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(Disclaimer: What follows is a reproduction of a guidebook to the fictional setting of The Dagger of Amon Ra).

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE LEYENDECKER MUSEUM

Published for the Leyendecker Museum

by the New York Museum Press Consortium

Thirtieth Edition, Fall 1926

TABLE OF CONTENTS

President's Welcome

The Leyendecker Museum: Past and Present

The Temple of Amon Ra: My Amazing Archaeological Discovery

The Ancient Egypt Exhibit

The Gods of Egypt

Medieval Armor: Our Most Misunderstood Apparel

The Leyendecker Life Masks: A Face Right Out of History

Old Masters Gallery: The Ignatz Leyendecker Collection

The Leyendecker Labs: The Fine Art of Preservation and Preparation

Dinosaurs: Our Big Extinct Brothers

Whither The Leyendecker?

Credits

Bibliography


PRESIDENT'S WELCOME[]

When you cross the threshold of the Leyendecker Museum, you leave the hustle and bustle of New York City behind as you make a giant leap back in time. Within these walls, you will find a unique mixture of exhibits which will demonstrate the diversity of our planet's living past. Ranging from the crude power of prehistoric life forms to the subtle intricacies of Medieval armor, and from the art of ancient Egypt to the art of the Renaissance, our exhibits represent the continuing pageant of life's development in our small corner of the universe.

As you make your journey of discovery through the halls of the Museum, consider that you are only seeing a small portion of the Museum's considerable collection. Over time, as the Museum expands, we will be able to create more exhibits covering a wider range of subjects. But the items stored in the private sections of the Museum are not forgotten. Our curators continually maintain and carry out research on the entire collection. Since each object tells its own unique story, part of a curator's job is to study it, peeling back the layers of its complexity like the layers of an onion. Specimens from the collection are also loaned out to scientists and scholars around the globe.

Our goal at the Leyendecker Museum is to demonstrate that the past is not dead. We wish to excite you and create an enjoyable environment for you to learn. By understanding the development of our civilization and our world, we are better informed for making the many decisions that we will face in the coming years.

Archibald Carrington III President, Leyendecker Museum

THE LEYENDECKER MUSEUM: PAST AND PRESENT[]

The Leyendecker Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, conservation and exhibition of select historical specimens of scientific interest. Our Museum curators conduct extensive research on ancient human cultures, dinosaur fossils, modern exotic animal specimens, medieval armor, and Renaissance art. Although the Leyendecker is a privately-funded institution, the Museum shares its work with the global scholarly community through its exchange programs, publications, educational programs, and symposia.

At its beginning in 1897, the Museum was created to house the personal Renaissance art collection of Ignatz Leyendecker, who financed the construction. Mr. Leyendecker made his fortune in the late 1800's by defying the notorious Banana Embargo and smuggling bananas into the country disguised as miniature squash. In addition, Mr. Leyendecker sponsored paleontological field work, from which specimens were gathered to create the dinosaur displays in the Museum. As his interests grew, the collections diversified into the categories on display today.

The Museum building itself was designed by one of Mr. Leyendecker's personal friends, the eccentric architect, Arvin Slatherlord Loudermilk III. Mr. Loudermilk, considered an outcast by the New York architectural community of 1897, was fond of mixing architectural styles. Conservative architects were also distressed by Mr. Loudermilk's visionary use of abnormal perspectives in his interiors. As a result of his blackballing by the American Architectural Society and the Freemasons, Mr. Loudermilk died penniless in 1905.

In 1910, and again in 1915, the original building was expanded to accommodate larger exhibits, based on Mr. Loudermilk's conceptual sketches. In 1918, two specialized laboratories were added to the basement, as well as additional office space. The Gift Shoppe was added in 1923.

Since the opening in the Fall of 1897, more than 20 million people have passed through the Museum's doors to marvel at the genius of Mr. Loudermilk and the vision of Mr. Leyendecker.

CURRENT RESEARCH[]

The multi-talented scientists of the Leyendecker Museum are continually stretching the boundaries of knowledge.

Dr. Olympia Myklos, a noted expert in paleontology, is the Museum's curator in charge of dinosaur and physical anthropology exhibits, but has also done significant research in the areas of Egyptian hieroglyphs, and misunderstood domestic pests. Her ongoing paleontological work has advanced our understanding of the history of life on Earth and its relation to changing environmental factors such as climates and habitats. Her globe-spanning work in the area of physical anthropology has resulted in the Life Mask exhibit, demonstrating the wide diversity in physical aspects of the human species.

Dr. Pippin Carter, who recently gained worldwide recognition as the discoverer of the Temple of Amon Ra in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings, is the Museum's resident curator of Egyptology. Related to Dr. Howard Carter, discoverer of the famous Tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922, Pippin Carter continues his family's stunning archaeological reputation. Culminating almost twenty years of painstaking research and laborious excavation, Dr. Carter's fabulous discovery of the Temple of Amon Ra, and the priceless golden Dagger of Amon Ra, has thrust him into the scientific limelight. By creating the new exhibit on Ancient Egypt, Dr. Carter has firmly established the Leyendecker Museum's prominent position in the field of archaeology.

The new President of the Leyendecker Museum, Dr. Archibald Carrington III, also serves as the curator for the Medieval armor collection. Having recently arrived from England, where he established an excellent reputation by managing the operations of the British Museum, Dr. Carrington is dedicated to the expansion and increased public awareness of the Leyendecker's research programs and exhibits. Now that the Leyendecker is in its thirtieth year of operation, Dr. Carrington feels that the Museum's responsibility for cultural and scientific enlightenment, the needs of our disparate public, and the maintenance of a tradition of curatorial scholarship and conservation are more urgent that ever. The Museum staff feels fortunate that a visionary President such as Dr. Carrington has assumed the mantle of control from the late Dr. Sterling Waldorf-Carlton, whose able hand allowed the Leyendecker to weather its first thirty years in excellent condition.

THE TEMPLE OF AMON RA: MY AMAZING ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY[]

Pippin Carter, Ph.D. Curator of Egyptology

There I was, ensconced on the Egyptian hillside, high above the Valley of the Kings at Luxor, squinting against the glare of the blinding sand which was peppered with potsherds from the age of the Ptolemies. The potsherds were modern, scarcely 2,000 years old, and as such they were beneath my notice. My elusive game was much larger -- the fabled Temple of Amon Ra, the Sun god, whose shrine had remained hidden from human eyes for almost 3,000 years. The moment of my greatest discovery was at hand.

