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The Bulletin of The Field Museum November/December 1993

1893-1993

The Field Museum

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The Bulletin of The Field Museum

In the Field

November/December 1993

we 8
1893-1993

The Field Museum A complete sched-
Exploring ule of activities,

The Earth And Its including many pro-
People grams relating to the
opening of “Africa”
SO SUSY SU,
ee’ WN SONZ ove YU LESSENS a “os

frica” — The Field Museum’s new

permanent exhibit on the cultures

and environments of the continent

— opens November 13 in the
Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Wing west of Stan-
ley Field Hall.

The $4-million exhibit represents a collab-
orative effort among African and African-
American scholars as the narrators and
designers of their own peoples’ stories. State-
of-the-art presentations and one of the finest
collections of African artifacts in the world will
help visitors come to a deeper understanding of
Africa’s diversity.

Five years in the making, the new exhibit
presents a portrait of Africa’s cultural, geo-
graphical, political, and social diversity. The
very look and feel of the continent, its past,
present, people, and their worldwide influence,
emerge in a new light.

“The ‘Africa’ exhibit is designed to open
new doors of understanding about African peo-
ples, cultures, history, and daily life,” said
Museum President Willard L. Boyd. “The
scope and diversity of this exhibit symbolize
Field Museum’s commitment to greater under-
standing of the world’s people and environments.”

Although no museum exhibit can cover all
of Africa in depth, “Africa” presents West,
Central, East, and North Africa and the African
Diaspora during various historical periods.
“Africa” provides the visitor with a broad
introduction to the African continent and peo-
ple of African descent.

More than 340 artifacts, including magnifi-
cent art objects from Benin, the Cameroon
grasslands, and Zaire appear in the context of
their use. In 15,000 square feet of space, a
series of seven true-to-life settings are designed
to produce a “you are there” feeling.

Visitors enter “Africa” by a lively and fes-
tive marketplace that is a re-creation of a
bustling street in Dakar, Senegal. We meet a
Senegalese family and join in their celebration
of Tabaski, a Muslim holy day. Continuing on
the journey, we
survey the major
art-producing
regions of the
Cameroon grass-
lands and Zaire.
We next discover
the significance of
mining and metal-
working and the
social context of
Benin bronzes
and carved ivory.
We next explore

Michael Crichton,
king of the dino-

saurs, receives the
Founders’ Council

10

Museum curators
returning from the
field report some

good news on the

Award of Merit. conservation front.

The Field rae

the savanna environment and investigate the
geology and evolutionary oddities of Africa’s
Great Rift. And eventually we meet the com-
plexity of the desert ecosystem on a caravan
trip across the Sahara to the Kano marketplace.

Finally, the African Diaspora section pro-
vides experiences that help visitors examine a
number of questions, including how and why
slavery happened.

In the Americas, we contemplate the adap-
tations and innovations brought to our contem-
porary world by descendants of those slaves,
and learn the various ways by which they
maintained their ethnic identity and pride with-
in a multicultural society.

The best contemporary scholarship and
extensive community involvement helped to
make this exhibit extraordinary. The Museum
held public forums to enlist community partici-
pation in the content and scope of the exhibit,

John Weinstein / A112460.1BW

DALAI LAMA VISITS
THE FIELD MUSEUM

The Dalai Lama, in Chicago to attend the
Parliament of the World’s Religions, dedi-

cates the Museum’s refurbished Tibet exhibit,
while monks from his Tibetan monastery cre-

ate a sand mandala to the healing Buddhas.

Story, Page 11

as well as scholarly symposia on several topics
treated in the exhibit.

In support of its efforts to create new
approaches to exhibit development, the
Field Museum was awarded a $1 mil-
lion grant from the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Fund for Cultural Innovation, the first
institution in Chicago to receive a
grant under the newly established fund.

SPONSORS OF ‘AFRICA’ EXHIBIT ©
jhe lead corporate sponsor for the “Africa” exhibit is the Sara Lee Foundation, which
makes contributions on behalf of Sara Lee Corporation. In addition, Sara Lee Corpora-

tion will sponsor a series of celebrations related to the “Africa” opening, including the
Women’s Board’s Centennial Ball on November 5. As part of the evening’s festivities, the sec-

ond segment of the spectacular “Images in Motion”

series, highlighting the cultures and the

environments of the African continent, also will be underwritten by Sara Lee Corporation.
In support of its efforts to create new appproaches to exhibit development, the Field Muse-

um this year was awarded a $1 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, Fund for Cultural Innovation. The Rockefeller Foundation provided grants that
funded the earliest planning, community forums, other outreach programs and the “Africa”
Project School Program. The Joyce Foundation helped the Museum to secure the best contem-
porary scholarship and extensive community involvement, and has provided for a series of spe-
cial programs and resources for educators and the general public.

A major award from the National Endowment for the Humanities funded the anthropology
and history sections of the exhibit, which includes Contemporary Senegal, Cameroon, Benin,

_ Metallurgy, Caravan Across the Sahara, and the African Diaspora.

Other patrons and in-kind contributors include The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago

Park District, General Electric Foundation, General Mills Foundation, Illinois Humanities
Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, Savings of
_ America, Woods Charitable Fund, Inc., and many other corporations and individuals.

Above, copper alloy
sculpture in honor of
the Queen Mother,
the highest ranking
woman in Benin
society. Center, “Car
Rapide,” reverse
glass painting by
Mor Gueye. Bottom
left, “the door of no
return” in the
House of Slaves,
Goree Island, Sene-
gal. On the cover:
BaKongo nail fetish.
Photo A112463.1BW
by John Weinstein

‘AFRICA’:

A CHANGING CONTINENT, A CHANGING MUSEUM

By Willard L. Boyd
President, The Field Museum

n November 13, the Field Museum

opens the first of its two Centennial

exhibits. It is about cultural and

environmental change in Africa and
the impact of that change on the rest of the
world, particularly on the citizens of Chicago.
The exhibit is designed to open new doors of
understanding about African peoples, cultures,
history, and daily life.

The scope and diversity of the exhibit also
tells us something about change at the Field
Museum as it enters its second century with a
renewed commitment to greater understanding
of the world’s people and environments.

“Africa,” located in the Daniel F, and Ada
L. Rice Wing west of Stanley Field Hall, takes
an interdisciplinary approach to change. It
examines the impact of nature on culture and
the impact of culture on nature, focusing on the

Like the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di,
You could try to take it with you.

But why not do something that
will provide for the Museum’s
second century of service?

For more information about life income and estate gifts,

please call or write:

Melinda Pruett-Jones

Director of Major Gifts and Estate Planning

The Field Museum

Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496

(312) 332-8868

In the Field

November/December 1993
Vol. 64, No.6

Editor:
Ron Dorfman

Art Director:
Shi Yung

Editorial Assistant:
Steven Weingartner

In the Field (ISSN #1051-4546) is published bimonthly by The Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore
Drive, Chicago IL 60605-2496. Copyright © 1993 The Field Museum. Subscriptions $6.00 annually, $3.00
for schools. Museum membership Includes /n the Field subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are
their own and do not necessarily reflect policy of The Field Museum. Museum phone (312) 922-9410. Noti-
fication of address change should include address label and should be sent to Membership Department.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to In the Field, The Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr.,
Chicago, !L 60605-2496. Second class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois.

November/December 1993 2?

The Field Museum

The Earth And Its

interconnectedness of geological, biological,
and cultural change. Cultural change is the
focus of exhibit segments devoted to communi-
ty and family life, art and society, and com-
merce. Other segments introduce the differing
physical environments of the Great Rift, the
savanna, and the Sahara Desert, and the impact
of those changing environments on flora, fauna
and people.

The exhibit is also about the enormous
impact of Africans in the world, especially in
the Americas. Today more than 100 million
people of African descent live outside the con-
tinent of Africa. The account of their struggle
and their worldwide cultural impact is present-
ed in a section on the African diaspora in the
Western Hemisphere. “Africa” concludes with
a resource center and a video presentation
about the important roles of Africans and
African Americans today in Chicago and
throughout the Americas and the world.

“Africa” also continues the Museum’s
move toward interdisciplinary presentation.
Historically our exhibits were divided into sep-
arate halls of Anthropology, Botany, Geology,
and Zoology. In the Pacific exhibits, in “Mes-
sages from the Wilderness,” and now in
“Africa,” these disciplines are brought together.
Moreover, “Africa” represents a major stride in
the Museum’s effort to work closely with the
people whose cultures and environments are
represented in our collections and exhibits. Its
developers consulted extensively with Chica-
go’s diverse communities and resource institu-
tions and with scholars and consultants from
the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and
Africa. “Africa” advances the integration of
new and old exhibit techniques. Visitors will
not only view great art from several African
cultures, but will encounter numerous educa-
tional aids designed to engage them actively in
learning about Africa.

The entire four-year process of exhibit
development has been documented by WTTW-
TV for a PBS special, “Africa: A View from
the Field,” that will be broadcast in the Chicago
area November 17 at 8 p.m. (Check local
schedules for dates and times.)

