Made In PGH: Chances are that if you live in Pittsburgh, you’ve driven past the giant dinosaur statue in Oakland quite a few times, and you’ve at least heard of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. For those of us who grew up here, field trips to the museum were a highlight of our youth (getting out of school to look at fossils and play inside an igloo replica all day…what could be better!?). This museum isn’t just for kids though—it’s one of the top natural history museums in the nation, so you’ll want to take some time to explore it as an adult too. Here are 10 things that you probably didn’t know about the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
14 comments:
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is pretty badass, I have to admit. Up until this point, I honestly just thought that it was some dinky little museum down the street from my school (since the museums that have always been in my vicinity have been lame). But, after reading this short article, my mind has been changed. I didn’t realize they have so much stuff! A collection with 22 million items is INSANE!!! I think it’s really neat that they showcase the items they can’t fit on display online so that people can still learn about them. The Met does this too and it’s pretty awesome. The neatest thing, in my opinion, is the section on sustainability. The fact that the director of the museum is on global environment committee with people like Leo DiCaprio is amazing. The fact that the museum took the time, money, and effort to project movies onto windows to spare the lives of birds is wonderful. It’s small details like that that truly make a difference. Hopefully if I get any free time on a weekend this year i’ll be able to get over to the museum to check it out.
In my time living in Pittsburgh, I’ve been to this museum once. It was to meet friends who were visiting from out of town and were doing something while I had a school thing to do. I wasn’t there very long and have always been saying that I need to go back. This article reinforces that I need to go back. Especially since there are things mentioned in this article that I did not even know that the museum had. I’m really fascinated by the alcohol room. The Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History is an astonishing place. It is also a great place to be inspired. History museums are a great place to get ideas as a designer. I’ve always loved the National Gallery in Washington D.C. as it has some of the finest collections around. You can walk through whole rooms and feel like you are back in the 1700’s or 1800’s and in another country. I also like that the director is part of a global organization on the environment and that simple things like covering the windows to prevent birds from flying into them have been implemented. I am definitely going to take more time to visit this and the other museums in Pittsburgh.
I absolutely love the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Like Josh, I have only gone once, and that was for a school project. I have been itching to go since. Museums have always been a favorite past time of mine. I am the type of person where if I go with a group, I inevitably will end up separated from said group because I just can’t help but wander off by whatever catches my eye! This was no different the one time I went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. There is so much to look at and be entranced by! Definitely one of my favorites are the dinosaurs! No matter how old you are, I feel like it is always acceptable to go crazy over seeing dinosaur fossils right in front of you! I had no idea until reading this article that most of the fossils are the originals, either!
Since moving here I haven't been able to find the time to visit the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; however, it's been up there on my list of places around town I'd like to visit. I wouldn't say I'm a natural history enthusiast but it has always had a draw for me since I'm weirdly fascinated with rocks and foliage. Maybe with the remainder of Thanksgiving break, I'll make a trip over there. Reading about the alcohol room, in particular, makes me almost want to go up to an employee and be like "I know it's not open to the public but can I PLEASE see it?" I've always loved reptiles, amphibians, and fish so that kind of stuff is right up my alley. It's crazy to see all of the hard work and attention to detail that goes into the day to day curation of giant exhibits like the ones on display here. I know a lot of people that would never consider going to a museum a fun way to spend the day but even if natural history isn't your cup of tea, it's nice to seek to understand your world better and appreciate the work that goes into making it a comfortable, creative, and informative space.
We are always going to the Carnegie International Museum of Art, but whenever I go, I seldom make it very far into the Natural History side of the museum before closing. Around mid-semester, I made it all the way to the dinosaurs in the natural history museum, and it really was phenomenal. The digital displays that go with each dinosaur skeleton lets you see which parts of the display are real, casts, or just fabricated skeletal parts. They also provide a wealth of information about these creatures and their habitats and the scientists making discoveries about them. It is no surprise to me that the science minds at the Natural History Museum are working on revolutionary and high interest research. I am interested in this podcast about the Anthropocene. The effects and the climate of the Anthropocene is something that my elective has talked about a lot, but much of the literature has been very academic, and not very accessible to understanding, so perhaps this podcast will be more understandable.
This is cool! I am on any given day in Pittsburgh, just a couple minutes’ walk away from this museum and pass is quite regularly. Yet I still have never known about some of these interesting facts. I also haven’t spent all that much time in this museum either, which is something else I should do. I will have to go back and really take a look at some of the exhibits and pieces now knowing what I know about this museum in particular. It is quite fascinating that the dinosaurs there are real bones rather than the reconstructed molds of the bones. The coolest of the facts presented in this article has to be the fact that real live animals are actually living there whether for study or preservation or just living there, this is a really cool fact and definitely not something I think about when I am attending museums or places of similar work being done and presented.