The scene below me was similar to the way it had been a year earlier. Some 350 Egyptian workmen hauled out debris, leather or straw baskets on their shoulders, trudging to the rhythm of an old chanteyman, the "Boss Gaffir," and joining him in the choruses. Every few minutes, a digger would use a mattock with surgical gentleness to clear the sand, then remove something from the excavation. It could be a fragment of pottery or papyrus, a tiny figurine, a woven sandal, a piece of heavily gilded and painted wood from an ancient altar.

The worker would immediately pass it up to me, then I would examine the find to determine if it merited further study. In this way, with steady work, the foundations of a substantial temple were discovered, buried under a latter-day Christian enclave, perhaps a monastery. The temple dated from the time of Nectanebo II, the last truly Egyptian pharaoh who reigned until the conquest by Alexander the Great (332 B.C.) and the subsequent rule of the descendants of Alexander's general, Ptolemy.

Treasures were found in staggering numbers, many of great beauty and all of enormous scholarly value for the knowledge they shed on the religious life of Egypt during the span of a millennium. Of particular importance were hundreds of fragments of papyrus and ostraca. They were largely temple documents: inventories, prayers, dreams and priestly interpretations of them.

Indeed, this was a great find, but I was not satisfied. It was not the great prize that I sought, the massive Temple of Amon Ra. My painstaking search, which had covered a backbreaking twenty year period, continued. My indomitable archaeological spirit would not be stopped. Many others had tried, and failed, to find the temple, and I felt their ghosts pushing me like a great desert wind, urging me on to victory to redeem their crushed reputations. Even my cousin, Howard Carter, who found the Tomb of Tutankhamen four years earlier, had tried in vain to find the Temple of Amon Ra, and was now convinced that it did not exist. I would soon prove him wrong.

Now, a year later, my suspicions were confirmed when my trusted Egyptian assistant, Abd-el-Maamoud, swept his trowel across the sand, revealing a stone step. Within an hour, ten more steps had been cleared. My excitement grew as I identified the seal of the Necropolis, depicting the Jackal and nine captives, in the center of the tenth step.

I could contain myself no longer. Sweeping Maamoud out of the way, I seized his trowel and excavated the next step, which bore the cartouche of Amon Ra! Dare I believe that this was the fabled Temple? Dare I believe that I was nearing the end of my long quest? Work continued, hour upon hour, the workers forming a human chain to pass baskets of debris away from the temple entrance which my superhuman effort was rapidly clearing.

A door was revealed, marked again with the seal of the Necropolis and the cartouche of Amon Ra. Oddly, I heard the sound of a gramophone in the distance, playing music from an operetta, perhaps Chu Chin Chow. But there was no time to wonder about the musical accompaniment to my feverish digging. A sledgehammer was passed to me, and I demolished the door that blocked my way, as I demolished all other obstacles that had blocked my way to success in the previous twenty years of my search.

A collective gasp swept through the crowd as the door crumbled before me. The rubble fell to the ground in a dull, angry rattle, as if the very gods were clearing their throats to roar their disapproval at this unforgivable intrusion. The ensuing silence was broken only by the distant gramophone, now playing the aria from Madame Butterfly.

Before me, revealed for all the world to see, lay the Temple of Amon Ra. Out of the silence and blackness of three thousand years, we could see a treasure-house of statues, with every surface covered in gold. Perhaps it was a trick of the light shining through the doorway, but a glow on the golden altar drew my attention. Willing my feet to move, I stepped forward, raising dust and breathing the stale air of thirty centuries, until I stood before the altar, my eyes locked on the magnificent creation that lay in front of me -- the Dagger of Amon Ra!

I was staggered by the enormity of my success. Not only had I found the Temple of Amon Ra, but I had also found the great Dagger, referred to in the hieroglyphs on the walls of all the tombs of the pharaohs. A copy of this Dagger, pathetic when compared to the beauty of the real thing, had been discovered by my cousin when he unwrapped the mummy of the pharaoh, Tutankhamen, in 1925.

As I touched the Dagger, the first human to do so in three thousand years, I realized that I had been born for this moment. Fate had brought me here to find the most important archaeological discovery of all time. I had fulfilled my Destiny.

When I turned to look back at the world outside the Temple, with the great Dagger of Amon Ra held high in my hands, I witnessed the ultimate honor. Abd-el-Maamoud, the Boss Gaffir, humbled by my greatness, lay prostrate on the ground before me. Behind him, 350 sturdy Egyptian workers had done the same, their robes forming a glaring sea of dirty white cloth. They remained there for ten minutes, in total silence and respect, as I stood just inside the entrance to the Temple, framed by the jagged doorway, a single shaft of sunlight slanting down to illuminate my noble figure and the shining Dagger of Amon Ra.

The rest of the story is, as they say, history.

(Ed. note: the Dagger of Amon Ra now rests in a glass case in the Ancient Egypt exhibit in the Leyendecker Museum.)


THE ANCIENT EGYPT EXHIBIT[]

Pippin Carter, Ph.D. Curator of Egyptology

Welcome to Ancient Egypt, land of the pharaohs and of the pyramids, cradle to a civilization that flourished thousands of years before our own, and site of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries known to Man -- the temple of Amon Ra.

Having discovered the Temple of Amon Ra myself, I feel fully qualified to discuss the unique objects which make up our exhibit on Ancient Egypt, many of which were placed on display at the Leyendecker Museum as a result of my contributions.

In ancient times, as today, the Nile River was bordered on both sides by inhospitable desert. By its annual ebb and flow, the river sustained life and gave a vital rhythm to the existence of the country's inhabitants. The precious, silt-rich strip of "black land" was reserved for the living, while the dead were consigned to the lifeless desert, in cemeteries generally located on the west bank, where the Sun-god was seen to "die" at the end of each day. During the New Kingdom, Egypt's principal necropolis was situated in Western Thebes. The Temple of Amon Ra, as well as the tombs of Tutankhamen, Rameses, and most other pharaohs of the New Kingdom, were located in this dried-up river bed, known to the world as the Valley of the Kings. Most of the artifacts now residing in the Leyendecker Museum are from the Valley of the Kings, with the gracious consent of the Egyptian Antiquities Service.

