| The American Museum of Natural History | | | | window they had unlocked hours before |
| is a landmark on the Upper West Side, | | | | the museum was closed. The Star of India |
| Manhattan, New York, USA. The museum has | | | | and other gems were later recovered from |
| a scientific staff of more than 200, and | | | | a locker in a Miami bus station, but the |
| sponsors over 100 special field | | | | Eagle Diamond was never found; it may |
| expeditions each year.[1] | | | | have been recut or lost.[citation |
| History | | | | needed] |
| The Museum was founded in 1869 and until | | | | Famous names associated with the museum |
| construction of the first building of | | | | include the paleontologist and geologist |
| the current complex was completed, was | | | | Henry Fairfield Osborn, president for |
| housed in the old Arsenal building in | | | | many years; the dinosaur-hunter of the |
| Central Park. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., | | | | Gobi Desert, Roy Chapman Andrews (one of |
| the father of the 26th U.S. President, | | | | the inspirations for Indiana Jones); |
| was one of the founders with William E. | | | | George Gaylord Simpson; biologist Ernst |
| Dodge, Jr., Joseph Choate, and J. | | | | Mayr; pioneer cultural anthropologists |
| Pierpont Morgan. The founding of the | | | | Franz Boas and Margaret Mead; and |
| Museum realized the dream of naturalist | | | | ornithologist Robert Cushman Murphy. J. |
| Dr. Albert S. Bickmore. Bickmore, a | | | | P. Morgan was also among the famous |
| one-time student of Harvard zoologist | | | | benefactors of the Museum. |
| Louis Agassiz, lobbied tirelessly for | | | | Library |
| years for the establishment of a natural | | | | From its founding in 1869, the Library |
| history museum in New York. His | | | | of the American Museum of Natural |
| proposal, backed by his powerful | | | | History has grown into one of the |
| sponsors, won the support of the | | | | world's great natural history |
| Governor of New York, John Thompson | | | | collections. In its early years, the |
| Hoffman, who signed a bill officially | | | | Library expanded its collection mostly |
| creating the American Museum of Natural | | | | through such gifts as the John C. Jay |
| History on April 6, 1869. | | | | conchological library, the Carson |
| In 1874, ground was broken for the first | | | | Brevoort library on fihses and general |
| building, now hidden from view by the | | | | zoology, the ornithological library of |
| many buildings in the complex that today | | | | Daniel Giraud Elliot, the Harry Edwards |
| occupy most of Manhattan Square. The | | | | entomological library, the Hugh Jewett |
| original neo-Gothic | | | | collection of voyages and travel and the |
| building(1874–1877), by Calvert Vaux | | | | Jules Marcou geology collection. In 1903 |
| and Jacob Wrey Mould, who were | | | | the American Ethnological Society |
| collaborating with Frederick Law Olmsted | | | | deposited its library in the Museum and |
| in structures for Central Park, was soon | | | | in 1905 the New York Academy of Sciences |
| eclipsed by the South range of the | | | | followed suit by transferring its |
| museum, by J. Cleaveland Cady, a robust | | | | collection of 10,000 volumes. Today, the |
| exercise in rusticated brownstone | | | | Library's collections contain over |
| neo-Romanesque, influenced by H. H. | | | | 450,000 volumes of monographs, serials, |
| Richardson. A triumphal Roman entrance | | | | pamphlets and reprints, microforms, and |
| on Central Park West, (see | | | | original illustrations, as well as film, |
| illustration), the New York State | | | | photographic, archives and manuscripts, |
| Memorial to Theodore Roosevelt completed | | | | fine art, memorabilia and rare book |
| by John Russell Pope in 1936, is an | | | | collections. The Library collects |
| overscaled Beaux-Arts monument. It leads | | | | materials covering such subjects as |
| to a vast Roman basilica, where a cast | | | | mammalogy, geology, anthropology, |
| of a skeleton of a rearing Barosaurus | | | | entomology, herpetology, ichthyology, |
| defending her young from an Allosaurus | | | | paleontology, ethology, ornithology, |
| is not lost in the general | | | | mineralogy, invertebrates, systematics, |
| monumentality. | | | | ecology, oceanography, conchology, |
| On October 29, 1964, the Star of India, | | | | exploration and travel, history of |
| along with several other precious gems | | | | science, museology, bibliography, and |
| including the Eagle Diamond and the de | | | | peripheral biological sciences. The |
| Long Ruby, was stolen from the museum by | | | | collection is rich in retrospective |
| several thieves. The group of burglars, | | | | materials - some going back to the 15th |
| which included Jack Murphy, gained | | | | century - that are difficult to find |
| entrance by climbing through a bathroom | | | | elsewhere. |