Supplementing the exhibit is a carefully
planned array of programs by our Department
of Education. These include the training of
more than 100 volunteer exhibit interpreters
who are attending day-long sessions once a
week for ten weeks in preparation for their
work with the exhibit. The Harris Loan Center
has organized experience boxes covering trade
in Africa, metallurgy, the art of Cameroon, and
African music and its influence in the Ameri-

1893-1993

Exploring

People

cas. Training sessions are being held for ele-
mentary and high school teachers to demon-
strate how they can use the “Africa” exhibit
and materials in their curricula. The “Africa”
resource center will provide topical information
and direct visitors to other institutions where
they can find significant exhibits, programs,
and information.

“Africa” and its related programs have
been financed by both private and public funds.
The Rockefeller Foundation provided the initial
planning grant and an additional contribution
for community initiatives. The major corporate
sponsor is the Sara Lee Foundation. The John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s
Fund for Cultural Innovation provided $1 mil-
lion grant to support the unique development
process involved in the “Africa” project. A
Joyce Foundation grant promoted extensive
community involvement by underwriting a
series of special programs and resources for
educators and the general public. Other contrib-
utors include the Chicago Community Trust,
the General Electric Foundation, the General
Mills Foundation, Savings of America, the
Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, and the
Woods Charitable Trust.

Major public support has come from the
Chicago Park District, the National Endow-
ment for the Humanities, the National Science
Foundation, and the Illinois Humanities Coun-
cil. Many individuals and family foundations
have also contributed generously to the exhibit,
including the William C. Bannerman Founda-
tion; Richard Colburn and Robin Lucas / the
Negaunee Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Lester
McKeever; and Ruth 8S. and Nellie R. Stickle.
My wife, Susan, and I made an early donation.

The exhibit will be introduced to Chicago
with a wonderful “Images In Motion” show on
the Museum’s north facade running from
November 5 — 18, from dusk until 9 p.m. The
presentation runs in a continuous cycle and will
feature major images from the exhibit. This
second of four “Images In Motion” programs is
sponsored by Sara Lee Corporation.

“Africa” is an extraordinary exhibit. It was
conceived and executed by a talented staff in
cooperation with many people throughout the
city, the country, and Africa. It is a concrete
example of the Museum’s commitment to
enhancing cultural understanding and change,
and reflects the focus which the entire Museum
will take in the years ahead through our Center
for Cultural Understanding and Change.

HUNGRY SNAKES ARE
THE LEAST OF THEIR PROBLEMS

Rosert F. Incer, the MacArthur Curator of
Amphibians and Reptiles, recently returned to
Chicago from Sabah, Malaysia, where he com-
pleted a two-year project to monitor frog and
tadpole populations in two national parks. The
purpose of the study, which was supported by
the MacArthur Foundation, was to estimate
population size and determine the extent to
which individuals move around and whether
breeding activity is constant throughout the
year. Inger monitored tadpole populations by
capturing, identifying, and releasing tadpoles at
50 stations. Adult frogs were captured, marked,
and released. The marking was done by inject-
ing the frogs with passive transponders that
bore a unique 10-place code that could be read
with a hand-held wand. At present, about 1,000
transponder-fitted frogs are hopping around
Sabah. If current life span estimates for several
of the large species are correct, marked frogs
will remain “readable” for some time — bar-
ring encounters with hungry snakes, of course.
The information Inger has collected so far will
help to establish baseline data on frog popula-
tion sizes in an essentially pristine area. This
data may then be compared with population
sizes in developed areas, and thus be used in
efforts to curb the worldwide decline of
amphibian populations.

€

The State University of New York Press has
published two volumes of papers from the
Museum’s 1989 and 1990 Spring Systematics
Symposia edited by MatrHew H. NiteEckt, cura-
tor of fossil invertebrates, and Doris V.
NIrEcki, associate in the Department of Geolo-
gy. Evolutionary Ethics discusses the “moral
corollaries of the theory of evolution” involved
in such interpretations as Social Darwinism
and sociobiology. History and Evolution
explores the slippery distinction between the
narratives that result from consideration of
“Caesar crossing the Rubicon or a trilobite
crawling across the bed of a Paleozoic sea.”

€

The Department of Botany’s WILLIAM BurcGeEr,
MicHAEL DiLLon, and GreGorY MUELLER
attended a symposium entitled “Neotropical
Montane Forests: Biodiversity and Conserva-
tion” at the New York Botanical Garden. The
symposium was attended by more than 120
participants from Latin America, Europe, and
the United States. The three Field Museum
botanists delivered papers at the symposium,
which provided an excellent opportunity for

the discussion of issues and the exchange of
ideas on the topics of biodiversity loss and con-
servation in Latin American tropical forests.

€

IGNaAcIo CASANOVA, interim curator of meteorit-
ics in the Department of Geology, presented
two papers at the 56th Annual Meeting of the
Meteoritical Society in Vail, Colorado. The
Society was founded at the Field Museum 60
years ago (August 1933), with geology curator
Oliver Farrington named as its first honorary
president. Just prior to his departure for Vail,
Casanova gave a public lecture at the Adler
Planetarium entitled “From Stardust to Planets:
Meteorites and the Early Solar System,” which
was attended by more than 100 people. He sur-
veyed the latest results of meteorite research
and introduced the two courses on meteoritics
he will be teaching this fall (one at Adler and
another at The Field Museum).

=

Peter Crane, the MacArthur Curator of Fossil
Plants, is the 1993 recipient of the Schuchert
Award, presented annually to an outstanding
paleontologist under zy
the age of 40. Previous
recipients include
David M. Raup, the
Sewell L. Avery Dis-
tinguished Service Pro-
fessor of Geophysical
Sciences at the Univer-
sity of Chicago (and
former dean of science
at the Museum), and Stephen J. Gould, the writ-
er (The Panda’s Thumb, Bully for Brontosaurus,
etc.) and Harvard University paleontologist.

€

MicuakL DiLLon, curator of vascular plants,
was among some 40 participants from the Unit-
ed States, Canada, and Australia in a computer-
ization workshop at the University of
California at Berkeley that discussed sMAScH
(the Specimen Management System for Cali-
fornia Herbaria). SMAScH was developed by the
Museum Informatics Project in collaboration
with the Advanced Technology Planning
Group at U.C.—Berkeley. The conference
focused chiefly on relational data models for
botanical collections, and their implementation
on a UNIX-based network platform. Other top-
ics discussed at the conference included the
development of authority files for nomenclatu-
tal, geographic, and bibliographic information;

imaging and bar-coding; mapping tools; and
data-sharing and intellectual-property issues.

€

Steve GoopMAN and WILLIAM STANLEY (both of
Zoology) were in Tanzania for two months this
summer to study the effects of forest fragmen-
tation on small mammals. While there they
also started a new project on the biogeography
of small mammals in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc
Mountains — a project that will focus on the
distribution of mountain-dwelling animals in
some of the oldest and most biologically
diverse regions of Africa.

€

Grecory MUELLER has been promoted to asso-
ciate curator of mycology in the Department of
Botany. He and ELizABeTH PINE, a summer
intern from the Illinois Math and Science
Academy (who won the 1993 Westinghouse
Science Talent Search for her previous work
with Mueller) recently spent five weeks in
Costa Rica collecting fungi in the oak forests
of that nation. Mueller also worked on devel-
oping the local infrastructure required for
future studies in this area with Roy Halling of
the New York Botanical Garden, Jullieta Carran-
za of the University of Costa Rica, and Luis D.
Gomez of the Las Cruces Biological Station.

€

The Museum’s Center for Evolutionary and
Environmental Biology (CEEB) has promoted
RupIGER BieLer to associate curator in the
Department of Zoology. Bieler’s work on the
evolutionary biology of mollusks, and especial-
ly of marine snails, has earned him worldwide
recognition.

COLLECTIONS GROUP HAS VARIED CALENDAR

his has been an eclectic year of pro-
grams and activities for the Collections
Committee, the Museum’s newest spe-
cial interest donor group. The Committee was
formed to increase awareness of the Museum’s
ethnographic collections and to enhance collec-
tors’ knowledge. Members exchange ideas and
information on ethnographic collections and
collecting during educational programs and
activities presented throughout the year.

Under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs.
James J. Glasser, this group of Chicago area
collectors has seen a variety of informative
programs that suit members’ interests. The year
began with a presentation by a visiting scholar,
Dr. Yuri Berezkin, on “Peoples and Prehistoric
Cultures of Central Asia.” In May, associate
conservator Christine Del Re demonstrated
techniques for properly caring for collections.

At mid-year members enjoyed a gala din-
ner/preview of “Masters of the Arctic: Art in

the Service of the Earth,” at which they talked
with curators about the traveling exhibit of
contemporary masterworks of indigenous peo-
ple of the Arctic Circumpolar region.

In a departure from the traditional lecture
format, the Collections Committee introduced
a series of in-depth, behind-the-scenes tours of
the Museum’s collections. Dr. Bennet Bronson,
chairman, Department of Anthropology and
curator of Asian archaeology and ethnology,
led the first eye-opening tour into the Asian
Textile storerooms.

