mens was hung on the south wall, and a giant pterosaur 

 was suspended from the ceiling. At the grand opening, 

 "dinosaur music" composed on a Moog synthesizer 

 rumbled through the hall. 



This dinosaur exhibit provides an excellent example 

 of display recycling. The papier-mache Stegosaurus now 

 on the south side of the hall had been on view in both 

 preceding dinosaur exhibits. The life-size beast was 

 originally made for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and 

 paid for with funds appropriated for displays there. 

 Somehow a wild rumor got started in the 1960s that 

 the papier-mache was made from worn money with- 

 drawn from circulation. The staff knew better, but to 

 resolve the point, several people from the Bureau of 

 Printing and Engraving did an "autopsy" and deter- 

 mined that ordinary paper was involved. 



In 1983 fossils of ancient soft-bodied animals col- 

 lected by Secretary Walcott in western Canada were 

 installed in the entryway to Hall 2. An exhibit of ex- 

 tremely ancient fossils, opened late in 1984, finished 

 off Hall 2, and fossil mammals in Hall 3 will complete 

 the jigsaw puzzle. Once all the pieces fit together to 

 make a coherent story, one will be able to start at the 

 dawn of life just off the rotunda and end up with the 

 cave men at the north end of Hall 6. 



Used for both display and research, the coral reef 

 installed in the Hall of the Sea in 1980 is an important 

 addition to the Museum.'^ Occupying the center of the 

 hall is an exhibit consisting of a short movie and a 

 display of specimens from the Pacific Ocean deep-sea 

 vents. This too has received a great deal of attention, 

 though there is widespread feeling that the full-scale 

 model of a deep-water submersible, hung in 1983 as a 

 complement to the hall's exhibits, is more of a detrac- 

 tion. 



Four exhibit halls on the second floor are currently 

 closed. Two are being used for offices by entomologists, 

 and two for organizing collections to be moved to the 

 new Museum Support Center. Despite this temporary 

 loss of space, public display gained new importance in 

 1984 with the establishment of the position of Assistant 

 Director for Exhibits. 



Educational Programs 



Aside from the exhibits themselves, efforts in public 

 education broadened during the Ripley era, although 

 several of them had been in place for years. The Mu- 

 seum always identified specimens and answered in- 

 quiries from the public. Under Secretaries Henry, Baird, 

 and Langley, the Institution distributed "duplicate 

 specimens" to schools and universities, as well as edu- 

 cational materials of a more general type. During the 

 1920s a set of rocks and minerals illustrating the con- 

 cept of weathering and soil formation was sent out. As 

 late as the 1940s the Museum was distributing sets of 

 common minerals to schools, and some schools, uni- 

 versities, and nature centers are still receiving speci- 



mens. The Museum has hung occasional displays of 

 schoolchildren's work in the foyer. After World War I 

 the Smithsonian started a weekly radio program, with 

 Austin Clark, the echinoderm specialist, taking the lead 

 in organizing the broadcasts. The current "Radio 

 Smithsonian" is a later, independent development. 



In 1955 the Junior League of Washington organized 

 a docent program for the Museum and began to give 

 tours for school groups. They were successful — indeed, 

 the program grew to such an extent that the league 

 could no longer handle it. In the late 1960s the Junior 

 League donated money to the Smithsonian for a paid 

 coordinator, on the understanding that in a few years 

 the scheduling of tours and the training of docents 

 would be handled by the Institution. 



In the mid-1960s the Museum housed most of the 

 education efforts of the whole Smithsonian. Rooms on 

 both sides of the foyer served as educational offices, 

 docent lounges, and clasj>i ^oms. The program was geared 

 to all ages, from high school students to preschoolers. 

 In the fall of 1 973, the Smithsonian Office of Education 

 was reorganized and decentralized. As had happened 

 with exhibits and building maintenance, the Museum 

 thereafter ran its own education program. 



Tours of the halls led by docents have continued and 

 expanded. The education staff offers Museum tours 

 for the deaf, using docents who know sign language. 

 They have also developed tours for the visually hand- 

 icapped, and occasionally provide docents for tour groups 

 speaking foreign languages. An outreach program for 

 bringing natural history to elderly citizens resulted in 

 a popular handbook. 



During the 1970s the Museum added two new ed- 

 ucational attractions. The Discovery Room in the north- 

 west corner of the first floor opened March 5, 1974. 

 There "elephant tusks, coral, petrified wood, woolly 

 mammoth teeth, and hundreds of natural history spec- 

 imens, ordinarily out of reach behind glass or railings 

 in the museums, could be grasped, turned over in the 

 hand at one's leisure, and studied with a magnifying 

 glass."' ' The Discovery Room, which incorporates some 

 features of the Children's Museum in Boston, has been 

 popular with the public, particularly with families. The 

 docents observed during the first year that many guards 

 came in to examine specimens and learn a bit more 

 about what they had been protecting. More than 100 

 museums have now copied the Discovery Room. 



In 1976 the Naturalist Center was opened in the West 

 Court building. The aim of the Center is to provide a 

 few references, appropriate synoptical collections, and 

 some assistance."' Ainateurs interested in local natural 

 history come here to see if they can identify for them- 

 selves the bug, leaf, or stone they have collected. Many 

 of the simpler requests for identification are resolved 

 on the spot; more difficult identifications or potentially 

 novel specimens are referred to the staff of the appro- 

 priate department. The number of people using the 



"Modern Times" 



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