At first glance, Josh Ritter’s Artists Den performance might have taken place in his native Idaho, against a landscape of rolling green hills and grazing bison. The enormous animals behind the band were, however, stuffed: the show’s venue was actually in the North American Mammal Hall of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, in the spirit of Ritter’s new album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Sony BMG/Victor). Surrounded by grizzly bears, wolves, and oxen, hundreds of die-hard fans packed the diorama-filled hall as Ritter delivered a full-on rock concert – complete with a 5-piece horn section – that kept the room dancing all night.
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is a crown jewel of Los Angeles' museums. A national leader in exhibitions, education, and research, the Museum is L.A.'s second oldest cultural institution, opening its doors in 1913. The Museum's hallmark, the "Dueling Dinosaurs" - complete skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops posed in battle, greet you as you enter one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history. As the largest natural and historical museum in the Western United States and an active research center, NHM safeguards more than 35 million spectacular, diverse specimens and artifacts covering 4.5 billion years of history. The mission of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is to inspire wonder, discovery, and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds.
The habitat halls were an integral part of the expansion of the museum (then the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art) in the early 1920s. They provided visitors with a close-up view of the natural environments in which the animals were found. This was a particularly important aspect of the museum's mission because, even then, many of the larger mammals were becoming rare due to human encroachment into their preferred habitats.
In 1920 the Hon. R. F. McLellan, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County, organized an expedition to Alaska to secure specimens for the new museum exhibits. These and other specimens were incorporated into the first new wing of the museum, which opened on November 27, 1925 and featured North American habitats on the main floor. The new extension was proudly announced as the world’s first large museum building in which permanent display groups were lighted only and entirely by artificial light. The bison exhibit, comprising animals that had been collected from Antelope Island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake but displayed in a setting depicting the Platte River of Nebraska, was at that time the world’s largest permanent group display of a single species of mammal.
When the Hall opened, the mammal mounts utilized state-of-the-art techniques and the backgrounds were painted by well-known artists. In the ensuing years, new species have been added to the dioramas and some of the scenes have been changed. For example, the geographic setting of the bison herd is now Wyoming. However, because the depicted habitats were meticulously researched, they have continued to provide an accurate record of the environments in which the large mammals of North America may still be found.