I try to go to the Carnegie Museum all the time, but I tend to run out of time while looking at art, and I can only stick my head through the dinosaur door before having to run off. Recently, however, I went with a group of people who specifically wanted to see the dinosaurs. We did beeline straight for the fossils, but they did not capture our interest and imagination in the same way as the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum in New York do. Instead, we wandered into the vast section full of gems and minerals on display. Although there was not quite enough information accessible to satisfy my curiosity, the displays themselves were quite beautiful, and I had a hard time tearing myself away. Before seeing that particular exhibit, I think I would scoff a bit at the idea that the Carnegie Museum is a national contender, as this article explains.
I love museums! And I love articles like these, that work to show that museums are filled with more than dusty old skeletons. I have always been a museum junkie, ever since I was a kid, so I am thrilled to live and study right around the corner from some really amazing museums. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to fully explore this museum, but I plan to do so very soon. Museums are incredibly important to society and to history, because people learn more history in 5 minutes by seeing it and interacting with it in a museum than they do by reading an entire textbook on it. Humans learn by experience, so history museums are the most important textbooks we have. I love the emphasis this museum has on sustainability as well, because you cannot teach others sustainability if you are not sustainable yourself. Overall, I am so glad this community has this incredible resource.
I had no idea that the Carnegie Museum of Natural History had all of this! I'd love to see the collection of animals that they rescued. It's really great that they serve as more of a sanctuary for animals rather than a zoo. The fact that they aren't over-advertised, hence why they're included in an article called "10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Carnegie Museum of Natural History", probably means that they're better treated. Also, the range of animals they have is so exotic, from pythons to cats. I'd love to go see the dinosaur skeletons. I honestly wouldn't think that a museum in Pittsburgh would have that many dinosaur skeletons. I never really grew up near any museums that had dinosaur remains, so going to see all of the skeletons is going to be so cool, not to mention the type of dinosaur that the researchers discovered that looks like a crazy chicken.
Firstly I didn’t know anything about the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I have been in it once but wasn’t there for very long. This article makes me want to find the time to visit and explore the museum more! I saw the art section of the museum (so not really the whole “ Natural History” part) but the collection was very interesting and I found some really amazing pieces. I also think it is really funny when you have to wear your backpack on the front side of your body so that you don’t accidentally hit anything while you are walking (hey its better than paying thousands of dollars if you hit and break something!) Honesty, I wasn’t aware that they had dinosaurs! Now I have to go back. I am from Northern Virginia so I always had access to go into DC and visit the museums there (even though I haven’t been in a while) I think I’ve taken access to museums for granted. There are so much amazing history and information and its honestly so incredibly fun to just walk around and be inspired! Hopefully, I can motivate myself to go to the Museums I have available to me (not only for school projects but to learn more about the world)
This is a really cute article. Although I have not been in Pittsburgh very long, nor have I been to the museum that much, I did know at least one of these facts discussed within the article. I knew that the first dinosaur bone was located in Pittsburgh, and I had heard that a majority of the bones and skeletons of the dinosaurs on display at the museum we real, however, I didn’t really believe this fact until I read this article. Some of the points brought up in this article do seem or feel like a marketing strategy for the museum such as announcing or showing off that they have active research being conducted on site or that sustainability is on the top of their minds. These just flaunt some of the aspects of the museum without actually giving more fun facts about the museum. It was really cool to read and learn about the parts of the museum I hadn’t heard of before such as the Alcohol House where a bunch of specimens and animals are stored for preservation.
There is always more to a museum than meets then eye and the museums that put in the extra work behind the scenes I think are often those that see the biggest dividends in front of the glass and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History is no exception. It is an absolutely fantastic museum. I remember the first time with my parents just how surprised they were that there was such fantastic museums in Pittsburgh. The wealth of knowledge and history that they have the museum is truly amazing. I think one of the coolest things about the museum to me is the fact that they are still staying host to active research and development. I don’t know how common this truly is in museums but you can definitely tell that they are putting their work to use in the museum and are actively contributing to the community as well as sharing their wealth of knowledge.
The fact that most of the fossils that are exhibited in the museum are real is really interesting to me. I am really wondering what is the reason to do so, since there are a lot of reasons to not using the originals in a museum. Combining with other facts like the museum is also a active research facility, we can see how Carnegie Museum of Natural History is trying to stay in its top shape. Personally I admire the investment from the commercial giants into the cultural business just like Carnegie started this museum. No matter it was out of his personal hobby or other reason, it is important that we are able to preserve the memories of our own history. Not to mention all the efforts put into this big project from every employee of the museum. It is really satisfying to see a brilliant example of how a private museum working its way to benefit the whole community.
I have had the opportunity of visiting the Carnegie Museum of Art but I haven’t had the chance to visit the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, but this article definitely sparked my interest in visiting. I have visited the Museum of Natural History in New York City several times and I love learning so much about our planets history. I had no idea that the Carnegie museum had such a big collection! It is so fascinating to learn that most of their dinosaur skeletons are real and not just molds of actual fossils!! I also did not know that the museum had a nationally known podcast called A is for Anthropocene. I had no idea that scientists did research at the museum either! The scientists conducting research at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History have even found evidence of climate change because of studying the survival of Borneo tree frogs.
Post a Comment