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Film List (nos. 195-291)

Hummingbird flight technique [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1955; 1 videocassette (9 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This brief film, made by Crawford Hallock Greenewalt, AMNH trustee, is a study of hummingbird flight.
Film Collection no. 195

Indian communication [videorecording] : sign language of the North American Indian. *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1908-1913; 1 videocassette (12 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Wanamaker Historical Expeditions, 1908-1913. In 1908, 1909, and 1913, Rodman Wanamaker financed expeditions to study North American Indians.
Film Collection no. 196

Indian pottery making in the village of San Ildefonso, New Mexico [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1932; 1 videocassette (29 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film depicting the unique process of pottery making at the San Ildefonso Pueblo was made by George Clyde Fisher, curator in the AMNH Department of Education, Clark Wissler, curator-in-chief of the AMNH Department of Anthropology, and Kenneth Chapman of the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Film Collection no. 197

Jungle life in India [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1923; 1 videocassette (20 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Faunthorpe-Vernay Indian Expedition to India, Nepal and Burma, 1922-1923. This film was made by Commander George M. Dyott, a professional cinematographer, whose main purpose was to show the environment of India, Nepal, and Burma, and therefore be valuable to the hall preparators designing the dioramas for the AMNH Hall of South Asiatic Mammals.
Film Collection no. 198

Jurgens' Guatemala [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1954; 1 videocassette (50 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This unedited footage was produced to document life in the Chuchumatanes highlands of Guatemala.
Film Collection no. 199

Korea [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1912; 1 videocassette (12 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The pole and thatch dwellings, as well as fine stone Korean architecture, are seen in this film, as are cameos of the inhabitants of Seoul. This film was clearly deteriorating when it was transferred to safety-base stock. In spite of its poor quality, this is a most valuable record of Seoul in 1912.
Film Collection no. 200

Michael Lerner Collection (1939-1948): Film Collection nos. 201-205

Michael Lerner was a successful businessman who turned an early and avid interest in hunting and fishing into a mature scientific avocation. As an AMNH trustee he led expeditions to collect ethnographic objects and zoological specimens from all over the world. His greatest love, however, was the study and collection of big game fish. Lerner researched and recorded migration patterns of marlin and swordfish throughout the earth’s oceans and organized the International Game Fish Association. The Association was housed at the museum and kept track of record saltwater catches, and brought anglers from all over the world together for the purpose of promoting scientific, as well as sporting, interest in fishing.

Bali [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1939; 1 videocassette (41 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Lerner Australia-New Zealand Expedition, 1939. During a side trip to Bali, with Michael Lerner and his wife Helen, photographer James Barnes Shackelford made a film of the life and customs of the Balinese.
Film Collection no. 201

Bimini, 1948 [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1948; 1 videocassette (30 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. The Lerner Marine Laboratory, on Bimini in the Bahamas, was established in the same year this film was made, 1948, and given to the museum by Michael Lerner. The film opens with travelogue material: markets, streets, traffic policemen, adults and children, before it moves to the research center. Most of the footage in this film is devoted to the fish and other marine animals in the various collection tanks.
Film Collection no. 202

Glimpses of Australian natural history [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1939; 1 videocassette (26 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Lerner Australia-New Zealand Expedition, 1939. Michael Lerner hired professional cinematographer James Barnes Shackelford to join him on an expedition to Australia arranged for the purpose of collecting zoological specimens for a proposed Australia-New Zealand hall at the museum.
Film Collection no. 203

Oceanic conquest [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1940; 1 videocassette (41 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Oceanic Conquest is the film record of the AMNH Michael Lerner Peru-Chile Expedition of 1940. The purpose of the expedition was to continue the research Lerner had been conducting on four previous expeditions, namely, to survey and study the habits of swordfish and marlin in the earth's oceans.
Film Collection no. 204

Peru to Ecuador [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1941; 1 videocassette (18 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. The AMNH Michael Lerner Expedition to Peru and Ecuador (also known as the Big Game Fish Expedition or the Sixth Michael Lerner Expedition) in 1941 was Lerner's second trip to South America for the purpose of gathering data on game fish.
Film Collection no. 205

