This is Throwback Thursday #160.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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On May 2nd, 1921, the Field Museum opened its doors to the public at its current home.  Happy 102nd Birthday!

Originally, it was called the Columbian Museum of Chicago, as much of the initial collection came from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.  The museum was established by Marshall Field, its later namesake.  It occupied the former Palace of Fine Arts Building in Jackson Park, which is the only remaining building from the Columbian Exposition.  The original building is known today as the Museum of Science and Industry.

Marshall Field left $8 million in his will for the construction of a new, permanent building to house the growing collection.  Construction took six years.  Since 1921, there have been over 135,000,000 visitors!

From Wikipedia…

The museum maintains a temporary exhibition program of traveling shows as well as in-house produced topical exhibitions.^[13] The professional staff maintains collections of over 24 million specimens and objects that provide the basis for the museum’s scientific-research programs.^[4][7][14] These collections include the full range of existing biodiversity, gems, meteorites, fossils, and rich anthropological collections and cultural artifacts from around the globe.^{[7][15][16][17]} The museum’s library, which contains over 275,000 books, journals, and photo archives focused on biological systematics, evolutionary biology, geology, archaeology, ethnology and material culture, supports the museum’s academic-research faculty and exhibit development.^[18] The academic faculty and scientific staff engage in field expeditions, in biodiversity and cultural research on every continent, in local and foreign student training, and in stewardship of the rich specimen and artifact collections. They work in close collaboration with public programming exhibitions and education initiatives.^{[14][19][20][21]}

Marshall Field circa 1900

Opening day 1921

Construction

Stanley Field Hall under construction

Stanley Field Hall in 2008

The building in 2022