THE FILM WORK OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.

The article focuses on the film works of the American Museum of Natural History. This museum has been a pioneer in many fields. One that has had far-reaching effects is in the use of motion-picture films for educational purposes. More than thirty years ago one of the museum curators was filming bird life in Florida. As long ago as 1911 the museum was using motion pictures regularly in auditorium lectures given for groups of school children. In fact, it is considered the first institution to use educational films regularly. Today, more than a third of a century later, this museum has a large library of both silent and sound films available to any educational group in the country. One of the aims in this work has been to build a reference library of films depicting wild animal life in different parts of the world and the lives of primitive peoples. The nucleus of this library was formed in 1912 when Paul J. Rainey, one of the early African game hunters and explorers, brought back the first of the African films on lion hunting.