Most recently, Committee members visit-
ed the Winnetka home of fellow member Mrs.
James W. Alsdorf, whose private collection
includes objects dating from 7000 B.c. to recent
times. Members were inspired by the collec-
tion’s depth and entertained by Mrs. Alsdorf’s
anecdotes and lively discussions about various
objects.

The Collections Committee wraps up the

year with a preview of the Museum’s newest
exhibit, “Africa.” For details, see the calendar
listing on page 6. To join the Collections Com-
mittee, send a check for $50 to The Field
Museum c/o The Collections Committee; or
call Julie Sass at (312) 322-8874.

3 November/December 1993

William Simpson
(left), chief prepara-
tor and collections
manager of fossil ver-
tebrates, and Pablo
Puerta, a paleonto-
logical technician
from the Museo Pale-
ontologico Egidio
Feruglio in Trelew,
Chubut Province,
Argentina, work ona
cast of Field Muse-
um’s Astrapotherium
specimen that will be
shipped to Trelew for
a new exhibit on
evolution and Pata-
gonian mammals.
The skeleton of the
large Cenozoic-era
beast was discovered
in Argentina in the
1920s by Field Muse-
um paleontologist
Elmer Riggs. It is the
only specimen of this
species in the world.
The original fossil
will be part of the
Field Museum’s
exhibit on evolution
that will open in
November 1994.

The Museo Pale-
ontoldgico has
offered Field Muse-
um casts of the skulls
of two unusual Pata-
gonian carnivorous
dinosaurs, Carnotau-
rus and Abelisaurus,
and the two institu-
tions expect to
undertake other
cooperative ventures
in the future.

James Balodimas / GN86903,19

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

Oftavio Missoni, the
featured designer of
the 28 Shop Fashion
Show on September
10 sponsored by Mar-
shall Field’s at The
Field Museum, being-
greeted by Heather
Bilandic, president of
the Museum’s
Women’s Board, and
Dan Skoda, Marshall
Field’s president.
Seven hundred fifty
guests were in atten-
dance; the event has
raised $100,000 over
the past three years
to benefit the Field
Museum.

LIBRARY
FRIENDS

any members of the Museum may be
Miss that they have access to the
250,000-volume Field Museum
Library. The Friends of Field Museum Library
are keenly aware of the Library’s importance
and have actively supported its role since 1990.

The Library, one of the largest natural-his-
tory research libraries in the world, is a vital
scientific resource. It supports the collections-
based research of the Museum staff and the
international scientific community. Supple-
menting the research holdings, the Mary W.
Runnells Rare Book Room houses spectacular
Special Collections.

The Friends ot Field Museum Library, led
by Worth Smith, appreciate and support the
acquisition and preservation programs of the
Library. Annual Friends programs reflect the
Library’s special nature and vital role within
the Museum and beyond.

Earlier this year Olivier Rieppel, curator of
fossil amphibians and reptiles, used an array of
original works and reprints to illustrate a pre-
sentation on the historical development of the
philosophy of natural history.

MEMBER PROGRAMS AT
DUSABLE, MEXICAN MUSEUMS

Field Museum members can take advantage of
reciprocal privileges at the DuSable Museum of
African American History and the Mexican
Fine Arts Center Museum.

In celebration of the opening of “Africa,”
members are invited to visit the DuSable Muse-
um free during the month of November. Present
your Field Museum member’s card at the Du-
Sable Museum entrance, 740 E. 56th Place,
Chicago. The DuSable Museum is open daily

LIBRARY
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
GIFT OF '

THE FRIENDS
OF FIELD MUSEUM LIBRARY

For an April presentation, Charles Jarvis of
the Natural History Museum (London) brought
35 herbarium sheets collected by John Clayton
(1683-1773). These specimens formed part of
the material on which Gronovius’s Flora Vir-
ginica (1739, 1743, 1762) was based. Jarvis, an
expert in the early history of botanical explo-
ration, has worked extensively with many of
the earliest botanical collections in the world,
including those of Linnaeus. His lecture was
complemented by a slide presentation on con-
temporary wildflowers by Thomas Lammers,
assistant curator of vascular plants at the Museum.

Last summer, the Friends were treated to a
special program on the history, development,
and role of the Library by Peyton Fawcett,
librarian, and Benjamin Williams, associate
librarian and librarian of special collections.

The Friends of Field Museum Library

except Thanksgiving. Call (312) 947-0060 for
information.

The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum,
1852 W. 19th Street, Chicago, invites Field
Museum members to visit the annual “Holiday
Mercado” on Friday, December 3, from 5 p.m.
to 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, December
4 and 5, from neon to 5 p.m. Hundreds of items
from Mexico will be on sale, including ceram-
ics, jewelry, toys and dolls, books, Christmas
ornaments, and much more. Selected items are
reduced 10 to 40 percent, and Field Museum
members will receive an additional 15 percent
discount on all items during these days. Present
your Field Museum membership card to receive
the discount. Call (312) 738-1503 for details.

closes this year with a program on the role of
the Library in current research programs in
Africa and in the development of the “Africa”
exhibit. To join the Friends of Field Museum
Library, send a check for $100 to The Field
Museum c/o The Friends of Field Museum
Library, or call Julie Sass at (312) 322-8874.

CENTENNIAL KICKOFF

he Field Museum celebrated its 100th
| birthday September 14 with a special
program and black-tie dinner for 500
guests. Among those attending were members
of the Board of Trustees, the Founders’ Coun-
cil, and the Women’s Board. Illinois Governor
Jim Edgar, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley,
and John Rogers, president of the Chicago Park
District, were also on hand for the event, which
marked the beginning of the Museum’s ten-
month centennial celebration.

The festivities began with cocktails in a
tent on the west terrace. Afterwards guests
adjourned to the James Simpson Theater for a
program featuring remarks by Museum Presi-
dent Willard L. Boyd and brief speeches by
Governor Edgar, Mayor Daley, and Rogers.
The program concluded with a viewing of the
centennial video, produced by Commonweatlh
Edison with the assistance of Kurtis Productions.

President Boyd began by thanking those
who had made the evening possible — particu-
larly Tiffany & Company, which underwrote
the dinner. He then introduced Governor Edgar,
noting that the Museum is playing an integral
part in the governor’s program to improve early
childhood education and family life.

Mayor Daley characterized the Museum as

“both a tribute to the past and an endowment
for the future,” and praised the first Marshall
Field and his descendants for having faithfully
watched over the Museum’s continuing devel-
opment. Rogers, who is in effect the Museum’s
landlord, said it was an “ideal tenant,” and
expressed confidence that it would “remain a
source of pride and enrichment for another hun-
dred years.”

After the video, the guests moved to Stan-
ley Field Hall for a dinner highlighted by a
giant birthday cake produced by the Sara Lee
Corporation, dancing to the music of the Stu
Hirsh Orchestra, and a Champagne toast with
libations courtesy of Moét & Chandon.

As souvenirs of the event, each guest was
given a copy of the centennial publication, The
Natural History of the Field Museum, and a
crystal paperweight by Tiffany & Company.
The only flaw in an otherwise perfect evening
was that the premiére showing of “Images in
Motion,” scheduled as the finale, was rained out.

In addition to Tiffany, Sara Lee, and Moét
& Chandon, corporations contributing to the
centennial celebration were Helene Curtis, Inc.,
sponsors of “Images in Motion,” and John
Nuveen & Co., underwriters of The Natural
History of the Field Museum.

November/December 1993 4

At the Centennial
Dinner: Christina and
Ron Gidwitz (left).
He’s a Museum
trustee and president
of Helene Curtis,
Inc., sponsor of the
first “Images in
Motion” show.
Below, Desiree and
John Rogers, presi-
dent of the Chicago
Park District.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

IMAGES OF AFRICA IN MOTION

he Field Museum will have its north

face transformed into colorful optics

again Friday, November 5, when the

second “Images in Motion” shows
visions of “Africa,” the new permanent exhibit.
Vibrant moving images from this extraordinary
exhibit will move across the exterior wall
behind the Museum’s classical columns as the
columns themselves reflect a spectacular swirl
of color. Of course, admission is free. You can
watch the show on the Museum grounds, on a
boat in Lake Michigan, on a blanket in Grant
Park, or at any spot that gives you an unob-
structed view of the north facade.

“Images in Motion II’ is being underwrit-
ten by Sara Lee Corporation. The specially
designed, mega-image projection and picture
animation are produced by Technique Mirage,
Inc., of Atlanta.

“Images in Motion II — Africa” will run
November 5 - 18 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.,
about four hours each night, for 14 nights. The

presentation, which is 10 minutes in length,
runs in a continuous cycle.