End: Michael Lerner Collection (1939-1948)
Film Collection nos. 201-205

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The lost art of the Tlingit of Alaska [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1957; 1 videocassette (44 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. The film was made by Oshin Agathon for the museum a few years before he made The Chisena of Mozambique, also in the collection. It records the lost art of basket weaving of the Tlingit people in southern Alaska.
Film Collection no. 206

Madagascar [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1953; 1 videocassette (65 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Davison-Willis Madagascar Expedition, 1953. The three tribes portrayed in this film, the Mahafaly, the Antandroy, and the Vezo, live on the southern and southwestern coast of Madagascar, between Tuleau and St. Dauphin.
Film Collection no. 207

Margaret Mead [videorecording] : a portrait by a friend. *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1978; 1 videocassette (28 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film was made by noted French filmmaker Jean Rouch in September 1977 when he was a guest of the American Museum of Natural History Margaret Mead Film Festival. As a tribute to Mead, Rouch lovingly imbued his film portrait with charm and humor.
Film Collection no. 208

Meandering in Africa [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1921-1922; 1 videocassette (40 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was made by Carl Akeley, museum taxidermist, inventor, naturalist, and explorer. Akeley wanted to secure gorilla specimens for the museum and undertook this expedition accompanied by several friends of his.
Film Collection no. 209

Medieval moderns [videorecording] : the peasants of Hungary
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1924; 1 videocassette (36 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The film begins with panoramic views of Hungarian farmlands and Magyar peasants hoeing their fields, then focuses on their dwellings, made of wattle-anddaub, with reeds used to make a thatched roof; one such dwelling has been whitewashed by its female owner.
Film Collection no. 210

Men of the Montaña [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1953; 1 videocassette (43 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. This film was made during the AMNH Tschopik Expedition to Peru in 1953. The film material is unedited and is discussed here by content: first the Chamas section comprised of the Shipibo and Conibo, and secondly, the Campa section.
Film Collection no. 211

Men of science [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1938; 1 videocassette (48 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film introduces the scientists, technicians, artists, and their work at the AMNH in 1938. It was made by AMNH photographer Charles H. Coles and is narrated by Charles Russell, curator of the Department of Education. Though mostly filmed at the museum, scenes from AMNH expeditions are included to show the relationship between the work-in-the-field and at the museum.
Film Collection no. 212

Meshie, child of a chimpanzee [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1932?; 1 videocassette (42 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Meshie Mungkut was born in 1929 in French Cameroun (Cameroon) in West Africa and was orphaned shortly thereafter when natives killed and ate her mother. Henry Cushier Raven, AMNH curator of human and comparative anatomy, was in French Cameroun on the Columbia University-AMNH Expedition to collect gorillas and purchased her from the natives. This film records Meshie's domestication and behavior at the Raven's home.
Film Collection no. 213

Modern taxidermy [videorecording] : mounting the Indian elephant. *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926-1927; 1 videocassette (15 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film opens with footage taken from Jungle Life in India, showing the Indian elephant in his natural habitat and Arthur Stannard Vernay, John Champion Faunthorpe, and Louis Jonas, all members of the Faunthorpe-Vernay Indian Expedition, marching through the jungle with their native staff.
Film Collection no. 214

William J. Morden Collection (1922-1956): Film Collection nos. 215-228

William James Morden (1886-1958) a Director of the Explorers Club, was an AMNH honorary fellow and field associate in mammology. The son of a Chicago industrialist, Morden attended Sheffield Scientific school and entered the family business, manufacturing railroad equipment. Morden led his first expedition, to the Yukon Territory in search of white sheep, in 1921. Six major expeditions followed, four of them under AMNH auspices. The first sponsored by the museum, to Asia in 1926, was undertaken with James Lippitt Clark, in search of Marco Polo’s sheep (Ovis poli). His later expeditions were all co-led by his second wife, Irene Morden. Films of Morden’s expeditions comprise the second largest collection in the AMNH’s archives and are valuable ethnographic and zoological records.

