Natural History Museums

I was reminded by a post on James Gurney's art blog ("Museum of Comparative Zoology") that natural history museums are a great place to find bones to look at. In addition to the displays of mounted skeletons, many museums--especially the larger ones--have comparative collections that may be available for researchers. Even if they don't, it can be fun to spend an afternoon (or in the case of larger museums, several days) wandering the displays, snapping photos and making drawings.

Gurney wrote about the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and not only is it a great museum (and on my list of museums to someday visit), it also has a fantastic web site.

Last time I went to the museum closest to me--the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I neglected to take my camera, but I did have my old iPhone 3G, and I snapped a few not-very-good photos for reference.

Sharks! And a horse:

A dolphin:

A small whale:

And a really big T. rex named Sue (on loan from the Field Museum in Chicago):

Bone Art: Kate MacDowell

Thanks to a friend's StumbleUpon bookmarks, I came across the incredible ceramic sculptures of Kate MacDowell a day or two ago.

Notice the human skeleton. She has several more along the same lines, as well as other beautiful, surreal pieces. Songbirds perching inside a pair of human lungs, literal clay pigeons, and other wonderful things. Go look at her portfolio, you will be amazed.

Oddities

Last night I was finally able to catch a couple of episodes of the Discovery Channel show Oddities (I'm in Canada, and US shows, if we get them at all, usually get here much later). It's a lot like Pawn Stars or American Pickers--in fact, even the wording of some of the commentary is so similar it made me wonder if they're using the same writers--but set in an antique shop that caters to collectors of, well, oddities.

Aside from being a total blast for anyone interested in weird stuff, there was a lot for a bone collector (or other skelephile) to love. There are plenty of skulls and jarred specimens in the background, and one of the episodes I watched featured the skull collections (mostly human) of one of the employees and his rival, a chiropractor and regular customer. Said employee (my apologies--I haven't got their names stuck in my brain yet) also constructed a Beauchene (or "exploded") skull from a disarticulated skull that his rival/friend brought in.

Very cool. And both skull collectors had fantastic shelving, too! I want those glass-fronted cases for my collection. And for my books. So check it out, and have a look at the website, too, it'll give you a taste of the show, and there are some neat exclusives.

My only quibble is that the episodes are only a half hour each, so there's no real time to delve into the history and background of the objects, or the lives of the proprietors and their colourful cast of customers. Still, an excellent show, and one I might even pick up on DVD if it gets a release.

Skull image copyright Niko Silvester. Please don't use without permission, thanks.