Fact or Fiction

Today we visited The Academy of Natural Sciences; which was the first natural history museum in the country. The display strategies that are used are the diorama and peepholes. When you first walked into the museum you were greeted by the dinosaurs on the right and to the left was the gift shop. I thought the layout was interesting. The cabinet displays of the different creatures as you walked forward from the entrance appeared to be telling the audience the summary of the museum exhibits. The one thing I thought was interesting was that in the beginning we were all whispering our different ideas; I didn’t realize that Alex pointed it out. That made me realized how museums could be places of discipline.  The dinosaurs were the first exhibit I explored. They were huge; I couldn’t imagine living in the same world with these creatures.  I would be petrified. I went into the lab where they process the bones, the one”scientist” was explaining to the children the different types of bones and dinosaurs. The one question that I kept asking myself was how do these paleontologists know all this information? Did they live with these creatures? I like dinosaurs they are interesting; I want to know where all this information is coming from.

                The second floor consisted of the dioramas of Africa and Asia. The Egyptian mummy was out of place, it did not go with the rest of the exhibit. It should have placed somewhere else like on the first floor where they have a little blurb about “Lucy”. Lucy is one of the first ancestors of the human lineage.  Every time I come to this museum this is my favorite thing to look at; I feel like a little kid. When looking at them, you can put yourself in the diorama.  You become a part of the scene. That is what these depictions are trying to do.  The museum wants you to get the whole experiences. The painting in the background looked fake, but it meshed well with the animals. ‘The academy describes these dioramas, ‘a distinctive fusion of art and science. ‘(Smith; 1/28/10). They are a piece of art but also they teach lessons in nature. The diorama that caught my eye was located in the North American section; it was the polar bear one. The picture illustrated the bear killing the seal, at the bottom of the display there was blood and the seal looked dead. The message being conveyed is that these are furious creatures.

When venturing up the steps to the 3^rd floor I got to experience the Outside In. This portion of the museum is geared towards children, when wandering through the exhibit memories of my past flashed in my mind. Alex and I didn’t realize it was closed. On the third floor we got to learn about the different types of birds, and see them displayed as well. The strategy they used here was the peeping hole affect. Even though you know what you were looking at you still had to bend your head and put your face closer to the glass to see the birds. 

I liked the museum, but the one thing that bothered me was that there weren’t any humans displayed in these dioramas. Why is that? It was the first history museum to be opened why aren’t there any humans or ancestors of humans displayed in it? The museum as I mentioned earlier did have a blurb about Lucy, and how the human can walk like a dinosaur, but they did not go much into depth with it. Did the museum have a controversy about humans being displayed in the past? Or are they trying to convey the message that we are the humans walking through the museums and that’s why there isn’t a display.