The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way

Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of visiting the American Museum of Natural History in NYC has some idea of what an enormous and wondrous institution it is. The museum is housed in a number of buildings that fill four city blocks along Central Park. It didn’t spring up overnight. It has been in process, being built and growing, for the last one hundred and fifty years. The story of how it came to be is one filled with all kinds of characters — some powerful and some corrupt — politics, land deals, world wars, a great depression, and so much more that affected the progress of the museum and its incredible collections. Part II focuses on the Hayden Planetarium and its rich history.

This is, in many ways, is a particularly American story, and anyone interested in history or museums will find this a very satisfying read. Author Colin Davey had a life-long love affair with the museum, growing up in New York and spending many, many hours happily lost in the museum collections, and that shines through in his writing as does his fine, in-depth research. Plenty of excellent graphics and photographs support this fascinating history.