Images of ceremonial artifacts including
ritual masks, Cameroon bead work, Nigerian
bronzes, weaponry and wood carvings will
offer a glimpse of “Africa,” a dynamic exhibit

scapes from Saharan scenes to modern city life
also will appear on the building’s exterior.
“Africa,” an exhibit that encompasses the
African continent as well as the diaspora of
people of African descent, opens to the public
Saturday, November 13.

that took five years to complete. African land-

andr

THE SMART WAY TO HAVE FUN.

The Women’s Board of The Fiel6 Museum

,,cordially invites you and your family to a

ea Celebration

4

Featuring: Activities:
The Stu Hirsh Orchestra?’ * For Everyone Ages S and Under
The Jesse White Tumblers
A Special Arrival by Santa Claus Peruvian Tops Animal Stamps
Dino the Dinosaur Hanukkah Dreidls Bean Bag Toss
Mr. Imagination Egyptian Hieroglyphics Dinosaur Puppets
Choir of St. Gregory Episcopal School Mexican Paper Flowers Storytelling
A Potpourri of Entertaining and Participatory Mr. Imagination Face Painters

Activities for Children of All Ages Pawnee Earth Lodge Place for Wonder
An Assortment of Holiday Tea Refreshments Museum Scavenger Hunt

Origami Ages G6 to 12
Reservations are limited and will be accepted in the order received. African Dance
Party attire is encouraged. Japanese Kites African Dolls
No early admission to party. Rice Wildlife Research Station Mexican Tin Animals
No tickets will be sold at the door. God’s Eyes
Paper Pterodactyl

For further information, ,
please call the Women’s Board Office, (312) 322-8870. Photos with Santa

R.S.V.P.
Family Holiday Tea Celebration
at The FielO Musum
Wednesday, December 1, 19945

Number of Tickets
Adult Members at $10 each

Adult Non-members at $15 each

Children’s tickets at $5 each
(age 13 and under)

Total
Name

Enclosed is my check for $

Address Please make check payable to The Field Museum.

City, State, Zip

Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for tickets, and mail with this coupon to:
Holiday Tea Celebration, Field Museum Women’s Board, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore
Drive, Chicago, IL 60605.

Phone

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER EVENTS

11/14 cos,

Humanities Festival

Humanities Festival IV: From Communica-
tion to Understanding, a series of programs
presented by the Illinois Humanities Coun-
cil focusing on African and African-Ameri-
can culture, 1-4 p.m. Featured are
performances by Malian storytellers, a panel
discusssion headed by University of Chica-
go history professor Ralph Austen, and
dramatizations of the works of Nobel laure-
ate author Naguib Mahfouz by the Court
Theater Repertoire Company. Tickets for
each program cost $3 and are available
through the Orchestra Hall Box Office. For
information, call 312/435-6666.

11/20 soccis

Symposium
& Performance

“Being African: What Does it Mean?” is a
one-day series of lectures and panel discus-
sions ; afterwards, L‘Unite Culturelle Inter-
nationale will dance, sing, and share
customs of the people of Senegal, Gambia,
and Guinea. See program on opposite page.

11/21 cis,

Members’ Lecture

"Roses are Red, Violets are Blue. . . But
Why?” is the title of a lecture presented by
Dr. Thomas Lammers, assistant curator of
vascular plants, at 1:30 p.m. in Lecture
Hall 1. Dr. Lammers will discuss flowers
and their ecological importance. Admission
is $3 for members, $5 for guests. Tickets
will go on sale at 1 p.m. For information,
call 312/922-9410, ext. 453.

rae

nets ollections
Cc ommittee

—

* The Field Museum *

11/9 sin

_ Library Program

Friends of Field Museum Library hosts a
program demonstrating why the library is a
valuable resource for current research pro-
grams in Africa and for development of the
“Africa” exhibit. The program will feature a
lecture, slide presentation, and tour of the
exhibit. Refreshments will be served at 5:30
p.m.; the lecture will begin at 6 p.m. Call
Julie Sass at 312/322-8874 to register.

11/10 &11

Wednesday and Thursday
Members’ Preview

Members and their families
are invited to a preview
party for “Africa,” 3-8 p.m.
Wednesday, 5-8 p.m.
Thursday. Members will be
able to meet Museum staff;
the Museum Store, Africa
Shop, and Picnic in the
Field will be open. A cash
bar will serve beverages.
For information, call
312/922-9410, ext. 453.

Collections Committee members can take
an in-depth look at the enthnographic col-
*~ lections featured in the “Africa” exhibit, and
talk with exhibit developers and conserva-
tors. Refreshments will be served at 5:30

Sass at 312/322-8874 for program and

il id-all performances membership information.

are free with regular Museum admission.

Thanksgiving Day
Museum is closed.

p.m.; the program begins at 6 p.m. Call Julie

11/25.

11/26 & 27

African Festival & Market

“African Presence in Chicago” is a two-day
festival of African and Afro-Caribbean cul-
tures. Featured are music and dance perfor-
mances, an ethnic market, and a fashion
show of ethnic costumes. The festival will
be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is free
with regular Museum admission. Call
312/922-9410, ext. 288, for information.

T 2 ; T Thursday

Family Holiday Tea

The annual celebration of the winter holi-
day season, presented by the Field Museum
Women’s Board as a gift to the children of
Chicago. For tickets, mail in the reservation
form on the previous page.

12/16 suns

‘Wine Tasting

Sample a variety of champagnes and sparkling
wines of the world at “Sparkling Celebration
at the Field Museum,” 6-8 p.m. Wine expert
Mary Ross will be on hand to talk about the
wines. Light hors d’oeuvres will also\be
served. The Museum Store and Africa Shop
will be open, and members will receive a 20
percent discount on all purchases. Tickets are
required; reservations must be received by
December 10. Admission is $30 for members,
$35 for guests; all participants must be at least
21 years of age. Call 312/922-9410, ext. 453.

TAP 2B mas

Christmas Day
Museum is closed.

A

Brachiosaurus is not the only oversized
creature in the Museum. Herewith a holiday
festival of gigantic proportions. See detailed
schedule on the Visitor Programs page.

BEING AFRICAN:

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Symposium and Special Performance
Saturday, November 20

“Being African: What Does It Mean?” is a
one-day series of lectures from 8:30 a.m. to 3
p.m. African and African-American scholars
from a variety of disciplines will discuss
African heritage and the significance of being
African. Dr. Deborah Mack, “Africa” exhibit
director and senior developer, will give the
opening remarks; exhibit developer Dr. Musi-
fiky Mwanasali will be the symposium modera-
tor. There will be question-and-answer periods
before lunch and at the end of the day. The
symposium costs $7 for adults ($5 for mem-
bers, students, and seniors).

In a special performance following the
symposium, L'Unite Culturelle Internationale, a
Senegalese ensemble, will dance, sing, and
share the customs of the people of Senegal,
Gambia, and Guinea between 3:15 and 4:15
p.m. Stilt walkers, musicians, and griots (oral
historians) will be among the performers. The
performance costs $5 ($3 for members, stu-
dents, and seniors). A reception will follow in
the Rice Center. Refreshments from African
countries will be served with a cash bar.

Admission for both the symposium and the
performance is $10 for adults ($6 for members,
students, and seniors). For more information,
call 312/322-8854. Symposium speakers are:

Maxwell Owusu, Ph.D., professor of anthropol-
ogy at the University of Michigan. Dr. Owusu,
a native of Ghana, gives the keynote talk on
African identity in societies where vibrant,
flourishing ancestral customs have been influ-
enced for hundreds of years by Arabs, Euro-
peans, Indians, and Chinese.

be acy as Skull-$1,000
4g Re

Neck Vertebrae-$400

Bone >

Back Vertebrae-$250

Pi
ii.—<— Hand-$10
$50 1 Diy eS) Foot-§10—3 $

| FAMILY WORKSHOP: KWANZAA CELEBRATION

Saturday, November 6, 1 p.m. — 3 p.m.
Adults with children grades 2-6

Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday celebrated from December |

26 to January 1 that celebrates unity, identity, and purpose in fami-
lies and communities. In this workshop, you’ll make your own |
Kwanzaa decorations from simple materials. Cost is $9 per partici-
pant ($7 per member participant). Call 312/322-8854.

Obioma Nnaemeka, Ph.D., professor of French
and women’s studies at Indiana University,
Indianapolis. “Understanding the Survival of
African Women in a Post-Colonial World.”
Women’s strategies for dealing with cultural
change as members of local and global commu-
nities.

Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Ph.D., professor of his-
tory, Loyola University. “Half the Sky: Women
in the African-American Community.” Preserv-
ing and transmitting culture while struggling
against oppression.

Lansine Kaba, Ph.D., professor of African
American studies, University of Illinois-
Chicago. “Pan-Africanism: Is There an African
Culture?” Seemingly disparate societies —
Yoruba, Zulu, Tuareg, and many others — do
share an underlying unity of African-ness.

Ibrahim Sundiata, Ph.D., professor of African
American studies, Brandeis University. “Speak-
ing in Our Tongues: African American Cul-
ture.” How Africans influenced peoples of the
Americas in a variety of ways that were rooted
in their ancestral homelands and contributed to
the making of the American continents.