MUMMY UNDER GLASS

One of the prominent features of the Leyendecker Museum's ancient Egypt exhibit is the well-preserved in hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek, shall beplaced in every large temple in Egypt.

For 150 years after the Ptolemies began to reign in Egypt, the Egyptian hieroglyphics appear to have been commonly used, and the Egyptians were not prohibited from making use of their native language and its time-hallowed written signs. Little by little, however, the Greek language displaced the Egyptian, and the writing in common use among the people, known as "demotic" or "enchorial," and anciently "epistolographic," completely usurped the place of the "hieratic" or cursive form of hieroglyphic writing.

Although it is certain that the hieroglyphic alphabet could never have been deciphered from the Rosetta Stone without the aid of the Greek and hieroglyphic inscriptions on an obelisk at Philae, the Rosetta Stone is still a wonderful document that has generated tremendous interest.

STELAE[]

"Stele" is the name given to the tablets of granite, calcereous stone, wood, or faience, which the Egyptians commonly used for inscriptions. A stele might be inscribed with decrees, historical records of the achievements of kings, biographical notices of eminent persons, hymns to Amon Ra and other gods, and notices of important events. A sepulchral stele, placed inside a tomb, would be inscribed with the name and titles of a deceased person, their pedigree, and the principal events in their life.

On the side wall of this exhibit we have a sepulchral stele found in a tomb of the Sixth Dynasty. Translated, it speaks of Una, who was born in the reign of Teta and held service under this king. Under Pepi, Teta's successor, Una brought stone from the quarries of Ruau, and conducted an expedition against the nomad tribes to the east of Egypt. In the reign of the following king, Mer-en-Ra, Una died "full of days and honor."

On the back wall of this exhibit is the stele of Horus and Thoth, found in the Temple of Amon Ra. This stele is of particular interest since it was apparently made for the tomb of a high official and inscribed with the name of the god, Amon Ra. During the reign of Amenophis IV, the "heretic king," also known as Akhenaten, the name of Amon Ra was removed from this stele, but was replaced when his son, Tutankhamen, became pharaoh. Akhenaten left Thebes to establish a new capital in Tell el-Amarna, then adopted the exclusive worship of Aten, the solar disk, which outraged the priests of Amon Ra. When the nine-year-old Tutankhamen came to power after the death of his father and brother, he was coaxed into returning to Thebes and restoring the cult of Amon Ra, thereby closing the door on the period known as the Amarna Heresy.

WINGED SOLAR DISK[]

Over the window in the in the exhibit room, you will see a symbol carved in limestone. This is the Ur-Uatchi, a winged solar disk with two uraei -- the goddess Nekhebet on the right, and Buto on the left.

According to one myth, the disk was made when Horus wished to protect himself from the evil got Set. Horus assumed the form of the winged solar disk and overcame Set. After the victory, the god Thoth decreed that the Ur-Uatchti should be displayed in every temple to protect against evil. It seems to have worked so far, since no evil has appeared in the Ancient Egypt exhibit.

PYRAMIDS[]

The Egyptian term for this structure was a "mer." Our word, pyramid, is believed to come from the Greek term, "pyramis," which may mean "a wheaten cake" or "mound of fire." Pyramids were originally built as tombs for the pharaohs. The most famous examples are the pyramids of Gizeh built during the Old Kingdom.

One of our pyramid displays is a representation of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu). This pyramid covers thirteen acres and was built with over two million stones to a height of 480 feet. Unlike what we see today, the entire surface of the pyramid was covered with polished limestone. There are many theories as to when the Great Pyramid was constructed. It is my belief that construction started in 2200 B.C. and that it took thirty to fifty years to build. In any case, the pyramids were a staggering engineering achievement which demands our respect for this ancient culture.

Another of our pyramid displays is the stepped pyramid of Saqqara, believed to be the oldest Egyptian pyramid. Construction of this pyramid was decreed by the pharaoh, Zoser, of the Third Dynasty, and built by the architect, Imhotep, who is possibly the most important builder in Egypt's history. Originally, the building was a simple mastaba of coarse rubble cased with white limestone above a square pit, but was later heightened into a stepped pyramid with six levels.

MUMMY COFFINS[]

The three coffins arrayed along the wall are fine examples of a class of coffins built during the XIXth Dynasty. Inside and outside, both coffin and cover are decorated with large figures of gods, vignettes and inscriptions from the Book of the Dead, as well as emblems and decorations painted in bright colors. Immediately over the mummy of a royal person, or wealthy man, was laid a slightly convex covering of wood, made in the form of the mummy and painted with varnish. On the inside of this covering, the boat of the sun, the mummy with plants growing out from it, and other scenes were traced in yellow on a mauve or purple background. Scenes of the soul visiting the body, and of the weighing of the heart, were also popular. The mummy and this covering were placed in a coffin with a cover having a human face, and the hands, in relief, were crossed upon the breast. The lower part of the cover was ornamented with scenes of the deceased adoring various gods in shrines.

The inner coffin, with its mummy and wooden covering, was placed inside a larger coffin painted with scenes similar to those of the inner coffin. A third, and sometimes even a fourth, coffin was sometimes used to protect a single mummy.

DAGGER OF AMON RA[]

Appropriately displayed on a pedestal under a pyramid-shaped case of fine crystal is the fabulous Dagger of Amon Ra, from the Temple of Amon Ra, which is perhaps the most impressive archaeological artifact ever discovered. Naturally, this artifact is the centerpiece of the Leyendecker Museum's Egyptian collection.

Daggers were used by the ancient Egyptians from predynastic times onward, though examples dating from the Old Kingdom are exceedingly rare. During the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom, they were generally made of copper or bronze;gold, apart from its use for embellishment, was reserved for royalty.

Queen Ahhotpe, founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty, had a solid gold dagger and sheath in her funerary equipment, both of which are in the Cairo Museum. Tutankhamen's mummy was provided with two daggers encased in gold sheaths, one with an iron blade and the other with a blade of hardened gold, although his gold dagger was a mere copy of the magnificent Dagger of Amon Ra.