Angkor [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (16 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. During this expedition, made before his affiliation with the AMNH, William James Morden visited the ruins of the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor, which were filmed by the expedition cameraman, Herford Tynes Cowling.
Film Collection no. 215

The Baltistan-Ladakh hunt [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (37 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Morden Expedition to Africa and Asia, 1922-1924. This film chronicles the expedition made by William James Morden and Herford Tynes Cowling to hunt ibex and visit monasteries in northern Pakistan and India.
Film Collection no. 216

Beyond the vale of Kashmir [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (51 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. With panoramic vistas of the Himalayas in the background, Beyond the Vale of Kashmir begins as the expedition travels through western Tibet. Cinematographer Herford Tynes Cowling filmed portraits of Tibetan people and their activities such as making flour from grain stalks.
Film Collection no. 217

Burma [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (69 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during William James Morden's 1922-1924 expedition by Herford Tynes Cowling, Burma presents a beautiful portrait of the people, culture, architecture, and art of the country.
Film Collection no. 218

Burma blues from a buzzing Orient [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (11 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This is a William James Morden film of Burmese dancers performing a pwe, a drama or dance with dialogue, in Mandalay on the Irrawaddy River.
Film Collection no. 219

Ceylon [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (35 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. William James Morden's Ceylon is a travelogue of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 1920s. Tamil and Sinhalese people, ancient Buddhist ruins, tropical landscapes, and day to day activities are shown in great detail on tinted stock.
Film Collection no. 220

The Morden African Expedition, 1922-1924 [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1922-1924; 1 videocassette (52 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. When William James Morden decided to organize his 1922-1924 expedition to East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and the Sudan) he hired professional cinematographer Herford Tynes Cowling to accompany him and film the local people. The result is this film that captures an ethnographic cross-section of a small part of East Africa.
Film Collection no. 221

The Morden African Expedition, 1947 [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1947; 2 videocassettes (118 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Morden African Expedition, 1947. The purpose of the expedition was to collect artifacts to fill the gaps in the AMNH anthropology collection, and to study and film the Turkana people of northern Kenya.
Film Collection no. 222

The Morden African Expedition, 1953 [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1953; 3 videocassettes (187 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. The five reels of film taken during the Morden African Expedition of 1953 each represents one leg of the trip and is treated individually.
Film Collection no. 223

The Morden African Expedition, 1956 [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1956; 1 videocassette (87 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. In 1956 William James Morden and his wife, Irene, traveled to Africa to collect ethnographic and zoological specimens for the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. As in 1953, they were accompanied by collector Walter Hoesch who concentrated his efforts on small mammals and birds.
Film Collection no. 224

The Morden-Clark Asiatic Expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (73 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed by James Lippitt Clark, this is a record of one of two museum expeditions that were to rendezvous in Central Asia. Led by William James Morden, this was an expedition across the Himalayas and the Karakoram Mountain Range to a restricted territory in Russia, called the Pamirs, looking for specimens of Marco Polo's sheep (Ovis poli) and ibex.
Film Collection no. 225

The Morden-Graves North Asiatic Expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1929; 1 videocassette (45 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The second AMNH-sponsored expedition led by William James Morden journeyed to Soviet Central Asia and far eastern Siberia in search of saiga antelope and the long-haired Siberian tiger.
Film Collection no. 226

Moscow May Day [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1928; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Despite the title given to this film by William James Morden, it was probably made in November of 1928 during the anniversary celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution, rather than during May Day festivities. Morden went to the Soviet Union in November to obtain permits for the AMNH Morden-Graves North Asiatic Expedition to collect mammals in Turkestan the following year.
Film Collection no. 227

Turkana [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1947-1948; 1 videocassette (51 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Morden African Expedition, 1947. AMNH anthropologist Ralph Kepler Lewis made this documentary of the Turkana people during the Morden African Expedition of 1947, led by co-leaders William James Morden and Irene Morden. En route to the desolate Lodwar area in Kenya where the Turkanas live, Lewis recorded some of the scenery and people of Uganda and Kenya.
Film Collection no. 228

