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American Museum (american + museum)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Life Sciences42%
Humanities and Social Sciences42%

Selected Abstracts

Phylogenetic patterns of enamel microstructure in dinosaur teeth

JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Sunny H. Hwang
Abstract The tooth enamel microstructure of all the dinosaur taxa that are adequately represented in the American Museum of Natural History collections were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. This study aims to determine whether or not better sampling within a major nonmammalian amniote (hereafter referred to descriptively as "reptile") clade will unearth phylogenetic patterns in enamel microstructure in addition to those dictated by tooth function. While interest in reptile enamel microstructure has increased in the past few years, intensive sampling focused on just one monophyletic reptile clade was not previously implemented. This study reveals that phylogenetic constraints play a larger role in shaping enamel microstructure in reptiles than previously thought. Within many monophyletic dinosaur clades the combination of enamel types and enamel features within a tooth,the schmelzmuster,is the same in all the taxa due to their common ancestry, and their schmelzmusters are diagnostic of their respective clades. While distantly related taxa with similar teeth and diets have similar schmelzmusters due to functional constraints, phylogenetic constraints keep those schmelzmusters distinct from one another. An interesting finding of this analysis is that the enamel complexity of a taxon does not necessarily coincide with the position of the taxon on a phylogenetic tree; more derived taxa do not necessarily have more derived enamel and more primitive taxa do not necessarily have more primitive enamel. J. Morphol. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

The new Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites at the American Museum of Natural History

METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 10 2004
Denton S. Ebel
[source]

NAGPRA AT 20: Museum Collections and Reconnections

MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Martha Graham
ABSTRACT Since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted 20 years ago, the identification and repatriation of cultural items has become essential to museum,tribe relationships. Interactions prompted by repatriation policies and laws impel tribal representatives and museums alike to take a new look at museum collections. Three examples of interactions between Indian tribes and the American Museum of Natural History that were prompted by NAGPRA demonstrate how museum practices are changing. A series of responses by tribal representatives involved in these NAGPRA cases, with specific reference to their reconnections with the material culture in museum collections and museum,tribe relationships, show the ways in which tribal members frame the issues. [source]

The Galton,Darwin,Wedgwood Pedigree of H. H. Laughlin

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010
TIM M. BERRA fls
A pedigree of the Galton,Darwin,Wedgwood families that was exhibited as a poster at the Third International Congress of Eugenics in 1932 at the American Museum of Natural History has been located in the archives of Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. This pedigree was prepared by Harry Hamilton Laughlin, Director of the Eugenics Record Office of the Carnegie Institute. The pedigree shows consanguineous marriages within the three families. A special collection of rare Darwin family photographs assembled by Leonard Darwin has also been found in the Truman State University archives. These photographs were exhibited as a poster alongside the pedigree at the 1932 Eugenics Congress. The poster of the Galton,Darwin,Wedgwood pedigree is published here, together with a tabular version providing ready access to the information contained in the pedigree. Also included are the Darwin family photographs and a biographical sketch of Laughlin. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 101, 228,241. [source]

Artistic heritage and the return of masterpieces

MUSEUM INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1-2 2009
Louis Godart
This article was written on the occasion of the exhibition Nostoi: Rediscovered Masterpieces, which was held in the Quirinale Palace. For the first time the public was able to view sixty-seven masterpieces returned to Italy by four great American museums: the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Princeton University Museum. The exhibition, formally inaugurated by the President of the Republic and the Minister for Culture on 21 December 2007, was an unprecedented success; so much so that its duration was extended. All the works shown were the result of clandestine excavations carried out on sites in Magna Graecia, Etruria, Latium, Campania and Sicily. They cover around 900 years of Italian history, from the ninth century B.C. to the second century A.D. They reveal the widespread nature of an extremely worrying phenomenon as regards the safeguarding of the country's artistic heritage. According to State Prosecutor Ferri, between 1970 and 2000 around 2,500 people were investigated for taking part in the plundering of important archaeological sites in Italy. [source]

The relationship between locomotor behavior and limb morphology in brown (Cebus apella) and weeper (Cebus olivaceus) capuchins

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 7 2007
Kristin A. Wright
Abstract This study is a comparison of locomotor behavior and postcranial form in two species of capuchin monkey, the brown capuchin (Cebus apella), and the weeper capuchin (Cebus olivaceus). Behavioral data from groups of wild C. apella and C. olivaceus in Guyana were collected during the period of December 1999 through November 2000. Postcranial variables including 40 measurements and three indices were taken from 43 adult and subadult specimens of C. apella and 14 adult and subadult specimens of C. olivaceus housed in American museums, as well as two wild-caught adult specimens of C. olivaceus from the Georgetown Zoo in Guyana. The results of this study indicate that these two capuchins exhibit similar patterns of locomotor behavior, but that there are important differences in how they move through their homerange, particularly with respect to quadrupedalism. These differences in behavior are reflected in their postcranial morphology and can be related to differences in foraging strategies. This study provides an example of the importance of using more exclusive categories of quadrupedal behaviors when comparing closely related arboreal quadrupeds, as well as an alternative explanation for some of the postcranial features of C. apella that may relate to foraging postures and foraging strategy rather than traditionally categorized patterns of locomotor behavior. Am. J. Primatol. 69:736,756. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

The New Dynamic of Blockbuster Exhibitions: The Case of Brazilian Museums

BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 1 2001
Myrian Sepúlveda dos Santos
Many European and North American museums have increasingly adapted to the new communication era. They have opened up a new cultural flux and attract millions of visitors each year. In Brazil, we have observed in recent years the acceptance of new temporary and international exhibits. What is the meaning of the new exhibiting strategies, since the most important and traditional national museums still face stagnation? Can they be considered as part of a process of democratisation and reflexivity or accused of capitulating to the consumer society? This article proposes to analyse the production, diffusion and reception of recent Brazilian exhibitions. This analysis will be carried out in relation to the hierarchy of norms, values and practices present in Brazilian society. [source]