A hieroglyphic inscription on the Dagger of Amon Ra reads: "The good god, possessor of a strong arm, Nebkheperura, given life." The prominent falcon, with wings outstretched, served an amulet purpose to protect the pharaoh. A similar motif appears on the haft of a dagger in the Metropolitan Museum which bears the name of Thutmose I (about 1524-1518 B.C.) and may have been a characteristic feature of daggers of this period.

The style of the Dagger suggests the art of Northern Syria during this period, and there are also Minoan or Mycenaean affinities. Scenes of workshops painted on the walls of private tombs at Thebes sometimes include Asiatic craftsmen at work, side by side, with the far more numerous Egyptian artisans, probably employed because of their ability to reproduce artistic styles that were familiar to them but new to the Egyptians. As with previous importations in the history of Egypt, these innovations were quickly absorbed and given the general character of native products.

As you study the Dagger of Amon Ra, resting quietly in its display case, consider the twenty years of toil in the parched sands of the desert that led to its discovery. Clearly, it was worth the effort, and it resides in the Leyendecker Museum as a monument to one man's perseverance and dedication to the highest goals of archaeology.

THE GODS OF EGYPT[]

Pippin Carter, Ph.D. Curator of Egyptology

The people of ancient Egypt believed that their numerous deities were much like themselves, with similar aspirations and physical requirements. Although they varied over time, each of the gods had specific responsibilities, and every event in a person's life was controlled by one or more of these deities. Sometimes, gods were merged for political reasons, but the flexible Egyptian religion still allowed priests to worship local deities. Visitors to our new Egyptian exhibit at the Leyendecker Museum will gain a better understanding of this ancient culture if they will take but a few moments to read the following, in which twelve of the important Egyptian gods are described:

AMON RA: Amon began his career during the Old Kingdom, functioning as a local deity for the city of Thebes. As political circumstances changed, Amon gradually became more powerful, acquiring new responsibilities as the followers of other gods were defeated by the Theban princes. For example, when Shu's followers were defeated, Amon took over Shu's life-giving functions and became the god of the wind that began Creation. During the Middle Kingdom, Amon was represented as a goose and known as the Great Cackler who laid the Cosmic Egg. Except for the feathers, this goose image was eventually dropped.

Climbing in popularity, Amon became known as Amon Ra, who wielded supreme power as the Sun-god, wearing the symbol of the solar disk. He gained the ability to sail over the heavens and the Underworld on his golden barge.

Amon Ra was most popular from 1570 B.C. to 663 B.C. known as the New Kingdom, when he held complete dominion over the vast Egyptian empire. He became known as "King of the Gods" and "Lord of the Thrones of the World" - the source of all life in Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. As was true of previous Sun-gods, Amon Ra was also believed to be the father of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt. These pharaohs built many temples to honor Amon Ra, who responded by leading them to military victories.

Despite his cosmic presence and association with the pharaohs, Amon Ra was also popular among the humble citizens. The common people considered Amon Ra a loving father who would protect them against the injustices of the strong. When Thebes was finally conquered by the Assyrians, Amon Ra fell with the kingdom and all forms of Sun worship disappeared. The Greeks, however, identified Amon Ra as their own Zeus.

OSIRIS: God of the earth and vegetation, Osiris made the crops grow. Originally the symbol for the annual drought and the flooding of the Nile, Osiris absorbed the characteristics of so many gods that he ruled over the dead as well as the living. In representing the sun after it set, he symbolized the motionless dead. Osiris was also considered the protector of the planet Venus.

HORUS: Horus was the sky god and the spirit of light. Horus began his career as a local god worshipped in the delta region of the Nile. His cult spread throughout Egypt and was popular enough to carry over into Roman times. When the kings of Upper Egypt moved into the south, uniting the two lands, Horus became known as the "Uniter of the South and the North." Horus was also considered the protector of the planet Saturn.

ISIS: The most popular Egyptian goddess was Isis, mother of Horus and sister-wife of Osiris, also known as the "Queen of all gods." She was the symbol of the female creative power that conceived every creature and thing. She was the great mother that protected children. Her love crossed the boundaries of Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. The symbol of Isis in the night sky was the star Sept, chosen because its appearance meant the beginning of the new year and the impending Nile flood.

THOTH: Thoth was the god of wisdom. As the patron of the arts and sciences, Thoth created speech, hieroglyphics, and wrote the Egyptian Book of the Dead, among other things. He was considered the heart and tongue of the great sun god, Amon Ra. After weighing the words of the dead, Thoth also gave the gods the final verdict on whether a soul was to be punished or blessed. Later, the Greeks identified Thoth with their got Hermes, crediting him with the invention of astronomy, astrology, mathematics, land surveying, medicine, and botany. He was also the first to organize religion and government.

HATHOR: Hathor was one of the oldest known goddesses of Egypt. Great festivals were celebrated in her temple, the most important being the festival of her birth, held at the new year and ending with a drunken orgy. Her temple became known as a palace of enjoyment and intoxication, giving rise to her title as "Mistress of Merriment," as well as her popularity as the goddess of love and happiness. She also had the function of supplying celestial food for the dead in the Underworld. The Greeks identified her with Aphrodite.

SETH: Also known as Set, he was the god of evil and darkness. Originally worshipped as the Lord of the Upper Egypt, Seth's followers were eventually conquered by the followers of Horus, placing Seth's name in disrepute. The priests of Horus declared Seth to be an enemy of all other gods and ordered that his images be destroyed. As the archenemy of Amon Ra, he was considered the natural opponent to all that was good in the universe. He was also associated with the desert and with storms.

ANUBIS: Anubis invented burial rites and the process of mummification when he embalmed the murdered and dismembered body of Osiris so well that it resisted decay. After that event, Anubis presided over funerals and guided the dead through the Underworld. Anubis watched over the body of the deceased on its journey, making sure that it was not eaten by Amam, the "devourer of the dead."

PTAH: Ptah was the protector of artists and craftsmen. He was the master craftsman who worked in metals, built the cities, and sculpted the gods. Ptah was worshipped as the local deity of Memphis along with Sekhmet, the lioness goddess of war. the Greeks identified Ptah with their god, Hephaestus, and the romans referred to him as Vulcan.