End: William J. Morden Collection (1922-1956)
Film Collection nos. 215-228

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Mountains of the moon [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (13 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Ruwenzori-Kivu Expedition, 1926. This film is of the AMNH Ruwenzori-Kivu Expedition to Central Africa, Uganda, and Zaire, the purpose of which was to collect birds and small animals and record the regions visited.
Film Collection no. 229

Mounting buffalo [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1920?; 1 videocassette (3 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Robert H. Rockwell and two assistants are seen performing several aspects of the mounting procedure in the AMNH Department of Preparation.
Film Collection no. 230

Museum centennial [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1969; 1 videocassette (25 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Filmed as an episode of the television show New York Illustrated, Museum Centennial focuses on the centennial anniversary of the American Museum of Natural History.
Film Collection no. 231

Nanook of the north [videorecording.]
Publisher : Revillon Frères, 1922; 2 videocassettes (55 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Nanook of the North is a portrait of an Eskimo family's struggle for survival.
Film Collection no. 232

Nature Magazine Collection (1925-1930): Film Collection nos. 233-248

The 16 films in this series were created by the American Nature Association as part of their extension services. The films were shot between 1925 and 1930 by William L. Finley (Director of Wildlife Conservation and field naturalist for the Association) his wife, Irene, and Arthur N. Pack (President of the Association.) Footage of Finley filming through blinds or with costumes is found throughout the films. Most of the material is from three expeditions sponsored by the Association: the 1925 Finley Expedition to Arizona near the Tucson Mountains; the 1926 Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland (British Columbia, Bering Sea, Kenai Peninsula, Umiak Island and Glacier Bay, Alaska) for which Campbell Church’s yacht, the Westward, was used; and the 1927 Pack-Finley Expedition to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Wyoming. The content of the films ranges in quality from great scientific value to light entertainment.

Babes in the woods [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1927; 1 videocassette (14 min.): silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Pack-Finley Expedition to the Pacific Northwest, 1927. The film opens in William L. and Irene Finleys' camp, with an amusing scene showing chipmunks invading the Finleys' toiletry chest. A series of behavioral experiments with chipmunks follows.
Film Collection no. 232

Big game parade [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland, 1926. William L. Finley and Arthur N. Pack both contributed footage of large mammals to this film. This film presents little animal behavior information, but it serves as a portrait of some large North American mammals.
Film Collection no. 234

Cruising north (bird islands) [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was taken during the Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland in 1926. It opens on Campbell Church's yacht, the Westward, with footage of the cook baking bread, the staff dining, and shots of the crew. Later, small skiffs are shown transporting the expedition party to land.
Film Collection no. 235

The forests [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1927; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Pack-Finley Expedition to the Pacific Northwest, 1927. North American forests and the ecology of the beaver are featured in this film.
Film Collection no. 236

Getting our goat [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland, 1926. This film was taken in the mountains of British Columbia, and concentrates on the arduous task of filming the North American mountain goat.
Film Collection no. 237

The great bear of Alaska [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland, 1926. Deer and several other animals are shown, although most of the footage is devoted to brown bears fishing for salmon. There are many examples of both success and failure at this activity.
Film Collection no. 238

Nature's side show [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1925; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was taken during the 1925 Finley Expedition to Arizona, near the Tucson Mountains. The actual "side show" is preceded by footage of various animals found in the area: a horned lizard, a gila monster, a fox, a prairie dog, a peccary, jackrabbits, cactus wrens, and mourning doves.
Film Collection no. 239

Off to Glacier Bay [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was taken during the 1926 Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland. Church's yacht, the Westward, is seen cruising off the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, with beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background.
Film Collection no. 240

Queer creatures of cactus county [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1925; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was taken during the 1925 Finley Expedition to Arizona. Views of the desert and its flora open this film: creosote bushes; low mesquites; cholla or barrel cactus; and many saguaro are shown.
Film Collection no. 241

Ramparts of the north [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland, 1926. This film was taken in the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.
Film Collection no. 242

Renting houses for songs [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1920?; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film begins with children making various types of bird houses, and then shows the birds that inhabit the houses.
Film Collection no. 243

