall of Petrology