LAST CHANCE!

OWN A

BONE

(THE GIFT IDEA
WHOSE TIME

HAS COME)

Rib-$100

Make your holiday gift one that will last [almost] forever:
a bone of Brachiosaurus

Your friends and family will be amazed and delighted to find their names among the sponsors of
the world’s largest mounted dinosaur. Choose from the scapula, a femur, a tail vertebrae, or the skull (which housed a
brain smaller than a human fist). A great gift for dinosaur enthusiasts that will keep on giving for generations!

The Field Museum will send you a personalized certificate for each gift recipient,
along with a receipt for your tax-deductible contribution. Names of the sponsors will appear on
the permanent donor plaque for the Brachiosaurus exhibit, to be installed January 1994.
For more information, call the Field Museum Development Office at (312) 922-9410, ext. 639

ee hehe ean Sonate ces eeasssceecscsad LEUIBEAN DSN Dice reac eee eee a

ad Yes, I'd like to “Buy a Bone” to build the Brachiosaurus: ae

Name (as you would like it to appear on the donor plaque and personalized certificate) Bone |

Your name

Your address & city/state/ZIP.

(To list more sponsor names, please attach a separate sheet of paper)

Phone No. Total $

Remember, the Museum will send the certificates and receipt to you. Personal checks are accepted_ Only one check needed when sponsoring more than one bone.
Please make checks payable to THE FIELD MUSEUM. Mail to:Development Office, The Field Museum* Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605

Gift of Membershi
Is Now Worth an
Extra Quarter

Buy a new or renewal membership for a friend and

receive three extra months free! Fifteen months of

membership for the same low price as twelve.

A Field Museum membership guarantees members
an invitation to the parties in June 1994, before the
public opening, to preview the Museum’s Centennial
Festival exhibit featuring dinosaurs.

Complete the form below and drop it in the mail,
or call the Membership Department at (312) 922-9410,
ext. 453.

(Offer valid through June 30, 1994, for new and
renewing individual, family, senior, and student mem-
berships only.)

Free admission

Free coat checking and strollers

Invitation to Members’ Night

Exhibit preview parties

Free subscription to In the Field

13-month wall calendar featuring exhibit
photographs

Reduced prices on selected magazines

10% discount at all Museum stores

Use of our 250,000-volume library

Discount on classes, field trips, and seminars
for adults and children

Members-only tour program

Opportunity to attend the annual
children’s Holiday Tea

Children’s “dinosaur” birthday card

10% discount at Picnic in the Field

VV VV VVYVVY VVYVVYY

GIFT APPLICATION FOR
Name

Address

‘City

Sta ctnemes 27:tp
Home phone

Business phone

GIFT FROM
Name
Address

City
tate a AID

Home phone

Business phone

SEND GIFT CARD TO

@ jogs (Drecpienr

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES
IS months 27 months

C) Individual — ont Year $35 /-ew® years $65

IS months 27 months
C) Family — ent year $45 /-ewOvyears $85

(Includes two adults, children and grand-
children 18 and under,) onthe

@) Student/Senior — ome year $25
(Individual only. Copy of I.D. required.)

C) Field Contributor — $100 - $249
C) Field Adventurer — $250 - $499
C) Field Naturalist — $500 - $999

C) Field Explorer - $1,000 - $1,499

All the benefits of a family membership

— and more
C) Founders’ Council — $1,560

Send form to: Membership Department, the
Field Museum, Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr.,
Chicago, IL 60605. Or charge your gift member-
ship by phone: (312) 922-9410, ext. 453

7 November/December 1993

VISITOR PROGRAMS

Phil Cochran, Nov. 13

Saturday, November 6

10am & 12 noon Celebrating our
Centennial Tour Take an exciting
look at the Field Museum's fascinat-
ing 100 year history, from our
beginnings with objects from the
World’s Columbian Exposition of
1893, to The Field Museum's
dynamic role in the world today.
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart Discover
arachnids, bugs, and other arthro-
pods during a visit to the Arthro-
Cart.

1:30pm Tibet Today and Bhutan,
Land of the Thunder Dragon A
slide presentation takes you to
Lhasa, Tibet and the small
Himalayan country of Bhutan.

Sunday, November 7

11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

1pm Celebrating Our Centennial
Tour

Saturday, November 13

“Africa” Exhibit Opening Program
9:30am Musa Mosley performs
African American Drumming
10am Ceremonial libation, raffia
cutting & opening remarks. Special
guests include Prince Aboubakar
Njiasse Njoya, Ph.D.

10:30am Chicago Children's Choir
in a program of African & African
American Songs

11am - 3pm Venus Blue quilt
demonstration (quilt maker fea-
tured in the “Africa” exhibit)

11:15 Spirits of the Ancestors Afro-
Caribbean Stilt Walkers

12noon Victor Clottey and Atiba
Dances of West Africa

12:45pm Phil Cochran African
influenced Jazz Ensemble

1:30pm Ndikho Xaba Contempo-
rary and traditional music of South
Africa

2:15 pm Dede Sampio Afro-Brazil-
ian music

3:00pm Darlene Blackburn and the
Calumet High School Dance Club
accompanied by Ravanna Bey
African and African American
Dance

The “Africa” opening day program
is sponsored in part by The Joyce
Foundation.

Sunday, November 14
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Saturday, November 20

10am & 12 noon Celebrating our
Centennial Tour

11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Sunday, November 21

11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

1:30pm “Roses Are Red, Violets
Are Blue...But Why?"Lecture by Dr.
Thomas G. Lammers, Assistant
Curator, Botany. Tickets are $3
members and $5 for guests. Call the
Membership Department at
(312)922-9410, ext. 453 for tickets
& more information.

Friday, November 26

Celebration of the African Presence
in Chicago Marketplace & Festival
10am - 5pm Meet Nigerian,
Ethiopian, Liberian, Ghanaian,
Haitian, and Jamaican merchants at
the marketplace where copper and
brass jewelry, dolls, leather and
ceramic masks and many other
items will be for sale.

12noon Ndikho & Nomusa Xaba
African Echoes performance of
South African music, dance and
poetry.

1:30pm Nathaniel Morley Bahami-
an performance for children focus-
ing on our similarities

3:30pm Rafo International Combo
De Chicago Performance of con-
temporary and traditional Afro-
Caribbean music.

Program co-sponsored by The Field
Museum and the Commission on
Human Relations, Advisory Council
on African Affairs of the City of
Chicago and The Joyce Foundation.

Saturday, November 27
Celebration of the African Presence
in Chicago Marketplace & Festival
10am - 5pm Meet Nigerian,
Ethiopian, Liberian, Ghanaian,
Haitian and Jamaican merchants at
the marketplace where copper and
brass jewelry, dolls, leather and
ceramic masks and many other
items will be for sale.

1:30pm “Our Native Land in Fash-
ion” A family fashion show featur-
ing Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Belize
and Panama.

3:30pm The Ghanatta Interna-
tionale Band led by Dan Boadi Per-
formance of West African music
and dance.

Sunday, November 28
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Saturday, December 4

11am - 3pm Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Activity Discover the ancient Egyp-
tian form of picture writing as our
scribe writes your name in hiero-

glyphs.
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Sunday, December 5
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Saturday, December 11

11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

1pm Tibet Today and a Faith in
Exile A slide presentation which
takes you to Lhasa and other places
now open to tourism in Tibet.

2 - 4pm Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Activity

Sunday, December 12
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Saturday, December 18

11am - 3pm Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Activity

11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Sunday, December 19
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

Sunday, December 26
11am - 4pm Arthro-Cart

November/December 1993 $

The giant squid being removed from the Shedd A

John Weinstein / GN86932.19A

quarium for reinstallation

in the Field Museum. “Giants of the Earth” programs, December 27-31

GIANTS OF THE EARTH
DECEMBER 27-31

Giants of the Earth Stories with
storyteller Nancy Donoval.
Daily at noon

Balloon Animals by James Edge.
Daily, noon—4pm

Monday, December 27

Giants of the Earth

10am - 4pm

See giant squid & octopus models
being restored. Have your photo
taken with Brachiosaurus’s skull.
Participate in making a giant animal
mural. Meet museum curators dis-
playing giant algae, giant crystals,
the giant wandering albatross and
more.

1pm The “Big & Bad” Film Series
featuring: Mothra

Tuesday, December 28

Giants of the Earth

10am - 4pm

Have your photo taken with Bra-
chiosaurus’s skull. Compare animal
sizes to yours. Meet museum cura-
tors displaying giant coconuts, giant
clams, the giant elephant bird egg
and more.

1pm The “Big & Bad” Film Series
featuring: Them

Wednesday, December 29

Giants of the Earth

10am - 4pm

See specimens being prepared for
the research collection.Take a
close-up look at the cross section of
a redwood tree.

1pm The “Big & Bad" Film Series
featuring: Tentacles

Thursday, December 30

Giants of the Earth

10am - 4pm

Participate in a self guided journey
through the museum looking for
gigantic artifacts. Meet museum
curators displaying giant spiders,
giant prehistoric animal bones,
and more.