Riding the rim rock [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1927; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Pack-Finley Expedition to the Pacific Northwest, 1927. The film opens with canyon scenes in Wyoming, as a mule and rider take in the vista.
Film Collection no. 244

Thar she blows [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was taken during the 1926 Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland. The focus of the film is whaling in the waters off Glacier Bay, and other parts of Alaska.
Film Collection no. 245

When mountains call [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1927; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film includes beautiful footage of the Northwest mountains and regional fauna: its objective is to record the splendid and varied environments of these mountains.
Film Collection no. 246

Wild animal outposts [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1926; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was taken during the 1926 Finley-Church Expedition to the Northland, on the Kenai Peninsula and the Bering Sea. Deer are seen swimming across the river, and canoes are shown navigating the same waters. Footage of rabbits, porcupine, rock ptarmigan, and blue fox is seen. Most of the film, however, is devoted to two bear cubs, who are featured in other Nature Magazine films.
Film Collection no. 247

Wings to the south [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 192-?; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film, taken on the coast of Texas, is primarily comprised of footage of birds.
Film Collection no. 248

End: Nature Magazine Collection (1925-1930)
Film Collection nos. 233-248

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Nigeria [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1958; 1 videocassette (53 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Anthropologist Francis Paine Conant made this film as part of his dissertation for Columbia University. The film documents the use of the tools Conant collected for the AMNH from the peoples of northcentral Africa.
Film Collection no. 249

1940 Arizona expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1940; 1 videocassette (44 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Richard Archbold, AMNH research associate in mammalogy, organized this six-month-long expedition to collect all the elements for an Arizona group for the museum's Hall of North American Mammals.
Film Collection no. 250

Parícutin [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1943-1944; 1 videocassette (43 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. An active volcano, in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, was filmed at night and during the day with long-shots and close-ups, recording lava flowing down the mountain, incandescent bombs of hot rock shooting up from the crater, fumaroles (gas vents) and smoke, explosions, vapor clouds, molten rock, and tons of ash being blown skyward and over the surrounding villages, burying buildings.
Film Collection no. 251

The penetration of the Bellingshausen Sea [videorecording] : Operation Deep Freeze. *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1960; 1 videocassette (42 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the U.S. Antarctic Research Program's Expedition to the Bellingshausen Sea, 1960. Made by Robert Cushman Murphy and a U.S. Navy cameraman, the film is a record of the U.S. Antarctic Research Program's expedition to the Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica.
Film Collection no. 252

The Peruvian Eclipse Expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1937; 1 videocassette (13 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Hayden Planetarium-Grace Peruvian Eclipse Expedition, 1937. The film ends on June 8, 1937, with footage of the solar eclipse and the effects it has on the atmosphere.
Film Collection no. 253

The Peruvian hall [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1951; 1 videocassette (5 min.) : sound, b&w ; 3/4 in. The AMNH Hall of Men of the Montaña was installed in 1951 and was supposed to be a temporary exhibition. Twenty-two years later it was dismantled, its success due in part to the innovative use of sound effects.
Film Collection no. 254

Preparing a museum group [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1950; 1 videocassette (27 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. This film depicts the various stages of the preparation of a diorama in the AMNH Hall of North American Mammals.
Film Collection no. 255

Primitive paradise [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1958-1959; 1 videocassette (65 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. The film is the edited result of footage shot by American explorer Lewis Cotlow on two expeditions to New Guinea in 1958 and 1959. Some of the localities visited are: the Sepik River, Goroka and Bena-Bena villages, Mount Hagen, several highland villages in Papua New Guinea, and the Baliem Valley in central Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
Film Collection no. 256

The Puritan Expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1957; 1 videocassette (45 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Puritan-AMNH Expedition to western Mexico, 1957. Named for the schooner on which the AMNH staff members sailed, the Puritan Expedition's objective was the collection of specimens of the marine and terrestrial faunas of the islands in the vicinity of Baja California and the Tres Marias Islands.
Film Collection no. 257

Edgar Monsanto Queeny Collection (1949-1958):Film Collection nos. 258-267

Businessman Edgar Monsanto Queeny was chairman of the Monsanto Chemical Company, a filmmaker, naturalist, and a trustee of the AMNH from 1949 to 1968.