NEPHTHYS: Nephthys was the goddess who represented darkness, decay, and death -- the female counterpart to Seth. However, she was also considered a friend of the dead, and symbolized the life that springs from death. She often appeared with Isis on the walls of mummy cases, her arms reaching out in a protective gesture. She was also known as "mistress of the gods."

MIN: God of fertility and bringer of rain, Min was also worshipped as a god of roads and travellers. Caravan leaders would make offerings to Min before journeying through the desert. Honored at harvest festivals, Min always received the first offering from the Pharaoh. Min's functions were absorbed in later periods by Amon Ra. The Greeks associated Min with their god Pan.

SOBEK: Worshipped in cities that depended on water, such as Crocodilopolis, Sobek was a crocodile god. At Crocodilopolis, a sacred crocodile wearing crystal and gold earrings, as well as bracelets on its forepaws, was kept in a lake alongside Sobek's temple. Treated as if it were the true Sobek, the crocodile was mummified and buried in a sacred vault when it died. Sobek was both friend and enemy to the god Osiris.

MEDIEVAL ARMOR: OUR MOST MISUNDERSTOOD APPAREL[]

Sterling Waldorf-Carlton, Ph.D.

(Ed. note: This article was prepared by Dr. Waldorf-Carlton, President of the Leyendecker, shortly before his untimely demise. Our gratitude to Dr. Archibald Carrington III, who graciously took time from assuming his new responsibilities as successor to Dr. Waldorf-Carlton to complete the article just before we went to press.)

Among the populace, there exists no small misunderstanding of both the form and function of armor. Any knowledge the layperson exhibits is liable to have been derived from such questionable sources as dime picture-books or highly bastardized accounts of the Arthurian legends. This sore lack of reputable information is exacerbated by the dearth of representative collections in America of European armor; even our cousins abroad have meager accumulations, many of which are neither public nor particularly representative of the more common armor types (as opposed to the princely collections which, while fascinating from a decorative point of view, were not the conventional norm). Up until the opening of the Leyendecker's Hall of Medieval Armor, the only notable exhibition was that of the Zschille collection at the Chicago 1893 World's Fair.

If one were to ask the man-in-the-street about the origins of defensive armor, the reply would most likely direct the inquisitor to a tract on the Bronze Age, or perhaps even more grievously, the late 1200s. In fact, the roots of armor may be found among our Stone Age forebears. Arms made of chipped flint and shields of stiffened hides were probably the earliest examples of the armorer's craft; this means we must realign our perspective to over 4,000 years past. However, the purpose of the Leyendecker Museum cannot be to encompass the entire history of armor, for that would necessitate an entire wing devoted solely to that narrow corridor of man's endeavors. Our desire is to present a comprehensive overview of man's achievements; therefore, we have restricted our contemplations of arms and armor to the Medieval period, roughly from the downfall of Rome in 476 to approximately 1500 AD.

The misconceptions of the general populace are legion in the scholarly realm of armor. Perhaps the most pervasive of these is the sound armor is claimed to produce; the traditional interpretation is a "clank" of metal falling upon metal. Only armor that was so poorly crafted as to fall to pieces would ever "clank." In reality, the metal plates were arranged so as to slide gently, one upon the other, producing a soft "shikka shikka."

Chain or "ring" mail was similarly unobtrusive in aural qualities: the ringlets were tightly linked and riveted; offering little give, the rings rarely struck one another with force sufficient to produce any sound at all above a slight rustling. In its time, chain mail was a vast improvement over the more common Carolingian defenses. Often it was used as supplemental armor under full suits of plate armor, since chain armor could prevent the entry of arrow points, lances, and the like, but being flexible, did nothing to ward off or mitigate the flows from heavy weapons. Unfortunately, due to the greatly increased surface area afforded by the hundreds of small components, few authentic samples of chain mail exist today, having long ago rusted into a fine red powder.

The Leyendecker collection emphasizes European armor rather than the Egyptian, Oriental or Cretan pieces. Upon entering the main gallery, the visitor will be greeted by a sentinel of Gothic armor, circa 1490. Although there is a notable lack of decorative embellishment, this sample is nonetheless an example of a high degree of craftsmanship owing to the sage placement of the heavier plates so as to give the wearer the greatest degree of (relative) comfort and stability. To the right of the Gothic suit is a unique example of bestiary armor, a luxury generally reserved for Royalty or, in the case of armored horses, high-ranking military officers.

If the visitor proceeds to turn right and head down the Hall, he will find numerous examples of both Gothic and Maximilian armor. In the southern portion of the hall, several statues are notable for their huge ailettes, plates which were attached to each shoulder and which would tilt to deflect blows from swords or maces.

Unfortunately, these ailettes, which market the early use of plates in conjunction with chain mail, have been reproduced and are not the actual ailettes which accompanied these particular specimens. No European ailettes seem to have survived the march of time.

The years 1200 to 1400 marked the transition from chain to plate mail; there were numerous "plates" added to chain mail, not only in the form of ailettes, but also in the form of knee- or elbow-guards or face plates. Interestingly, one normally associates plate armor with iron or similar materials, but early plate mail -- or pieces thereof -- were often leather stiffened by boiling.

Where we have been unable to obtain actual samples of supplemental armory, we have reconstructed the same with authentic materials and in designs reproduced by careful examination of existing illustrations. Indeed, the Leyendecker Hall of Medieval Armor can bring a good measure of historical perspective to the casual Museum patron, whose knowledge of medieval armor can best be described as woefully deficient, even embarrassing. How supposedly civilized people (such as we find in a city the size of Manhattan) can be so totally ignorant of the basic precepts our civilization was founded upon escapes us, but if we can add to the virtually nonexistent fund of knowledge displayed by these rabble, then we have done our jobs.

THE LEYENDECKER'S LIFE MASKS[]

Olympia Myklos, Ph.D.

What could be more delightfully eerie than to enter a room and find yourself face-to-face with a disembodied head? The answer: entering a room and finding yourself face-to-face with dozens of disembodied heads, hanging silently on a wall and staring sightlessly out with blank and ghostly eyes. This exhilarating experience awaits the Museum patron upon entering the Leyendecker Life Mask exhibit, a recent addition of which we are extremely proud.

The purpose of the display, however, is not to shock (although that is often the result) but to educate, for the Masks demonstrate the differences in exterior anthropomorphic idiosyncrasies between the races indigenous to specific areas. Environmental and societal pressures encourage varying physical traits; thus, paradoxically, we are all alike in that we are all different.