1pm The “Big & Bad” Film Series
featuring: Mysterious Island

Friday, December 31

Giants of the Earth

10am - 4pm

Celebrate the last day of the year by
looking at enlarged microscopic
creatures, comparing your weight
to that of a dinosaur, and adding
your special touch to an animal
mural.

1pm The “Big & Bad” Film Series
featuring: Godzilla vs. Megalon

Daniel F. & Ada L. Rice Wildlife
Research Station

Videotapes, computer programs,
educator resources, books and
activity boxes about the animal
kingdom are available.

Daily 9am-5pm

Webber Resource Center

Native Cultures of the Americas
Books, videotapes, educator
resources, tribal newspapers and
activity boxes about native peoples
of the Americas are available.
Daily 10am—4:30pm

Harris Educational Loan Center
Chicago area educators may bor-
row activity boxes and small diora-
mas from Harris Center. For more
information call: (312) 322-8853.
Open House Hours:

Tuesdays 2:30-7pm

Thursdays 2:30-5pm

Saturdays 9am—5pm

Place For Wonder

A special room of touchable objects
where you can discover daily life in
Mexico, in addition to an array of
fossils, shells, rocks, plants and live
insects.

Weekdays: 12:30-4:30pm
Weekends: 10am—4:30pm

Pawnee Earth Lodge

Walk into a traditional home of the
Pawnee Indians of the Great Plains
and learn about their daily life dur-
ing the mid-19th century. Week-
days: 1:00 pm programs

Saturdays: 10am—4:30pm; Free tick-
eted programs at 11, 12, 2 & 3.
Sundays: 10am—4:30pm

Ruatepupuke: A Maori Meeting
House

Discover the world of current Maori
people of New Zealand at the trea-
sured and sacred Maori Meeting
House.

Open daily 9am-5pm

Africa Today: Resource Center
Books, periodicals, videotapes,
educator resources, and activity
boxes to complement the new
“Africa” exhibit.

Opens November 13, 1993.

FOUNDERS’

By Steven Weingartner

he king of the dinosaurs came to the

Field Museum in August. Not Bra-

chiosaurus, or even Tyrannosaurus

rex, but Michael Crichton—the real
king of the dinosaurs.

Crichton, who came to the Museum on
August 21 to receive the Founders’ Council
Centennial Award of Merit, is the author of the
bestselling novel Jurassic Park, which in turn
is the basis for the Steven Spielberg movie of
the same name, which is well on its way to
becoming one of the biggest grossing motion
pictures of all time. The subject, of course, is
dinosaurs. Enormous, mostly ferocious, fre-
quently out-of-control dinosaurs.

Actually, Jurassic Park is about more than
just dinosaurs. Essentially it is a cautionary tale
of technology quite literally run amok. But peo-
ple went to the movie to see dinosaurs, and
thanks to the special effects wizards in Holly-
wood, it was dinosaurs they got, in spades.

Crichton received the Award of Merit in
recognition of his “bringing paleontology and
other sciences supported by the Museum to the
forefront of public attention.” Peter Crane, the
Field Museum’s MacArthur Curator of Fossil
Plants and Vice President for Evolutionary and
Environmental Biology, introduced Crichton to
a sold-out crowd in the Museum’s James Simp-
son Theater following the award luncheon. In
the course of a multi-faceted career, Crichton,
who was born and raised in Chicago, has been
many things: scientist, author of novels and
non-fiction books, screenwriter and film direc-
tor. But when he walked. on stage to thunderous
cheers and applause, it was a safe bet that
everyone present thought of him primarily as
the man who brought dinosaurs to life.

Crichton acknowledged the crowd’s warm
welcome with a gracious verbal bow to Crane
for winning the award from the Paleontological
Society as the Outstanding Young Paleontolo-
gist of the Year.

“Tt’s something I mention,” he said,
“because although the applause for me is very
nice, I am floating my whole life on the surface
of very serious work that’s done by practicing
scientists who don’t always get that kind of
attention and applause. But it is in fact their
work that I’m drawing from, and I am certainly
very grateful to them.”

Crichton then spoke about how technology
has been represented in Jurassic Park and other
films he was involved
in, either as a writer,
or director, or both.
These include The
Andromeda Strain,
WestWorld, Coma,
The Great Train Rob-
bery, Runaway, and
Looker. (Much to
Crichton’s dismay
they also include the
recently released Ris-
ing Sun. More about
that below.)

Showing clips
from his motion pic-
ture oeuvre, Crichton
demonstrated how his
movies have fre-
quently been several
steps, and sometimes
many giant strides,
ahead of their time.
The Andromeda
Strain, for instance,
made early use of an
electronic soundtrack,
closed-circuit TV,

James Balodimas / GN86900.22

AWARD TO CRICHTON

and computerized voice messages. WestWorld
featured the first computer-generated image in
the history of film, a one-minute segment that
took several weeks to create. Looker suggested
that such images would one day replace live
actors and mechanical reproductions in films,
as was indeed the case with Jurassic Park. In
the latter, the dinosaurs were often (but not
always) computer graphics—in effect, “very
detailed cartoons. ”

Runaway reflected Crichton’s interest in
“computers, robots, and smart weapons enter-
ing civilian life.” On this occasion it also pro-
vided Crichton with an opportunity to take a
swipe at his detractors, in particular Chicago-
based movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger
Ebert. In their televised review of the film,
Siskel and Ebert ridiculed a sequence in which
a tiny smart missile chased down and killed a
targeted individual. Crichton showed the
sequence, then observed that many other critics
considered it laughable “until, five years later,
we saw footage from the Gulf War which
looked exactly the same.”

Movie critics aren’t the only people who
have taken issue with Crichton’s work. A num-

ber of science writers (notably Malcolm

Browne of the New York Times ) have castigat-
ed him for the supposedly “anti-science” tenor
of his books and movies. Crichton admitted that
he is often critical of science, writing what is
properly known as dystopian science fiction,
but denies any hostility. He also rejected the
charge that his books and movies are detrimen-
tal to scientific research by virtue of their
adversarial stance.

“Criticism that Jurassic Park is anti-sci-
ence,” said Crichton, “is symptomatic of a very
serious problem the country faces now and will
face more in the future. It’s what has been
called in America postmodernist academic fas-
cism. One tenet of this really pernicious view is
that criticism in itself is somehow dangerous
and hurtful, and that people who criticize are
upsetting someone, that we’re not being sensi-
tive, and that therefore criticism ought to be
stopped. In the real world we know that criti-
cism is not dangerous, it is lack of criticism that
is dangerous.”

Crichton went on to say that it has always
been his goal to give readers an entertaining
story that also makes them think. “And it seems
to me that we live in a world with really too lit-
tle of either—too little entertainment, and much
too little thinking.”

On that note Crichton concluded his prepared
speech, and began
fielding questions
from the audience.
Asked for his opin-
ion of the film
adaptation of
Jurassic Park,
Crichton said he
was pleased with
the outcome even
though it may have
short-shrifted the
book’s intellectual
dimension. “It’s
unwise,” he assert-
ed, “for anyone to
think that a major
Hollywood motion
picture is the same
as a journal article.
It’s not. It has dif-
ferent goals. If it
arouses peoples’
interest, if it pro-
vokes them to
read—if it gets
them to go to a
museum—then in

large part ’ ve accomplished my job.”

He made no such apologia for Rising Sun,
however. Of that film he said little, merely
speculating on its potential for causing diges-
tive distress. “I’m at the age in my life,” he
explained, “where if I think a movie is maybe
going to make me want to throw up, I don’t go
and see it. So I haven’t seen Rising Sun. ”

Jurassic Park’s decidedly negative por-
trayal of science—or at least science in civilian
hands—prompted one audience member to ask
whether scientific research should be subjected
to government oversight. Citing the ineptitude
of government as an argument against federal
involvement, Crichton replied that he wished
scientists would exercise caution and self-
restraint. He said he personally knew scientists
who had done just that—who had not pursued a
risky line of research simply because it was
possible to do so. The idea that “if I don’t do it,
someone else will” is not necessarily true: “We
have many times turned away from [dangerous]
directions,” Crichton pointed out, “and it’s
important we do that in the future.”

Crichton has stayed away from Hollywood
in recent years to devote more time to writing
novels. He said he is writing a new book about
sexual harassment in a high-tech company, and
has two other projects in the works. But, he told
the audience, given the disaster that Rising Sun
turned out to be, he may soon feel obliged to
get back into directing film adaptations of his
books.

Not that he looks forward to this prospect.
“No one ever works in the movie business to
meet a better class of people,” he said by way
of explanation.

“T have this really nice life,” he said, refer-
ring to his preference for writing over film
making. “And I hate to give it up. I’m able to
do what I love most in life, and that’s to be a
researcher.”