In 1949, he approached his friend, F. Trubee Davison, President of the AMNH (1933-1952), about going to East Africa to make films under the auspices of the museum. Queeny and his crew spent only three months in Kenya and Sudan, but retuned with enough raw footage to make Baganda Music, Latuko, The Pagan Sudan, Wandorobo, and Wakamba.

Queeny later returned to Kenya and Tanganyika (now Tanzania) bringing along some Masai footage to show to the Masai, to try and convince them to allow him to make a full-length feature about them. They liked the film and Queeny was able to get material for his sixth African film, Masailand. The production work itself was done at Jarville Studios, Queen’s converted stable outside St. Louis, Missouri.

Baganda music [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1950; 1 videocassette (12 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Queeny African Expedition, 1950. The music of the Baganda (i.e. Ganda) people is recorded in this film, shot in Uganda by Edgar Monsanto Queeny and sound-man Jack J.
Film Collection no. 258

The great country [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1958; 1 videocassette (42 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Edgar Monsanto Queeny's plane leaves Juneau, travels across the Gulf of Alaska, passing Kodiak Island and Kamishak Bay, toward the crater lake atop Mount Katmai.
Film Collection no. 259

Indian dances [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1951; 1 videocassette (10 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Outtake material from Edgar Monsanto Queeny's film Sunrise Serenades was incorporated in this film made by the museum's Department of Education. Designed primarily for use by schools, the film was intended to teach observation and understanding by depicting the Indian as a skillful observer of nature.
Film Collection no. 260

Latuko [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1950; 1 videocassette (49 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film depicts the Latuko (i.e. Lotuko) a tribe residing in the province of Equatoria, Sudan. The scenes were unrehearsed but organized thematically around the coming of age of the young man Lonuha.
Film Collection no. 261

Masailand [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1953; 2 videocassettes (123 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Edgar M. Queeny-AMNH African Expedition, 1953. This film was made in Narok, approximately 100 miles west of Nairobi, Kenya. It contains extensive zoological footage, as well as a rich ethnographic portrait of the moran, the warriors of Masai society.
Film Collection no. 262

The pagan Sudan [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1952; 1 videocassette (34 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Queeny African Expedition, 1950. The Pagan Sudan records Edgar Monsanto Queeny's expedition along the Nile River to Lake Nyibor in the Sudan, to study the Dinka people.
Film Collection no. 263

Silver lightning [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1952; 1 videocassette (20 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film shows Atlantic salmon fishing in Blue Water Bay in Canada, especially from prams (small, lightweight, nearly flatbottomed boats that have a very broad transom (or stern) and usually a squared off bow).
Film Collection no. 264

Sunrise serenades [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1949; 1 videocassette (25 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film opens and closes with American Indian dances that the narrator suggests are inspired by the courtship behavior of the grouse. The great prairie chicken, the sage grouse, and the sharp-tailed grouse are followed through a day of courtship, beginning with the pre-dawn assembly on the courting grounds and ending at dusk, during the height of the mating ritual.
Film Collection no. 265

Wakamba [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1951; 1 videocassette (81 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Queeny African Expedition in 1950, this is a fantasy that takes place in Kenya, for which Edgar Monsanto Queeny was able to shoot an enormous amount of animal footage. It tells the story of a young Wakamba (i.e. Kamba) man named Tondu and his search for a pair of six foot elephant tusks, the bride price demanded by the father of Lundalla, Tondu's bride-to-be.
Film Collection no. 266

Wandorobo [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1952; 1 videocassette (29 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Shot during the Queeny African Expedition (1950), the mutually beneficial relationship between Kenya's Wandorobo (Dorobo) and the honey-guide bird is the main focus of this film (this was the first successful attempt to film such a relationship).
Film Collection no. 267