On the map wall of the exhibit, one can find Masks placed in or by land masses in accordance with the appearance of those physical features. For instance, note the Eskimo Mask in the northwesternmost section of North America. The Eskimos display the epicanthic fold on the nasal side of the eyelid, the high articulated cheekbones and heavy brow found in most Mongoloid races. Note the similarities to the Mask hung in Greenland; this Mask is also officially Eskimo, but contains some Caucasoid qualities as intermarriage between the Eskimos and white races has occurred in this region (though, curiously, not in North America).

Unlike the few other Life Mask exhibits in this country, ours are true Life Masks, having been cast from actual people who are either living or once lived in the areas to which each Mask is assigned. Most were cast around the turn of the century by anthropologists, explorers or scientists such as Boris Franz, Walter Bourgerythmus or Mayer Caspian. In central North America, we sought and received the gracious permission of Chief Talking Bear of the Ahwahnee tribe to display his countenance; in Central America, Miguel de la Perfundo of Belize, and the haunting visages of our Brazilian friend Juan Fiyndei and Argentinian archaeologist "Golden" Raul.

In the Eastern hemisphere, the exceptions to our strict "true-life" criteria may be found against the east wall of the display. Here, we attempt to re-create the appearance of certain prehistoric men: Ramapithecus, Neanderthal Man, Cro-Magnon Man, Piltdown Man and others. These masks are based on skull fragments rather than on living examples, since, naturally, no living examples of these species exist save for a few Museum trustees whose identities I am not at liberty to divulge.

The more poorly-informed among us may be tempted to draw inaccurate conclusions about the differences between the races based on physical appearances. Despite the popular characterizations, there is no scientific basis for claims that any one race is more intelligent or adaptive than another. Those who promulgate these claims offer flimsy support such as studies with built-in sociological biases. We tend to be afraid of the unknown, to denigrate that which we do not understand. Unfortunately, we as Americans tend to be ignorant of other cultures, automatically assuming that those who do not look, speak or act like we do must be somehow inferior. The Leyendecker abhors this narrow world view. Through exhibits such as the Life Mask display, we aim to achieve greater understanding, and thus greater acceptance, of cultures other than our own.

OLD MASTERS GALLERY: THE IGNATZ LEYENDECKER COLLECTION[]

Sterling Waldorf-Carlton, Ph.D.

(Ed. note: This article is reprinted from last year's edition of the Museum Guide. Dr. Waldorf-Carlton, former President of the Leyendecker, met his untimely demise before he was able to update the information contained herein.)

In 1897, this Museum was built to house the personal Renaissance art collection of our Founder, Ignatz Leyendecker, who also financed the construction. His reasons for doing so are not clear, since the average New Yorker has little or no understanding of the magnanimity of his gesture, uneducated as they are with regard to Renaissance arts, and clearly being morecomfortable with the latest exploits of the Katzenjammer Kids and their ilk in the daily news journals. In the vain hope that a Museum patron with a modicum of education will someday undertake to walk through our doors and read this article, I will endeavor to explain the intricacies of the paintings that hang as shining examples of the creative urge of the Renaissance upon the walls of our Old Masters Gallery.

A DEFINITION[]

The Medieval period was once regarded as a thousand dark and empty years separating the "good" eras -- classical antiquity and modern times, the Renaissance being thought of as "early modern." However, in the nineteenth century, a more cosmopolitan and tolerant taste, as well as a more discerning and accurate historical method, readjusted the view, and to us the Middle Ages are no longer "dark" as once depicted. In the same way, the Renaissance ("rebirth"), spanning roughly the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, no longer seems to be the abrupt onset of the modern world illuminating the Medieval darkness. However, the Renaissance period had certain distinguishing characteristics.

RENAISSANCE VALUES[]

The Renaissance stressed the importance of individual men, especially men of merit. The leading men of the Renaissance were acutely aware of the new possibilities open to their talents and did not fail to recognize, and advertise, the powers they were confident they possessed. The wide versatility of many of the artists of the Renaissance -- such as Alberti, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo -- led them to experimentation and achievement in many of the arts and sciences, giving substance to the concept of the archetypal Renaissance genius -- l'uomo universale, "the universal man." Such men could win the award of everlasting fame. Indeed, the immortality won through fame may have been more coveted by many great men of the time than the spiritual immortality promised by religion. When the painter Fra Filippo Lippi died in 1469, the town of Spoleto requested that it be allowed to keep his remains on the grounds that Florence, his native city, already had many celebrated men buried within the bounds of its walls.

Petrarch, the great Italian poet and scholar of the fourteenth century, who may fairly be said to have first propounded those peculiarly Renaissance values of versatile individualism and humanism, has been called the high priest of the cult of fame and, by many, the Founder of the Renaissance. He postulated that public recognition is never given to an unworthy work or talent and that, therefore, public glory is proof of excellence.

And so, with that said, on to our specific examples of the work of Renaissance man:

THE LEYENDECKER COLLECTION[]

"Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed." - Nathaniel Hawthorne


BATTLE OF THE NUDES by Michelangelo, 1490:

Michelangelo's only experimental work done entirely in two dimensions, this unique painting was based on the classical statuary of Pollaiolo, a master in the representation of the anatomical nude. The theme was a favorite one of the Florentine Quattrocento. Obviously, the assumption here is that empirical nature is an imitation of the sublime world of statues. It was Florentine Platonism that provided a basis for this "transcendent realism." Since so much has been written about Michelangelo's work, I need not go into more detail here.

MUSINGS ON CYBERSPACE by John Wentworth, 1533:

What Durer had struggled all his life to formulate and construct was achieved almost effortlessly by his younger contemporary, John Wentworth (1497-1544). Wentworth's specialty was portraiture, in which he displayed a thorough assimilation of all that Italy had to teach of monumental composition, bodily structure, and sculpturesque form.

He retains the northern traditions of close realism as elaborated in fifteenth century Flemish art, for the color surfaces of his paintings are as lustrous as enamel, his detail exact and exquisitely drawn, and his contrasts of light and dark never heavy. Erasmus of Rotterdam in Basel, aware that a religious civil war was imminent, suggested that Wentworth leave for England and gave him a recommendation to Thomas More, chancellor of England under Henry VIII. Wentworth left and became painter to the English court. During this period, he began having hallucinations about a place called "cyberspace," which he endeavored to paint in 1533.


