How is a scientist able to reconstruct 

 a period in pre-history that occurred 240 

 million years ago? What Old and New 

 World birds are fast becoming extinct? 

 What role has botany played in the his- 

 toric selection of the distinctive "setts," 

 or patterns, used in the colorful tartan 

 plaids that have become identifying sym- 

 bols for the clans of Scotland? 



If you are interested in finding the an- 

 swers to these questions, you'll not want 

 to miss Members' Night at the Museum 

 on April 28 when these and many more 

 scientific puzzles will be explained per- 

 sonally by the Museum's scientific staff 

 and through interesting exhibits espe- 

 cially prepared for the occasion. 



Highlighting Members' Night, 1961, 

 is the premiere opening of one of the 

 most outstanding exhibition halls in Mu- 

 seum history. Now being prepared under 

 the direction of Dr. Roland Force, Cu- 

 rator of Oceanic Archaeology and Eth- 

 nology, the new Hall F displays a cultural 

 panorama of the Polynesian and Micro- 

 nesian areas of the South Pacific — Ha- 

 waii, the Palaus, the Marquesas, the 

 Carolines, the Society Islands, the Cooks 

 and Australs, Easter Island, Samoa, 

 Tonga, the Marshalls, Fijis, Gilberts, 

 and New Zealand. 



The nucleus of the hall's exhibits is the 

 famed Fuller Collection, the last and 



Page 6 



finest private collection of rare, beautiful, 

 and extremely valuable materials from 

 the Pacific Isles. Assembled by Captain 

 A. W. F. Fuller of London over a period 

 of 64 years, the collection was acquired 

 by the Museum in 1958. 



On April 28, Members will also have 

 an opportunity to preview another new 

 hall now in process of construction. 

 When completed, it will be probably the 

 largest permanent exhibition hall in the 

 world devoted solely to the display of 

 primitive art. Comprising some 9,000 

 square feet of display area, it will feature 

 approximately 300 art specimens of note- 

 worthy aesthetic quality from primitive 

 societies of Africa, Australia, Melanesia 

 and Polynesia, and North and South 

 America. These art objects are being 

 selected by Mr. Phillip H. Lewis, the 

 Museum's Curator of Primitive Art, from 

 the Museum's vast archaeological and 

 ethnological collections, totalling nearly 

 half a million pieces. 



It is such research collections — which 

 are not on public display — in all of the 

 Museum's four departments (anthropol- 

 ogy, botany, geology, and zoology) that 

 make possible its contributions to the 

 scientific world. Basic research, the "life 

 blood" of science, is continually in prog- 

 ress at Chicago Natural History Museum 

 in offices, laboratories, and workshops 



far removed from the exhibition areas. 

 On April 28 — in this once-a-year event — 

 the entire scientific staff of the Museum 

 will be on hand personally to explain for 

 Museum Members various aspects of the 

 research projects on which they are pres- 

 ently working. 



Here are just a few of the things Mem- 

 bers can expect to see in touring the Mu- 

 seum's research floors on April 28. 



Anthropology (3rd Floor — Southeast) 



In the Anthropology Workshop 



On huge tables in this room will be 

 assembled the primitive art objects that 

 have been selected from the Museum's 

 research collections and are now in pro- 

 cess of being prepared for display in the 

 new Hall of Primitive Art. 



Geology (3rd Floor — Northwest) 



In the Paleontology Laboratory 



A collection of fossil fresh-water fauna 

 that lived 240 million years ago — dis- 

 covered last summer by Dr. Rainer 

 Zangerl and Dr. Eugene Richardson in 

 a black shale quarry in Indiana — will be 

 arranged to illustrate various stages of 

 research. Members may learn how a 

 scientist is able to reconstruct a specific, 

 delimited period of prehistoric time. 



In the Division of Fossil Mammals 



Members may view through the mi- 

 croscope humeri and toe bones thought 

 to belong to a mole-like animal that 

 lived in western United States 20 to 40 

 million years ago. The structural char- 

 acteristics of this animal have been re- 

 constructed by Museum scientists out of 

 the "trash" often discarded by paleon- 

 tologists as being too tiny and broken up 

 to yield useful results. 



In the Paleontology Workshop 



Now being reconstructed for eventual 

 public exhibition is the fossil skeleton of a 

 duck-billed dinosaur (Parasaurolophus), 

 which will stand 12-15 feet high when 

 completed. 



In the Division of Petrology 



A demonstration will be given in the 

 geochemistry laboratory on methods 

 used in the chemical analysis of rocks. 



Botany (3rd Floor — Northeast) 

 In the Botany Library 



The fascinating history of Scottish tar- 



