After 1971 the Academy oversaw the transfer of the Museum of 
Science and Natural History to the St. Louis Metropolitan Zoo-Museum 
District, which took control in 1973. Although no longer officially 
responsible for the governance of the Museum, the Academy remained 
active in its affairs. However, it also undertook many projects unrelated 
to the Museum’s operations and programs. 
One long-standing tradition the Academy maintained after 1973 
was the presentation of films and lectures. The films had compelling 
themes such as ‘‘Indians and deer’’ and ‘‘Indians and the river,’’ and 
the lectures covered exciting subjects in science and were given by engag- 
ing and knowledgeable individuals, including anthropologist William 
White Howells, NASA science consultant Richard Underwood, 
geophysicist Otto W. Nuttli, and nature artist Roger Tory Peterson. 
The Academy also paid for programs on public television and produced 
a videotape entitled ‘“The Sun: In Our Power’’ for distribution to public 
schools in the St. Louis area.? 
Other projects included the excavation of the only dinosaur fossils 
found in Missouri; research on the mastodon bone beds near Imperial, 
Missouri; and the development of programs for high school students 
at the Mark Twain Summer Institute in St. Louis. In 1986, the Academy 
sponsored a year-long survey of collections of natural history specimens 
in Missouri. The survey provided substantive, quantitative data on the 
location, supervision, holdings, and curation of collections that were 
published in a report compiled by James H. Hunt, Michael Arduser, 
John E. Averett, and Bruce Stinchcomb. 
Although some of its projects were independent from the programs 
and operations of the Museum of Science and Natural History, the 
Academy continued to play a key role in the life of that institution. Each 
year income from its endowment was awarded for science projects such 
as distribution programs for bird seed and tree seedlings; a science career 
program; and the publication of a directory of St. Louis science and 
technical organizations and clubs and an issue of its Transactions that 
described the Whelpley Collection of Indian artifacts. ° In 1980, the 
Academy began paying 50% of the cost of publishing Discovery, the 
Museum’s new quarterly magazine. 
One of the most direct links between the Academy and the Museum 
after 1973 was the work done by the Friends of the Science Museum, 
formerly the Academy’s Women’s Division. Operating under the 
auspices of the Academy until 1985, this group ran the Museum’s gift 
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