American Museum of Natural History, The

The. It is located in Central Park, New York City. It was founded in 1869. It is one of the greatest and most important natural history museums in the world. It ranks with the National or Smithsonian Museum, at Washington, D. C., and is excelled only by the British Museum in London. It was begun by private citizens, but is now a public institution, and free to all. The material exhibited is rich and varied, and is arranged with a view to the greatest educational value. There are large collections of shells; skeletons of now extinct or rare animals; a great variety of living mammals; birds, alive and dead; models of cliff dwellings in Colorado; pottery of the mound-builders; stone implements used by people in the so-called Stone Age, and a large collection of rocks and precious stones. See Kensington; Smithsonian; Hornaday; Meteorite