End: Edgar Monsanto Queeny Collection (1949-1958)
Film Collection nos. 258-267

* * * * * * * * *

Rattlesnakes and boa constrictors, rhinoceros iguana [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 192-?; 1 videocassette (11 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The first segment of this film features rattlesnakes and boa constrictors and was made by Gladwyn Kingsley Noble (curator in the AMNH Department of Herpetology). It consists of two sets of footage: the first was filmed in what appears to be the American West, and the second was probably filmed in Santo Domingo around 1923.
Film Collection no. 268

Records of the Fifth Anthropological Expedition to Central Australia [videorecording] : Mount Liebig, 1932
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1932-1935; 3 videocassettes (174 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the Fifth Anthropological Expedition to central Australia, 1932-1935. Also known as Australian Aboriginals, this film was made by the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum Field Research Program as a record of the Fifth Anthropological Expedition to Mount Liebig in central Australia. RESTRICTED: Due to the secret/sacred nature of ritual material seen in this film, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies has requ4sted that itcarry a restricted use notice. Only advanced level students of anthropology and related studies may screen this film. Under no circumstances should it be seen by Aboriginal people, who would be prohibited from seeing it by traditional Aboriginal law and custom.
Film Collection no. 269

The saltwater marsh diorama [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1981; 1 videocassette (26 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film depicts the step-by-step construction of a diorama of the marsh at the Thames Science Center in New London, Connecticut, from the collection of accessories to the completed exhibit.
Film Collection no. 270

The school service at the American Museum of Natural History [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1927; 1 videocassette (28 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. A cooperative effort between the AMNH and the New York City Department of Education resulted in this film, a piece of museum history probably made to celebrate the completion of the School Service Building.
Film Collection no. 271

Seven whales [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1978; 1 videocassette (25 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. This film shows the making of fiberglass models of seven different whales that were used in a temporary exhibit in the AMNH Hall of Ocean Life.
Film Collection no. 272

The Shalako ceremony at Zuni, New Mexico [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1923; 1 videocassette (26 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The Zuni Shalako ceremony is a dramatic presentation by masked men who impersonate kachinas. Kachinas are mythical ancestors of humans; they visit the earth during the winter, but spend the rest of the year in the spirit world.
Film Collection no. 273

Shark research [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1961; 1 videocassette (20 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Originally made for the WABC Expeditions television series, this film was taken at the AMNH Lerner Marine Laboratory on Bimini Island, Bahamas. Initial aerial views of Bimini and establishing shots of the Lerner Marine Laboratory are shown. Robert Mathewson, Director, discusses the objectives of the laboratory as well as the areas of on-going research.
Film Collection no. 274

The silent enemy [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1930; 1 videocassette (68 min.) : sound, b&w ; 3/4 in. William Douglas Burden, a trustee of the AMNH, hired professional cinematographer Marcel Le Picard to make this film in an effort to show the Ojibwa people as they were before acculturation changed their ways forever. Chief Yellow Robe explains the purpose of the film in a prologue and expresses gratitude for the opportunity to tell the Indians' story.
Film Collection no. 275

Simba, king of beasts [videorecording] : a saga of the African veldt. *
Publisher New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, c1928; 1 videocassette (75 min.) : sound, b&w ; 3/4 in. Filmed during the AMNH Martin Johnson African Expedition, 1924-1928. The Museum holds five different versions of this film. The version discussed here begins with elegantly dressed Martin and Osa Johnson extolling the marvels of modern technology: talking pictures. A classic coat-of-arms featuring a lion ("simba" means "lion" in Swahili) actually begins the body of the film.
Film Collection no. 276

The Snyder East African expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1938; 1 videocassette (58 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The Snyder East African Expedition was sponsored and led by Harry Snyder, sportsman and patron of the AMNH. They went to collect mammals and to explore territory southwest of the Taita District in Kenya.
Film Collection no. 277

Southwest Indians [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1932; 1 videocassette (12 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Southwest Indians is a combination of the remaining material from two films made by George Clyde Fisher, curator in the AMNH Department of Education: Indian Dances and Southwest Indians. Against a background of teepees, the film opens with Indians (perhaps Taos) in ceremonial costume performing the hoop dance.
Film Collection no. 278

