Website: https://carnegiemuseums.org/
The Collections: In 2010, Pittsburgh hosted the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting (for my money the best meeting SVP's ever had, if anyone out there on the Internet cares about my opinion on such things) and I had the opportunity to visit the Carnegie Museum's collections. Though especially well known for its dinosaurs (see below), the Carnegie has some top-notch fossil mammals as well, and unusually among the big eastern natural history museums is especially rich in fossil rodents.
The Exhibits: When dinosaur mania seized the US during the Gilded Age, industrialist Andrew Carnegie didn't want his adopted home left in the dust. Upon the discovery of the first giant sauropods from the American west, he directed his curators to "get one for Pittsburgh," no matter the cost. The result was the discovery of the quarry at what is now Dinosaur National Monument, one of the most visually impressive and scientifically important windows into the Jurassic world anywhere in the globe, and the excavation of several largely complete skeletons. These include the type specimen of Diplodocus, of which Carnegie had casts made and sent as gifts to international museums. One of these casts made it to London where, I am informed on good authority, it was the first fossil I ever saw and became the starting point of the career path on which I now find myself. Another important type specimen in the Carnegie is that of the most famous of all dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex. I had the pleasure of visiting the Carnegie's dinosaur hall both in its old form, when it was a true "museum of a museum," and in its modern format as one of the most impressive fossil displays out there, and I've included pictures of both in my video. The fossil mammal hall may draw fewer crowds, but has its share of gems as well, including a rare skeleton of the giant entelodont Daeodon. The Carnegie is unusual in thaht it also houses a very nice art museum, as well as some excellent anthropology exhibits. I particularly recommend the integrative-before-it-was-cool Hall of Arctic Life.
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