Foreword 



This year we are celebratinij; the Diamond Jubilee 

 of the Natural History Building, which first opened 

 its d(Jors to the public on March 17, 1910. The new 

 building repiesenled a major advance for the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, vastly expanding its space and op- 

 portunities for collection storage, exhibition, and re- 

 search, and it ushered in a whole new era in the life of 

 our already well-established museum, known today as 

 the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). 

 l)ui ing the past seventy-five years, the Natural History 

 Building, fitmiliarly called the "NHB" by its residents, 

 has undeigone many changes to keep pace with the 

 grcjwth of its activities, which have expanded and changed 

 constant Iv to stay abreast of the extraordinarv advances 

 in science and the ever-expanding need ior public dis- 

 plays and activities. Thus the building and its life have 

 been inextricably bound to each other through the years. 

 Over these seventy-five years we have seen upwards of 

 150 million visitors come through our doors, 50 millic:)n 

 in the last ten years alone, and we expect more than 

 six million in 1985. Our collections for research and 

 display now number about 100 million. 



The idea for this book first took shape in a chance 

 conversation thai I had with the authc^r, Dr. Ellis L. 

 Yochelson, at oui Museum's Christmas Party in De- 

 cember 1983. While discussing wavs to celebrate the 

 seventy-fifth anniversary of the NHB in 1985, Ellis, 

 who has always had a keen interest in and sense of 



history, suggested that a book be written on the history 

 of the building since 1910. 1 immediately seized on the 

 suggestion, and a project was born — with Ellis himself 

 as author. As a long-time resident of the building who 

 not only knew much of the history himself but also was 

 a scientific colleague and personal friend of several of 

 the NHB's oldest citizens, Ellis was an ideal choice. 

 Furthermore, as a member of the resident paleonto- 

 logical staff of the Geological Survey of the United 

 States Department of the Interior, one of the longest- 

 running scientific affiliates with the NMNH, he could 

 bring a imique perspective to bear on the history of 

 the building. Although always a loyal advocate of the 

 Museum, he could take a more detached view than one 

 of cjur cjwn staff, and at the same time he understocjd 

 implicitly the symbiotic relationships that have always 

 characterized the associations between the scientists of 

 the NMNH and of the several affiliated agencies that 

 have long had research units in the building. 



We all are enormously indebted to Ellis Yochelson 

 for the Herculean job that he did in writing this book 

 within virtually impossible deadlines. From the outset, 

 he wisely decided that he could not bring the building 

 to life without telling the story of the people who worked 

 here and of the activities and events that have punc- 

 tuated the history of the building. It is, therefore, much 

 more than a history of the building: it is a history of 

 the Museum. 



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