Envisioning Yale’s New Home for Natural History
We’ve given our Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus) specimen a new look for our reopening next year. We reinstalled this well known Pleistocene mammal in a pose that brings its massive antlers, spanning nearly ten feet across, down to eye level. This charging posture will allow visitors to appreciate both the scale of its most recognizable feature and the …
The Otisville Mastodon (Mammut americanus) has returned to the Peabody after more than three years in Canada being cleaned, prepared, and remounted by the team at Research Casting International. Roughly 11,000 years old and over ten feet tall, it was unearthed on a farm near Otisville, New York, in 1872. It likely encountered some of …
The Glulam (glue-laminated timber) beams that will hover above our new Central Gallery have been installed. They’ll support the massive Archelon and Tylosaurus specimens that will be suspended above visitors’ heads when we reopen in 2024. And our new tower just needs its windows to complete that part of the north facade.
This week, the team at Research Casting International is busy working on our Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus specimens. We can’t wait to have these dinosaurs back in the Peabody’s Great Hall, and thanks to RCI’s talented staff they’re going to look better than ever. The first few photos feature blacksmith Nevin welding the Brontosaurus femur and …
This three-story, glass curtain wall on the Peabody’s addition is nearly complete. Centerbrook’s architectural design invites significantly more light into the Museum. Drive by 170 Whitney Avenue and take a look at all the new windows. Where possible, exterior glass in the Peabody has been fritted to reduced the number of bird strikes.
If you’ve driven by the Museum lately, you may have noticed something popping up. Here are a few views of the newly constructed tower on the north end of the Peabody’s addition. In two short years, we’ll be welcoming visitors and students through this entrance off of Yale’s Science Hill, directly into the brand-new Central …
Staff, curators, and project partners were invited to sign their name, leave a message in cuneiform, and/or draw a dinosaur, on the final steel beam of the Peabody addition. The crew from Turner Construction and the Ironworkers of Local 424 teamed up to secure it in place. And though we probably won’t see it again, …
The #YalePeabodyRenovation will increase the Museum’s gallery space significantly. And curators and collection managers are collaborating with hardworking members of our Exhibitions team to select the objects that will fill those spaces and determine how they should be presented. Talented conservators, designers, mount-makers, and museum assistants carefully analyze and discuss each object to determine how …
A few recent milestones and updates: The elevated bridge that connected the Peabody to the Kline Geology Lab is being demolished to create space (and light!) for the new Peabody Courtyard. Turner Construction installed the first drywall in the renovated Museum. And they’re moving a whole lot of dirt to install a new elevator that …
Turner Construction was kind enough to give us a walking tour of the site last week! They’ve completed construction on the new Peabody loading dock (photo 1) and have replaced the Great Hall dinosaurs with a field of scaffolding (photos 8 & 9). Progress is being made on the addition that will one day hold …
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