Extinct Monsters Hall in Natural History Museum, late 1930s

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

For an additional picture of the large fossil of the ray-finned bony fish, seen here on the wall second from right, see image of the Paleontological Laboratory, negative # 4886-B. The USNM Catalogue number for the Diplodocus longus is USNM 10865. Published in the "Smithsonian Scientific Series," Vol. 1, 1938.

The dinosaur known as "Diplodocus longus" in the "Extinct Monsters Hall" of the National Museum of Natural History. The dinosaur was collected by Smithsonian scientists Charles W. Gilmore and Norman H. Boss in Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, in 1923, and measures 90 feet in length and is 12 feet, 5 inches high at the hips. The skeleton behind it is a Basilosaurus, an early whale from the early stage of whale evolution, from the late Eocene period (39-37 million years ago) and was found in Alabama. Other specimens which can be seen along the wall of the hall are a ray-finned bony fish (second from right); a Edmontosaurus (seen through the legs of the Diplodocus longus); a Pteranodon ingens, a flying reptile (far left on the wall); and the skull of a Triceratops (by the tail of the Diplodocus longus).

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7005, Box 189, Folder: 9

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu