100th Post: Field Museum: Evolving Planet - a review/thoughts (Part One)
Remember my post on May the second? How I said I was going to Chicago? The one place I've wanted to go for a long long time?
I indeed visited the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago earlier this month for a wedding vacation, on the 6th, and although it was not my first visit, I hadn't had a chance to visit in years. the very first exhibit I headed to? The Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet on the second floor, it's palaeontology gallery, first opened in 2006 after the museum closed a very 90's gallery "Life After Time". I LOVED IT. EVERY BLOODY SECOND OF IT. I was like a kid in a candy store seeing one of the most impressive array of fossils I've ever seen and excellent exhibitry. Not even a full bladder could stop my enthusiasm.
Admittedly I was so caught up in the rapture I wasn't really paying specifics and went too fast for my liking, so I'm not going to remember all the details of the exhibit. Forgive me for such and potentially missing out on juicy details worth discussing.
Let's start off with what everyone comes to it for: the dinosaurs, located in the Elizabeth Morse Genius Hall of Dinosaurs. It's a fairly open hall, where energy is divided evenly between three mounts in the centre of it, but attention is drawn to the Apatosaurus mount on the north side. Although do be aware Tschopp et. al's seminal 2015 study suggests its an entirely new genus rather then Apatosaurus proper.
Still, as the biggest dino in the gallery, I was in awe of it all the way, walking around it and looking up just like the first time I saw Gordo on person, a sense of wonder.
Right next to it is a specimen of the malagasy Rapetosaurus next to it (and I just know pretty much half of visitors call it a baby Apatosaurus). This was the first of it's kind I've seen, with the possible exception of a temporary ROM exhibit.
The cool thing is that recently added to the gallery are labels on the glass walls that show which in the mount are casts and which are real, like what the ROM does.
In the corner are stegosaurus, and a further display on sauropods that emphasises Brachiosaurus. The latter deserves special mention, as the museum has a long history with the macronarian: scientist at it Elmer S. Riggs was the first to discover and name it in 1903, and in the 90's a cast was famously added to the museum's grand hall; when SUE arrived, it moved to O'Hare Airport while a replica would be made to be placed outside - or at least until it got taken down last year to my disappointment. I really wanted to see it in person. But anyways...
The other big mount in the hall is a Daspletosaurus (which might actually be a new species), nicknamed Gorgeous George, that has been at the museum for a while, even before the Brachiosaurus cast, which as you can see is posed to eat a Lambeosaurus. Forther cabinets around it include one for the head ornamentation of various, which has the holotype of Cryolophosaurus in it.
Nearby are casts of some dromaeosaurs, like Deinonychus and discussing how theropod dinosaurs relate to birds. I will be honest though and say that they didn't pique my interest nor are historically significant to the museum's history (only been at it since 2006), so I didn't observe it for too long nor take pictures. Sorry if you wanted any.
A Parasaurolophus and a young Maiasaura represent ornithopods in the hall, who in contrast are standing tall. Notice that the Para isn't the walkeri, but an entirely new species that has a short downwards crest, P. cyrtocristatus. By any rate, being free standing rather then wall relief like a certain other one I've seen certainly gives it an impressive stature. It'd easy to forget Hadrosaurs were big guys, even bigger then elephants, but standing next to one is a good cure.
Backtracking, past the museum's former SUE mural by John Gurche is a Triceratops cast, joined by some other ceratopsid specimens, like Protoceratops. I admit however that as a cast and not even a historic one, it doesn't really interest me
A green cabinet meanwhile by the Para displays other reptiles of the Mesozoic, like turtles and pterosaurs. However in particular, I was drawn to the skulls of two malagasy crocs, Mahjungasuchus and Simosuchus, because the big grinning is a emote on my main Discord server I frequent (not my own).
The south wall is where the marine life specimens of the gallery are. While I didn't directly take photos, I can assure you the collection is quite good, with it's eye-catching blue colours.
After a while my mom and I left for the rest of the gallery. But who should be there, down a hall with forest theming that splits off from the main galleries?
Dat's right, it's SUE! Ever since 2018, she's been moved from the main hall to a new suite where there was once just a lightwell, now having belly ribs.
They're exhibit is quite stellar, where the smaller room really compliments her, rather then the huge main hall where they long were.
At the back of it, are all sorts of displays that contextualise they're home and ecology, right down to smells of the environment, and a pretty nice mural of the Hell Creek Formation, although the photobashed art style isn't appealing for everyone.
I took a picture recreating Jurassic Park with them, then headed on to the cenozoic galleries.
So , what do I think of this part of the Evolving Planet as a whole? VERY GOOD, easily the best dinosaur hall I've visited so far. yeah, even better then the Royal Ontario's own Temerty Galleries. I credit that to a much more colourful and spacious gallery and in depth signage.
The gallery covers covers other relevant subjects briefly but quite well, from plants to co-evolution of lineages, as well as palaeoart, from both Knight's to Gurche's, using the latter for the process of creating palaeoart in question.
The mounts are all great, posed in lively ways. I do admit that the casts (Stego, Deino, and Trike) aren't as interesting and lack the historic sentimental value of other mounts, but those are only a minor quibble.
All major groups of dinosaurs are represented in the gallery, and they are done well. It uses the standard style of one central mount supplemented by individual fossils in cases, but they do good enough for visitors.
The design of the hall is open and fairly bright, with relatively small windows that still illuminate the room, that is a neutral shade of beige and not worth commenting on.
SUE's own suite meanwhile is a bit different: it consists of a corridor that builds up to them in the middle, beforehand presenting the history of their discovery, with it's skull being the first bit people will see followed by palaeoart of SUE in the flesh, staring down visitors that hides the mount until it is passed, and the breath gets taken away ad they see SUE in the flesh. There's also cool videos projected onto separate screens. Must be a bit awkward to stands in the right position to make sense of it, though it's still quite an interesting use of animated media for a museum.
The interpretives' art by Karen Carr has a good painted quality to them, even if they can be a bit ugly depending on which ones . But of course, I would be remiss not to mention Charles R. Knight's iconic art, throughout the hall's walls. It's all dated yes, but at this point Knight's art has crossed over into being timeless art - yeah, ol' Chaz is not jut palaeoart, but art period. I also like signage that points out what is what in the paintings.
The interpretives of the gallery and the other two as a whole are great and creative. These range from an interactive pump that simulate parasaur calls to animated video terminals done by one Pat Bradley. They explain evolution and the complexities of it well for both a casual visitor and season palaeo-fan. There is also time given for art through the aforementioned Gurche bit and Knight's art.
While the exhibit opened in just 2006, just a few parts of it are already a bit dated. What I do remember most of all was the slumped tail on the Apatosaur, or that one of the terminals perpetrates the now-outdated Brontosaurus-is-Apato synonym; it's ironic one of the most famous pitfalls is now its own outdated pitfall. Although that said, I actually cannot remember any of the bigger ones, though Miller has confirmed to m. I'd appreciate it if anyone could point out such examples.
I admit the gallery seems perfect as it is, and I wouldn't change much save updating info and mounts, but I admit I'd admit if I were in charge of refurbishing the gallery, I'd replace some of the mounts with dinosaurs front and centre linked to the Field Museum's research from beyond North America, like Africa, South America, and Antarctica. Just imagine a Cryolophosaurus mount for instance, or any of what famous Chicagoan palaeontologist Paul Sereno has found. I also admit the inital part of the SUE suite, with it's flat jungle art, does feel a bit empty, and could befit from dinosaurs actually being in it.
- Presentation - 10/10
- Fossil Variety - 9/10
- Theming - 8/10
- Exhibit Design - 10/10
- Accuracy - 9/10
The Field Museum's Evolving Planet has certainly earned it's place as one of North America's best museum for not just dinosaur, but fossil galleries as a whole. While the mounts aren't too special, the sheer amount of info presented in a well done way and history behind them certainly make it the gold standard of palaeo-exhibits for me.
If you think the Morse hall was excellent just from photos alone, wait until I post the the Palaeozoic and Cenozoic galleries, because they are even better. Stay tuned for when I cover them.
Thank you everyone for reading this post, and thank you for being with me at Mesozoic Mind through 100 posts. I hope I have brightened things for you or introduced you to a new dinosaur or show. This blog has meant so much to me, expanding my horizons and purpose in my life.
To finish things off, here are sneak peaks of what I'm working on for Mesozoic Mind, and will post... eventually.
See Also/Further Reading
- Extinct Monsters by Ben Miller. In fact, he help contribute a bit to this post, and I thank him.
- Framing Fossil Exhibits: A Walk Through Time
- History of the Field Museum Fossil Halls – Part 1
- History of the Field Museum Fossil Halls – Part 2
- Ernestine lives!
- Tschopp, E., Mateus, O., & Benson, R. B. (2015). A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda). PeerJ, 3, e857.
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