The Founders’ Council Award of Merit is
presented annually to individuals who have
helped to further knowledge of natural history.
The Award consists of a leaded crystal Tiffany
globe and a $5,000 honorarium. Previous recip-
ients of the Award include Sir David Attenbor-
ough, zoologist and producer of natural history
documentaries, and Stephen Jay Gould, a Har-
vard University zoology professor and the cura-
tor of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of
Comparative Zoology.

Méwiers® Dovel Tuscooe a

Michael Crichton
autographs copies of
Jurassic Park after his
lecture, assisted by
Madelyn Thompson,
the Museum’s direc-
tor of corporate and
foundation giving.

Below left, Crichton
stands with Museum
President Willard L.
Boyd (right) and Pam
and Doug Walter,
co-chairs of the
Founders’ Council, in
front of Bra-
chiosaurus, a beast
that figures very
prominently in the
film version of Crich-
ton’s book,

The Field Museum Stores will offer Museum members a double d dis- /
count on all purchases from December 10 through ‘December 24.

Stop by the Main Store, Africa Shop, Egypt Store, or Children’ s
_ Store and receive 20% off a ae sEpry ee from we
/ Field Masa Stores! i

G November/December 1993

James Balodimas / GN86901.9A

FROM THE FIELD

Maps show progres-
sive shrinking of for-
est cover on Negros
Island (right) and
Mindanao (below) in
the Philippines.

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM THE FORESTS

By Ron Dorfman
Editor, In the Field

ield Museum scientists returning from

widely scattered tropical posts report

that efforts to build local infrastructure

to support conservation of biodiversity
are beginning to pay off. In Madagascar, in
Peru, and in the Philippines — which are all in
danger of severe reductions in biodiversity over
the next two decades — governments, academ-
ic institutions, and the people themselves have
acknowledged the crisis and sought ways to
deal with it.

In the Philippines, for example, the plun-
der of the Marcos years has ended and the
reform-minded administration of Fidel Ramos
has appointed Angel Alcala, a Stanford Ph.D.
well known for his work in marine fish ecolo-
gy, to be secretary of the environment and nat-
ural resources. That government department,
says Larry Heaney, associate curator of mam-
mals, had been part of the corruption during the
Marcos era, permitting illegal logging that
reduced the forest — the only native habitat in
the island nation — to a mere eight percent of
its natural cover. “Alcala has cleaned that up
and reduced legal logging as well,” Heaney
said, “and reforestation money is now actually
getting to people who plant trees instead of to
the bureaucrats.”

Even more important, according to
Heaney, is that grassroots environmental
groups have been organized and are extremely
active. “People are blocking bulldozers to pre-
vent illegal logging, running educational pro-
grams in rural schools, and organizing
university students,” he said, “There’s a spirit
of activism that just wasn’t there five years
ago. And with the cleanup in the DNR and in
the police agencies, people at least know they
won't get shot for blocking illegal logging.”

In all three countries, Field Museum scien-
tists have been
involved in efforts
to build or strength-
en conservation
biology programs at
| local universities.
* Michael Dillon,
curator of vascular
plants, has worked
closely with Peru-
vian colleagues for
many years; two of
them, Abundio
Sagastegui Alva
and Isidoro Sanchez
Vega, are Field
Museum research
associates in
botany. Sagdstegui
Alva was the principal organizer of a sympo-
sium in northern Peru last April at which some
200 academics and representatives of industries
like fisheries discussed issues of development
and biodiversity.

“These kinds of gatherings will be pivotal
for educating the public, educating each other,
networking, and interaction,” says Dillon, who
spoke at the symposium. “They may create an
atmosphere in which opportunities for young
people become apparent, so students will go
into science rather than law or whatever. One
of the principal recommendations of the sym-
posium is that they really need a curriculum
from kindergarten through university stressing
conservation and related topics. Lima [the capi-
tal] can make laws, set aside parks, and still not
be successful — the only thing that’s promising
is educating the young kids. That will make or
break the cycle of degradation.” Dillon himself

November/December 1993 10

works with village schools in the areas in
which he does research, hoping that the next
generation of farmers and shepherds will be
more attuned to ecological considerations.

In Madagascar, the Field Museum has a
formal agreement with the government to help
train indigenous Malagasy scientists. “One of
the problems there has been that decision-mak-
ers are not well informed,” says Steve Good-
man, a Museum field biologist. “But a new
generation of scientists is coming up who are
very knowledgeable.” Madagascar is an island
in the Indian Ocean that has an extraordinary
diversity of animal life, but with deforestation
the ecological toll has been high; seven of the
fourteen endemic primates, for example, are
extinct, as are many bird species. “There are
some protected areas,” Goodman says, “but
people are destroying the areas around them.
The population continues to increase, and the
socio-economic problems are the same, so
there’s no net effect. But it’s not often you see
progress to support a national infrastructure,
and that’s why this [training program] is so
important.”

The program is sponsored by the World
Wildlife Fund and is designed to give intensive
support to young Malagasy scientists “from
research idea to journal publication,” Goodman
says. “The program includes lots of field train-
ing and is limited to ten students at the master’s
level or higher. So there’s a cadre of young sci-
entists now who are excellent by any measure,
and they are also teaching at the university.”
On a grant from the Field Museum and the
World Wildlife Fund, one of those students,
Lucien Marie Aimé Rakotozafy, came to
Chicago last summer to pursue research on bird
fossils from Madagascar’s now deforested high
plateau. In previously unexamined collections
in London, Paris, and Madagascar, Rakotozafy
had found three large birds of prey, much larg-
er than any extant raptor species on the island
and all gone extinct within the past 2,000 years
of human habitation. Rakotozafy said he
expects to find more new but extinct species
after further study of museum collections and
current excavations.

In all these areas, the window of opportu-
nity for preventing catastrophic damage is per-
haps twenty years. Despite the drastic reduction
of forest cover in the Philippines, for example,
the remaining pockets of forest have enabled
most species, including a highly diverse mam-
mal fauna, to hang on. “If things go well, politi-
cally and economically,” Heaney says, “if the
Philippines can do what Taiwan and Malaysia
have already done, then yes — 90 percent of
biodiversity can be saved for the long term. But
if there’s a return to the conditions of the Mar-
cos era, within 20 years there would be at best
20 percent of natural biodiversity. The potential
is real that the Philippines could be the first
example of environmental collapse. If the last
functioning watersheds in the mountains go,
Philippine society will collapse. There'll be no
source of clean water, agriculture will decline,
electricity will become even more problematic.
Twenty million people living in upland areas
will be unable to survive. Lowland agriculture
will collapse.”

The good news, sort of, is that in recent
years people in the Philippines have had some
concrete demonstrations of why they need to
preserve the remaining forests. The forest soil
is actually an organic mat of roots, fungi, and
decaying biomass that may be several meters
deep and is capable of storing immense quanti-
ties of water. With deforestation, this soil runs
off, clogging hydroelectric dams and fouling
coral reefs. As a result, there is no electricity in
Manila for much of the day, fish have become
scarce, and during the dry season, January to
April, water is in short supply. When a typhoon
hits, deforestation makes it worse; on the island

of Leyte a few years ago, 7,000 people died in
typhoon-related floods.

“In the past few years,” Heaney says,
“people realized they could change the system.
The economy improved a bit; the middle class
has developed some confidence. People now
understand the problems caused by deforesta-
tion. In the last election, for the first time, there
was a lot of public pressure to find out who was.
responsible [for having let matters get so out of
hand], and those politicians lost. Those who won
got the message. And some of the people who
were elected were actually environmentalists.”

Dillon, in Peru, has seen two of the areas
he has been surveying as part of the Museum’s
Flora of Peru project — the highland Bosque
Montecito and the coastal desert — placed on
the government’s high-priority list for conser-
vation. “This is the window,” he says, “the last
chance we’ll have, over the next twenty years.
Abundio and Isidoro are out doing the grunt
work, gathering the data. Not everything can be
saved, and we need the data to decide what to
save.”

For Peruvian scholars like Sagastegui Alva
and SaAnchez Vega, the Field Museum is an
irreplaceable resource; both men were here for
six weeks this summer working with Dillon on
floristic inventories. Several generations of
Field Museum curators have devoted their aca-
demic careers to the flora, fauna, and people of
Peru, so the Museum’s collections and library
are key to understanding the ecological history
of the country.

The Museum’s roots in the Philippines are
not quite so deep, though a number of curators
have worked there over the years. Heaney first
went to the islands in 1981, pursuing studies in
evolutionary biogeography. Three years ago, he
obtained funding from the MacArthur Founda-
tion to do advanced training in conservation
biology for Filipino biologists who in turn train
their own students and colleagues. The pro-
gram supplies computers, lab equipment, and
field supplies for the use of Filipino researchers.

Each year the MacArthur program also
brings four Filipino scientists to Chicago for
intensive study of conservation biology at the
Field Museum and Brookfield Zoo. “These are
young faculty or people from government
offices or conservation organizations,” Heaney
says, “the cream of the crop, tremendously
bright people who’ve never seen a modern
library or research collection or a modern zoo.
They know what they want to do, they just don’t
have the resources. They go back and change the
content of the courses they’ve been teaching,
they develop new courses, they put people on
field work instead of laboratory studies. I’ve
been just amazed at how effectively they’ ve
been taking advantage of these opportunities.”