ART IS WORK by Fra Bobetto Gleasoni, 1492: (NOTE: Artists life span dates and painting date disagree)

A strong, though perhaps unlikely contributor to the pictorial humanization of religious subject matter was Fra Bobetto Gleasoni (1406-1469). Like Fra Angelico, Fra Bobetto was a monk, but there all resemblance ends. From reports he seems to have been a kind of amiable scapegrace, quite unfitted for monastic life, who indulged in misdemeanors ranging from forgery and embezzlement to the abduction of a pretty nun, Lucretia, who became his mistress and the mother of his son, the painter Dennisi Lewisoni Gleasoni. Only the Medici's intervention on his behalf at the papal court preserved him from severe punishment and total disgrace, and he was, despite all, still able to produce important work.

This painting, Art is Work, was painted in 1492 on a visit to Spain, commissioned by Queen Isabella to keep him busy finding a new way to paint instead of discovering the New World, so that Christopher Columbus could do it instead. After Columbus' discovery, Bobetto's life goal became the discovery of new lands, and he was last seen sailing out to sea in a canoe in 1469 to pursue this dream.


TROUBLE ON TWO LEGS by Dennis Lewis, 15??:

Although the date of this work is unknown, our best guess is that it was executed in 1501. Lost for over four hundred years, the painting was discovered in an attic near Bordeaux, France, hidden behind a case of chocolate. While accepting realistic details in anatomy, drapery, perspective, and architecture, Lewis rejected the heavy modeling that would have dulled his bright Gothic coloring. Although he was fully aware of that was being done by his more experimentally inclined contemporaries, he adopted only those innovations he could incorporate without friction into his essentially conservative style. This painting has a tender charm that has an almost universal appeal and fully reflects the character of the artist, who died while saving a puppy from a runaway carriage in a city street.


TWO BROTHERS DRINKING IN A TAVERN by Rick Van Morgan, 1444:

Dutch master Rick Van Morgan, whose work would be emulated by Rembrandt Van Rijn almost two hundred years later, excelled in the area of group portraits, as in this painting which represents the archetypal image of the new merchant class. Here, Morgan applied all he knew of the dynamics and psychology of light, the visual suggestion of time, and the art of pose and facial expression. For our time, Morgan stands as the archetype of the modern artist, the isolated master who is completely misunderstood by those around him, but continues to find his own way to new heights of expression no matter the barriers of ignorance raised against him. Morgan died in 1466 as the result of a gunshot wound to the head, received in a misunderstanding over something he said about a merchant's wife.

CART BEFORE THE HORSE by Suzetto Livengoodoni, 1481:

Italian master Suzetto Livengoodoni demonstrates in this painting an unrestrained joy and exuberance, an exultant song in praise of human beauty and love. The composition artfully wheels the sturdy figures around the horse in bounding and dashing movement. The figures are sculpturally conceived, emphasizing the naturalistic art and poetry on which the classical world was based. Suzetto was considered genial, even-tempered, and high-minded, which contrasted enormously with the aloof, mysterious Leonardo and the tormented, intractable Michelangelo.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN by Marciello Fleming, 1550:

The sophisticated elegance sought by the Mannerist painter was often achieved in portraiture. This painting by Fleming is exemplary of the type. The subject is a proud youth, a man of books and intellectual society rather than a man of action or a merchant. His cool demeanor is carefully affected, a calculated attitude of nonchalance toward the observing world.

This austere and incommunicative formality is standard for the Mannerist portrait. It asserts the rank and station of the subject but not his personality. The haughty poise and the severe architecture suggest the traits and environment of the high-bred, disdainful patrician.

With careful study, the casual museum patron could learn much from Mr. Leyendecker's special collection of Renaissance paintings. Admittedly, this is quite unlikely, since years of scholarship are required to fully appreciate the intricacies of such masterworks, and I seriously doubt that the average museumgoer will even bother to read this article, being more concerned with the thrill of the moment, the "quick fix," the hedonistic sensual thrill of the visual experience; in essence, merely seeing things without actually bothering to think about what one is seeing. Great art is not chewing gum for the eyes, it is a tough filet mignon requiring thorough mastication to bring out its juices and participate in the deeper experience, that of sympatico communication with the original artist and the ramifications of mood and meaning imparted to the canvas with a few masterful strokes of a brush.

THE LEYENDECKER LABS: THE FINE ART OF PREPARATION AND PRESERVATION[]

Olympia Myklos, Ph.D.

PREPARATION[]

Laboring behind the scenes, in the downstairs laboratories of the Leyendecker Museum, technicians prepare specimens for study and for preservation. While paleontologists find dinosaur bones in a handy fossilized state, ready for examination, mammalogists are not so lucky. Mammalogists deal with bones that are inconveniently encased in muscle and flesh.

The process begins with a creature, preferably a dead one, which is normally stored in an icebox until the technician is ready to work with it. Stripping the messy tissues from the skeleton is accomplished by two different methods: bugs or bacteria. Bacterial maceration is the preferred method for large creatures whose skeletons will be separated into their component parts. The bugs are preferred when a clean, articulated, complete skeleton is the desired result.

Bacterial maceration, similar to digestion, begins with a process known as "roughing out," during which the body's vital organs are removed and excess layers of fat, tissue, and muscle are cut off. The unhappy carcass is then lowered into a tank of water which is kept warm enough for the rotting process to proceed at the optimum pace. Over a period of one or two weeks, bacterial action digests the tissues, which float to the surface of the water tank to form a foul-smelling scum. When most of the soft tissues have liquefied, the water is drained from the tank to reveal a greasy pile of bones, which are then boiled in cleaning soda.

Any stubborn bits of flesh that remain stuck to the bones are plucked off by hand, usually by an underpaid technician's assistant. In the Leyendecker mammalogy Lab, a system of fans and vents carry away most of the hideous stench that builds up during the maceration process, which is something the technicians appreciate. The final step is to place the skeleton in a tray full of benzene, which bleaches the bones a brilliant white when left in sunlight.

