Why the American Museum of Natural History Needs to Change
American Museum of Natural History | Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.
Lions, dinosaurs and a giant whale are just some treasures found at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. The AMNH has always been a prestigious institution, with early connections to presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt. Today, it is cherished by millions as the location of the blockbuster hit, Night at the Museum. The film has spawned a group of young AMNH fans, who often dream of visiting this magical museum that seemingly comes to life at night. However, no matter how amazing the museum is in the film, it fails to live up to expectations. Between the disrepair of old exhibits and frequent misrepresentation of cultures, the AMNH must change to maintain its relevance.
The Night at the Museum film was never actually filmed in the AMNH. However, it has boosted the prestige of the institution. Over the past couple of decades, the museum has seen an increase in attendance from three million visitors to more than five million visitors per year. The AMNH even offers sleepovers called “A Night at the Museum.” With the increased traction from the film, most visitors expect the museum to hold up these lofty expectations.
While AMNH seems perfect on film, the building is in a state of disrepair. This statement doesn’t apply to all rooms, as the Hall of Biodiversity and Spitzer Hall of Human Origins look new and impressive. There will always be areas of a museum that are nicer than others, as not everything can be updated at the same time. However, the issue is that more money is put toward expansions, rather than updates to current exhibits. The latest addition to the museum is the Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, which costs around $383 million. Part of this expansion will better manage crowds by “improving circulation and by making physical and pragmatic connections among galleries,” the AMNH states on its website. This is a great idea, but the areas the Gilder Center connects are some of the dingiest and most run-down areas of the museum.
Plenty of areas look like they haven't been touched in decades, such as the Hall of Eastern Woodlands Indians, which opened in 1966. The dim lighting and the wood-paneled walls remind me of my parent’s dark ‘70s basement. The hall also boasts neon colors as the backdrop of the cases, making any items on display seem insignificant. Strangely, this hall isn’t the only one that screams “retro basement,” as the Warburg Hall of New York State Environment, opened in 1950, also has wood paneling and is accented with retro-modern silver titles. These two halls are old and haven’t been updated in over 50 years, but they won’t be the areas people have to walk through with the Gilder Center addition. Instead, visitors will travel through the Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples and the Hall of South American Peoples.
The Mead Hall is best known for the Moai statue as seen in Night at the Museum. This area was last updated in 1984 but still has many design elements from its original opening in 1971. One of the key problems is the horrible lighting in many of the cases. The case on boomerangs is fascinating, but there is no light illuminating the case, making it difficult to read and appreciate the boomerangs.
The Hall of South American Peoples and the connected Hall of Mexico and Central America have substantial cosmetic problems. Not only do they carry the previous themes of annoyingly bright colors and horrible lighting, but they also appear to be falling apart. Dust piles up in the corners of many cases, showing how rarely these collections are cleaned. Additionally, the halls have peeling wallpaper, duct-taped carpet, and even noticeable holes in the baseboards.
The state of these older halls, often last updated or created in the 80s or earlier, is disgraceful both to the museum and the city. We claim this as one of New York’s premier institutions, yet it often fails to deliver a high-quality experience without avoiding every older hall.
Unfortunately, the appearance of the halls is not even the AMNH’s biggest problem. Rather, the calls for removal of the large statue of Theodore Roosevelt sitting majestically on a horse, flanked by two men, one African and one Native American, is the main discussion in the public eye. While these two figures are allegories for their respective continents, it comes off to the viewer as a racial hierarchy. In June, after many Black Lives Matter protests and years of previous protests from Decolonize This Place, the museum announced it would remove the statue. However, this statue is only the beginning of the AMNH’s problems portraying culture.
A large part of the AMNH is the culture halls, which are eight sections showing off pre-colonial world cultures. These halls combine ethnographic artifacts with mannequin displays in an attempt to provide a taste of the traditions in areas like Africa or Asia. This could be a perfect way to introduce children to the different cultures of the world: learning about what people wore, where they lived and what religions they practiced. These are important things for people to learn about, but the AMNH’s displays are outdated and poorly represent these cultures.
A perfect example of this cultural education failure is seen in the Stout Hall of Asian Peoples. The hall itself has some fascinating displays of clothing, while also showing household traditions. The concept for the hall is great, but it falls into the problem of the ethnographic present. The ethnographic present is defined by Luis Vivanco in A Dictionary of Cultural Anthropology as “a conventional mode of representation within many early anthropological writings that uses the present tense to describe a non-Western culture.” This definition applies to anthropological writing, but it also applies to the portrayal of cultures in this exhibit. Most cases are vague as to the time period of the artifacts or traditions on display. Without closely combing through the text in each case, it is hard to tell the period of these exhibits. This leads to confusion when looking at Russian tribal artifacts or displays about foreign trade as it may imply that people currently live this way since there are also displays with traditional Asian items still used today like lion dance costumes or kimonos. While an adult may easily differentiate these, children will have a more difficult time. This is especially true in other culture halls where topics like cannibalism or odd puberty rituals are discussed.
The ethnographic presence is prevalent throughout most culture halls as they are seldom updated. Some may believe these halls do not need to be updated if they are only trying to show ancient cultures. However, the halls fail to convey care for these cultures or how these people live their lives today. When visitors come through these halls, they often keep walking and only stop when something catches their eye. I have witnessed parents trying to get their children remotely excited about these halls, but the kids often fuss and want to get on to the next thing. This is sad to see as the AMNH does have an impressive ethnographic collection. However, the old designs and lack of interactivity make the halls seem more outdated.
The newest culture hall is the Hall of South American Peoples which was reopened in 1989. Currently, the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians, which opened in 1899, is under renovation but is delayed because of COVID-19. This is a step in the right direction as the hall was suffering from the ethnographic presence. However, this has been put off for too long. It took almost 120 years for the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians to finally get a much-needed upgrade. This process comes as a stark contrast to halls focused on natural life. For example, the Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems and the Guggenheim Hall of Minerals opened in 1976 and reopens in June as the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals. While the hall likely did need some updating, it doesn’t have as great of personal importance to many people.
When talking about the culture halls, we are talking about real people and their ancestors who followed these traditions. We are dealing with the lives of others, not just information about something that sits and looks pretty. While the ethnographic collections do remain static when focused on the past, the cultures they represent do not. People and their cultures are ever-changing, and we are always learning new things about cultures — even when they are 500 years old.
Many parts of the AMNH need serious renovations. These issues are an embarrassment to the museum and the city. The cosmetic problems are important for first impressions and should be easy fixes. Calling for a change in how the museum addresses world cultures is harder as changes would be more expensive. However, these updates will be key to the museum’s continued success. After all, no one wants to feel like their ancestry is misrepresented to thousands daily. These old areas should no longer be places visitors speed through in search of the planetarium or taxidermy displays — they should become equally as interesting and engaging as the other half of the museum. If visitors are to believe the AMNH is as mysterious and magical as Night at the Museum makes it seem, every part of the museum must be held to the highest standards.