Diane Alexander White / GN86929,28

Diane Alexander White / GN86916.34

John Weinstein / GN86922.2

By Steven Weingartner

na speech welcoming the 14th Dalai

Lama to the Field Museum on September

3, anthropology department chairman

Bennet Bronson observed that the Tibetan
spiritual leader first expressed an interest in the
Museum in 1908 — seventeen years before he
was born.

Bronson was alluding to the
Tibetan Buddhist belief that every
Dalai Lama is the incarnation of ¢
his predecessor. Which is to ;
say, the present Dalai Lama is
literally one and the same
man as the previous Dalai
Lama.

During a 1908 trip to
China, the13th Dalai Lama
granted an audience to
Field Museum anthropolo-
gy curator Dr. Berthold
Laufer, who was in Asia to
purchase Tibetan books and ¥
objects for the Museum. In
the course of their meeting
the Dalai Lama questioned
Laufer at some length about the
Museum, then extended his best
wishes for the success of the pro-
jected Tibet exhibit.

The Dalai Lama (a Mongol title that
means “Ocean of Wisdom”) is the spiritual and
iemporal leader of the Tibetan people, who
practice a distinctive form of Buddhism. He
visited the Field Museum as the guest of honor
in a ceremony to rededicate the Field Muse-
um’s recently renovated Tibet exhibit. The cer-
emony coincided with the Dalai Lama’s
participation in the Parliament of the World’s
Religions, held in Chicago from August 28
through September 5.

The ceremony, which took place in Stan-
ley Field Hall before an audience of some 400
Museum guests, began with a song of blessing
performed by monks from the Dalai Lama’s
Drepung Loseling monastery in Dharmsala,
India. Introductory remarks were then made by
Daniel Gémez-Ibafiez, the Executive Director
of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s
Religions. Following brief speeches by Field
Museum president Willard Boyd and Bennet
Bronson, the Dalai
Lama spoke of the need
for world peace and the
role religions have in
working toward this
goal.

Adding emphasis,
and not a little poignan-
cy, to the Dalai Lama’s

FROM THE FIELD

message was the backdrop for his speech, an
eight-by-eleven-foot painting mounted behind
the podium. Created by Field Museum exhibit
designer Jeff Hoke, this huge illustration
depicts Potala Palace in Lhasa, the Tibetan
capital. Once the official residence of the Dalai
Lama, the palace is now occupied—as is the
rest of the country—by the Chinese, who over-
ran Tibet in a 1949 invasion. The Dalai Lama
has not seen the palace since March
1959, when he fled to India in the
wake of an abortive uprising
against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama now makes
his home in Dharmsala,
India, which is also the seat
of the Tibetan govern-
ment-in-exile. In the
years since his escape he
has worked tirelessly to
focus international atten-
tion on the plight of his
homeland and to pre-
serve the beleaguered
Tibetan culture. Mean-
while, however, the situa-
tion in Tibet has steadily
deteriorated. Under Chinese
_/ tule thousands of monasteries
were demolished, and the
» sacred objects and artifacts they
contained have been looted or
destroyed.

This destruction and the obvious thrzat it
poses to the survival of Tibetan culture was a
major factor in the Field Museum’s decision to
renovate the Tibet exhibit. The effort required
more than a year to complete and entailed con-
servation work on objects, writing new labels,
and the creation of a new display environment.
The exhibit draws on the 4,500 objects in the
Museum’s Tibet collection, which was assem-
bled by Berthold Laufer from 1908 to 1910.

Also in the collection is a letter sent by the
Dalai Lama to the Field Museum in 1961 in
recognition of the opening of the original Tibet
exhibit. This letter was just one of the many
familiar objects the Dalai Lama saw when he
toured the exhibit after concluding his speech.
Many of the secular objects in the collection —
textiles, personal accessories, cooking utensils,
and the like — were produced in eastern Tibet,
where the Dalai Lama was born and raised.

(Incidentally, the
Dalai Lama is a man of
humble origins, the son
of peasant farmers. But
his circumstances soon
changed when, at age
two, he was recognized
as the incarnation of the
13th Dalai Lama.)

Diane Alexander White / GN86914,29

Above, President
Boyd (left) wears a
silk damask khatag, a
scart of greeting,
that the Museum
gave to the Dalai
Lama, but which the
Tibetan leader later
returned as his own
sign of respect. With
them are Bennet
Bronson, curator of
Asian archaeology

and ethnology (right)
According to Bennet Bronson, who and exhibit designer
accompanied the Dalai Lama and his Jeff Hoke.

entourage on the tour, the Tibetan leader was
especially interested in these objects, and
paused frequently to study them closely and
read their Jabels. “Probably because they
reminded him of his childhood,” Bronson
explained.

Bronson reports that, overall, the Dalai
Lama was delighted with the exhibit. Like so
many Museum-goers before him, he even
made sure to give the exhibit’s temple bell a
tap with the swinging wood clapper. His one
criticism of the exhibit was an amiable one:
The copper and bronze religious figures were
“too shiny.”

In oval at left, the
Dalai Lama admires
a display of temple
accessories. Near
left, monks from the
Drepung Loseling
monastery perform
sacred music on tra-
ditional instruments;
below left, the Sen-
gyey Medlha, a man-
dala of colored sands
made in the Museum

“The Dalai Lama prefers the patina of age by the monks and
to a highly polished finish,” says Bronson. dedicated to the

The Dalai Lama left the Museum after medicine or healing
touring the exhibit, but many of those present Buddhas.

stayed on to attend a performance of sacred
temple music and masked dances by monks
from the Drepung Loseling monastery. The
monks played on a variety of traditional instru-
ments, including cymbals, bells, drums, and
twelve-foot-long trumpets. They also sang in
the multiphonic technique (intoning three
notes of a chord simultaneously) and per-
formed the “Deer Dance,” “Dance of the
Sacred Buffalo,” “Skeleton Dance, ” and
“Dance of the Rainbow Beings.”

Like the Dalai Lama, the Drepung Losel-
ing monks were in Chicago to participate in
the Parliament of the World’s Religions. How-
ever, they spent much of the week at the Field
Museum fashioning the “Sengyey Medlha,” a
sand mandala dedicated to the medicine or
healing Buddhas. Comprising sacred symbols
rendered with fine, colored sand grains, sand
mandalas are created as a meditative exercise
and are normally disposed of upon completion;
however, “Sengyey Medlha” was temporarily
preserved for public display in the Webber
Resource Center. It was scheduled to be
poured into Lake Michigan in a closing cere-
mony on October 30.

11 November/December 1993

Diane Alexander White / GN86929.22

Eleven days in the Caribbean sun, with birding,
snorkeling, spelunking, exploration of magnifi-

cent Mayan ruins, and wildlife observation in the

rain forests of Belize and Guatemala.

From Belize City, we'll sail up a narrow, winding jungle
stream to the Crooked Tree Wildlife

Sanctuary, home of howler mon-

keys, huge iguanas, and fabu-

lous birds including Jabiru

storks — the largest flying

birds in the Western

Hemisphere. A trip down the

Hummingbird Highway

brings us to Guanacaste Park,

whose giant namesake trees sige

play host to orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytes.

Meandering down the Macal River, we'll see five-
foot iguanas sunning themselves on overhanging tree
limbs. A short drive brings us to Rio Frio Cave in the
Chiquibul rain forest, site of ancient Maya rituals. In the
days that follow, we'll ferry across the Mopan River to the
ruins of Xunantunich, a Late Classic period Mayan site,
and then cross the Guatemalan border to visit Tikal
National Park, where six square miles of Mayan ruins are
under active investigation, and where abundant wildlife
flourishes in the protected rain forest.

Back in Belize, we'll fly to the small fishing village
of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, where in three days we'll
learn to snorkel and attempt the Belize Barrier Reef, sec-
ond-largest in the world, and the Hol Chan Marine
Preserve, the newest sanctuary of its kind.

Don’t miss this exciting, fun- and fact-filled tour.

The price of $2,598 per person, double occupancy, includes

round-trip air fare from Chicago via New Orleans.

wi

At Tokomaru Bay, we will have the honor of being wel-
comed onto the marae by descendants of Ruatepupuke,
Field Museum's treasured and sacred Maori meeting
house. This Maori family worked side by side with the
Museum staff for more than a year to conserve and
plan the reinstallation of the house in Chicago.
The welcoming ceremony in Tokomaru Bay will be
very special, and we'll have the choice of over-
F nighting on the marae or in a hotel. Our guide will
F be Dr. John Terrell, curator of Oceanic archaeology
and ethnology.
Elsewhere in New Zealand, we'll visit geysers and
glaciers, sheep farms and literary landmarks, museums
and mountains, churches and caves, all in the company of
knowledgeable Field Museum and local guides.
The cost is $3,750 per person, double occupancy,
including round-trip air fare from Chicago.