Spirits of the yellow leaves [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1953-1954; 1 videocassette (57 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. The opening footage of this film was shot by Thomas L. Goodman (a New York-based topographer) in 1965, and was added to the original footage to make the film universally appealing. The scenes shown here contrast traditional and modern Bangkok, and serve as a reference point: following this the film moves on to a study of the mysterious Phi Thong Luang (i.e. Phi Tong Luang) people filmed during the AMNH Weaver Thailand Expedition.
Film Collection no. 279

The Stouts in Africa [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1972; 1 videocassette (45 min.) : silent, color; 3/4 in. Traveling to sites in Kenya, such as the Shima Hills, Tsavo River, Samburu, and Lake Nakuru, Gardner D. Stout, AMNH President from 1968 to 1975, and his wife, Clair, filmed many birds and mammals indigenous to the area.
Film Collection no. 280

The time of man [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1968; 1 videocassette (51 min.) : sound, color; 3/4 in. Time of Man ends with AMNH anthropologist Harry L. Shapiro, renowned primatologist and author, posing the question of man's ability to develop a wisdom which will allow him to maintain his environment and survive. The main question being presented here is, "Can man survive?"
Film Collection no. 281

Trip to South Africa [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1938; 1 videocassette (14 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film was made by William King Gregory, of the AMNH Department of Comparative and Human Anatomy, on the AMNH Gregory-Hellman Transvaal Expedition. Gregory and Milo Hellman, AMNH anthropologist), went to Transvaal to study the dentition of Australopithecus transvaalensis, fossil hominids, in the field near Johannesburg.
Film Collection no. 282

An unknown race [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1924; 1 videocassette (36 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. John A. Haeseler and Captain Melville William Hilton-Simpson, fellows of the Royal Geographic Society, made this film, which records the culture of the Berbers of the Aures Mountains of Algeria.
Film Collection no. 283

The Vernay deer group [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1923-1927; 1 videocassette (9 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Partly filmed during the AMNH Faunthorpe-Vernay Indian Expedition, 1922-1923. The scenes at the opening of The Vernay Deer Group were edited from footage taken by filmmaker George M. Dyott during the AMNH Faunthorpe-Vernay Indian Expedition to create Jungle Life in India.
Film Collection no. 284

The Vernay-Hopwood Chindwin expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1935; 1 videocassette (60 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Arthur Stannard Vernay, field associate in the museum's Department of Mammalogy, led the expedition to upper Burma to collect animal specimens and ethnographic artifacts.
Film Collection no. 285

The Viking [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1931; 1 videocassette (59 min.) : sound, b&w ; 3/4 in. The Viking is an epic of the Newfoundland sealers including a melodramatic love subplot. The love triangle is the story of two sealers, Luke and Jed, who love the same woman. The main theme of the film is the life and work of sealers, including techniques for freeing the ship from the ice.
Film Collection no. 286

Walking birds [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1938; 1 videocassette (5 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. Walking Birds has the feel of a home movie. Some of the walking birds seen are emus, wattled cranes, ostriches, marabou storks, secretary birds, and crowned cranes.
Film Collection no. 287

Weavers of the Andean highlands [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1930; 1 videocassette (22 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (disbanded in 1951) approached Clark Wissler, an AMNH anthropologist, about securing motion pictures representing weaving, pottery making, and other such activities, and contributed $500 to the expedition for this purpose.
Film Collection no. 288

Wheels across India [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1940?; 1 videocassette (31 min.) : sound, b&w ; 3/4 in. Made entirely in Burma, this film records the Denis-Roosevelt Asiatic Expedition led by filmmaker Armand Denis and his wife Leila Roosevelt.
Film Collection no. 289

The William D. Campbell African Expedition [videorecording.] *
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1938; 2 videocassettes (92 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. The objective of the AMNH William D. Campbell African Expedition was to collect specimens for the okapi and Nile groups in the AMNH Akeley Hall of African Mammals.
Film Collection no. 290

The witch doctor [videorecording.]
Publisher New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1928; 1 videocassette (10 min.) : silent, b&w ; 3/4 in. This film takes place in Indonesia where native homes and various activities including spinning, weaving, goldsmithing, and cooking are pictured.
Film Collection no. 291

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