There were two places in Chicago that I consider my favorites, and in both cases it was not just the quality of what they had, but the quantity. It did not matter how many amazing things you had seen, there was always more. One was the Art Institute, which we will get to in a few weeks, and the other was the Field Museum.
I remember thinking at one point that it was like the world; everywhere you look there is more. We would go wandering through a gallery, and it would seem like we had come a long way, and then when we came out, we had come sort of far, but not by comparison to the whole. I know the museum is finite, but technically the earth is finite too - they can both still keep you busy for a long time. And it was appropriate that I first felt this with the Field Museum, because so much of it is about the riches of Earth.
First there is Sue, right at the entrance. You can marvel at the completeness and preservation of her skeleton, but then when you go upstairs you see her real head, because it would be too heavy for the skeleton to hold up. So then you think about the role that the muscles and tendons and ligaments play, and that is pretty cool. Also, you see a case where some other parts are on display, and read that the reason they are separate is that they don't know where to put them. After all of the study, and all they have learned, there is still more to learn.
We did not get upstairs right away. We started out in the nature walk and wandered through several areas of taxidermy. Yes, we got to see the Lions of Tsavo, and no, they were not scary. Still, that was something that I had wanted to see since 1996, and there they were. Also, the presentation was interesting. I had read before that the male lions of that region, which is very hot, do not grow manes, but the video added that if you move lions from Tsavo to another region, they will. That started me imagining non-woolly mammoths, and woolly elephants, which I had not really thought of before, but was able to think of more as we watched a short film about mammoths and got to see more of their remains upstairs.
That was just a piece though. There were so many types of animals. I think where it really started to sink in was with the birds. It would be easy to focus on large mammals, which make impressive displays, but every type of bird I could think of was there, large and tiny. I know they did not have every single species there, for any Class, but everyone was well-represented, and the displays had a real feeling for the animals in them.
The only time I have seen anything comparable was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in DC. It's been a few years (2005), but I think the Field Museum was better. It reminded us a little of the La Brea Tar Pits, too, because there were also skeletons, but there was just so much of everything.
We focused on zoology and paleontology. We did not get to spend a lot of time with botany and mineralogy and anthropology. I'm not sure how long it would take to really give everything a good look, but certainly more time than we had.
I mentioned both that there was feeling in the animal displays, and that the Lions of Tsavo were not that scary, at least not in the way William Goldman described. However, one that was a little more frightening was the Man-eater of Mfuwe, downstairs.
It may be that he was bigger - he looked bigger - and that it was more recent, 1991 instead of 1898. Recent estimates have knocked down the Tsavo lions kills from 140 to 35, which is still more than six for Mfuwe, but the six are undisputed. It may not hurt that the Mfuwe lion was never a rug. However, part of it is definitely the display. When the lion killed its sixth victim, it strutted through the middle of town carrying the victim's laundry bag. So the addition of a laundry by the lion's feet reinforces that you are looking at a cocky and cold-blooded killer.
And yet, right across from that is Bushman, a large lowland gorilla who was temperamental, and could be dangerous, but was a beloved fixture at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and the father of many gorillas.
(There is an interesting story about him at http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-18/news/ct-met-bushman-visit-20130318_1_bushman-gorilla-chicago-zoo.)
Perhaps one thing that tied it all together was a series of sculptures by Malvina Hoffman. Showing different races and ethnicities, there is a real sensitivity and warmth. The humanity of the subjects shines through:
http://fieldmuseum.org/explore/malvina-hoffman
I was also able to spend some time "Traveling the Pacific", finding reminders of New Zealand and Hawaii there. All of us went through a traveling exhibit, "Creatures of Light: Nature's Bioluminescence". My sisters liked it better than I did. I felt like it was too much replication, without enough showing of the actual creatures, whether that was done through photos or videos. There is reasonable room for disagreement on how to convey that which cannot actually be contained in a museum. However, then we came out to a hogan, and Native American exhibits, including some work by a contemporary artist, Bunky Echo-Hawk, and it was a reminder that there is this present world too, all tied in with the past.
The one other thing I will mention is that I had more issues with my camera here than anyone else. I wouldn't say I actually have any orbs, there are a lot of lights and interference. It was enough to cause me to do an internet search, and some sites do call the museum one of the most haunted spots in Chicago. Well, there are a lot of dead things there, but there is a lot of life too.
I wish we could have had more time there, and I would love to go back. Recommended for anyone.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment