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Extinct Monsters to Deep Time

Extinct Monsters to Deep Time

Diana E. Marsh

(2019)

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Book Details

Abstract

Extinct Monsters to Deep Time is an ethnography that documents the growing friction between the research and outreach functions of the museum in the 21st century. Marsh describes participant observation and historical research at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as it prepared for its largest-ever exhibit renovation, Deep Time.  As a museum ethnography, the book provides a grounded perspective on the inner-workings of the world’s largest natural history museum and the social processes of communicating science to the public.


Diana E. Marsh is a research anthropologist and museum practitioner who studies how heritage institutions communicate with the public. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, where she is working to increase the accessibility of archival collections.


“This book is an excellent contribution to our understanding of the history of the Smithsonian, of the representation of paleontology, of the changing dynamics of departments and disciplines over time, and of the shift in museums from an emphasis on research to public outreach. It is also an important contribution to the genre of museum ethnography.” • Jennifer Shannon, University of Colorado Boulder

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Extinct Monsters to Deep Time iii
Copyright iv
Contents vii
Illustrations and Tables ix
Foreword xiv
Prologue xvii
Acknowledgments xxii
Abbreviations xxv
Chronology A: Lists of Relevant Leadership xxvii
Chronology B: Geologic Time Scale xxxi
Chronology C: Fossil Exhibits Timeline xxxii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 — Increase and Diffusion: Early Fossil Exhibits and a History of Institutional Culture 27
Chapter 2 — Group Dynamics: Exhibit Meetings and Expertise 56
Chapter 3 — Group Dynamics: The Roots of Team Frictions and Complementarities 108
Chapter 4 — Content Development: Debates about Interconnected Processes and Static Things 135
Chapter 5 — Content Development: The Roots of Interpretive Frictions and Complementarities 189
Chapter 6 — Diffusion and Increase: Shifts in Institutional Culture from Modernization to Now 215
Chapter 7 — Conclusion 248
Coda: The Nation’s T. rex 258
Appendix A — Consent Form 261
Appendix B — Interview Questionnaires 265
Bibliography 272
Index 291