The bugs, actually dermestid beetles, comprise the second method of cleaning skeletons. These beetles have hearty appetites, particularly when their meals consist of dead flesh. A large colony of these black, ordinary-looking beetles live a happy life in the Leyendecker Museum, feasting on dead carcasses and stripping them down to clean skeletons. Normally, the skeletons are removed from the beetle boxes before they eat the connecting sections of cartilage between the bone segments. However, the beetles would happily eat the entire corpse, bones and all, if given enough time.

Since the little devils are so hungry all the time, spare hunks of meat hang nearby, ready to be used during the slow periods when no carcasses are waiting to be cleaned. These hunks of meat are also used to distract the beetles when a skeleton is ready to be retrieved from the bug box. The clean skeleton is immediately sealed in a cabinet with mothballs to kill any stubborn beetles that refuse to let go, otherwise they could make their way into the museum on a journey of conquest, reducing our fine collections of skeletons to powder in a matter of weeks.

Before display, the stripped bones are soaked in a water and ammonia solution to remove grease and odor, then dried and numbered. The late President Waldorf-Carlton, who always kept a watchful eye on the budget, once remarked, "The bugs and the bacteria are perfect employees. They work 24 hours a day in return for nothing more than room and board. They never whine about their wages or go on vacation. I wish more of our human employees would learn a lesson from that."

When the pristine skeletons are ready, they are mounted and placed on public display to delight young and old. In fact, many people have remarked that the skeleton displays were the most memorable part of their visit to the Museum.

PRESERVATION[]

Many deceased residents of the Leyendecker Museum are "alcoholics." In the Leyendecker Museum's Alcohol Preservation Laboratory, a wide array of exotic creatures rest quietly in glass vats of 150-proof grain alcohol. The alcohol fumes are strong in the lab, so smoking is not allowed. Many of the larger creatures in the vats have been dissected, since researchers often find it easier to study the internal organs this way, but many of the alcoholic residents are still in one piece. I often find myself in the alcoholic lab, staring at the creatures in their glass vats, admiring the sheer beauty of their suspended animation.

When the alcohol is disturbed, the creatures drift along in the murky fluid, hair or fur waving gently, intestines trailing along behind, evoking images of poetry in motion. Some of the prize members of the collection, currently on a world tour, are the mummified contents of a woolly mammoth's stomach, discovered on a high mountain in Ecuador by a humble peasant gathering coffee beans, giving us insight into the prehistoric creature's last meal. We also have alcoholic lemmings, unicorns, warthogs, a formerly- mythical creature from a Scottish lake, dead royalty, and albino hippos among the collection.

The Leyendecker alcoholic collection is a gold mine of information for comparative anatomists, evolutionary biologists, and systematic zoologists, who make this one of the most heavily researched collections of exotic specimens in the world.

DINOSAURS: OUR BIG EXTINCT BROTHERS![]

Olympia Myklos, Ph.D.

THE EXHIBIT[]

Dinosaurs hold a strange and hypnotic fascination for adults and children alike. Perhaps the imagination is stirred by the thought of towering beasts whose every step shook the earth and whose thunderous roars could be heard for miles around.

Indeed, the so-called King of the Dinosaurs is named Tyrannosaurus Rex, literally "King of the Tyrant Lizards." An apt title for an eight ton, forty foot carnivorous killing machine whose teeth were up to six inches in length. The tyrannosaurus Rex is the largest predator ever to walk the face of the earth. (By way of comparison, the largest of elephants in the world today are only up to six tons net weight.) A superb standing re-creation of Tyrannosaurus Rex is, in fact, one of the central features of our Dinosaur exhibit, whom we affectionately refer to as "Rex the Talking Dinosaur."

Yet, for all its size and might, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was dwarfed in weight by the eighty-five ton Brachiosaurus. (Again, in comparison: the largest animal currently living is the Sperm Whale, which tips the scales at a relatively slender fifty-three tons at most.) In breadth, Tyrannosaurus Rex is firmly trounced by the mighty Diplodocus, which we estimate would be approximately eighty feet. Both these creatures were also land-dwelling reptiles; a painting of the herbivorous Brontosaurus can be found in the same chamber as the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

As Diplodocus was discovered a mere three years ago in a sandstone formation in Utah, we have no re-creation of the beast on display as of yet; we anticipate at least another four years before the skeleton is fully reconstructed at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. However, we do intend to create a model of Diplodocus as soon as all the details of its appearance are made available, and we plan on expanding our Dinosaur exhibit to make room for what will surely be one magnificent beast.

In the same area you will find a splendid model of a Sauropod, a smaller herbivorous reptile (and certainly no match for its attacker, T. Rex). Hanging nearby is the nightmarish Pterodactyl, a winged, warm-blooded reptile with a wingspan approaching thirty feet. Belying its hideous appearance is the fact that every bird we know of today is descended from this monstrous creature.

To the back you will find a painting depicting a family of Triceratops, which means "three-horned face." Despite the aggressively armored head, Triceratops was a docile plant-eating creature who only used his horn to defend himself and his family. He was also one of the very last to survive whatever cataclysm resulted in the demise of the dinosaurs, who had inhabited the Earth for 140 million years. Here, two proud Triceratops parents are depicted in a diorama, watching as their children emerge from eggs. Cute though they may be, they're all long dead.

Perpendicular to the painting of our gentle friends, the Triceratops, is a painting of Dimetron, another unassuming land reptile whose diet consisted mainly of plants and trees.

Where possible, the Leyendecker has reconstructed entire skeletons based on a collection of bones which would try the patience of even the most skilled jigsaw-puzzle expert. No tour of the Leyendecker would be complete without a stop at the massive skeleton of the Mastodon, also known as the Woolly Mammoth.

Remarkably, this tusked forebear of the modern elephant actually survived the Ice Age alongside the elephants. In North America, elephants even perished with the coming of the glaciers, while the Mastodon lived on. No live specimens exist today, but fossil remains are relatively plentiful, and the Mastodon enjoyed the dubious distinction of being one of the very few dinosaurs still alive at the dawn of mankind. The vast majority of dinosaurs had died out many years prior to man's emergence.

We're also proud to display our re-creation of a Struthiomimus skeleton, literally "ostrich mimic," and the shape of its hips lead us to believe it was an extremely fast runner (hence its name). Next to the Struthiomimus is the ghastly Eryops, an early amphibian with extremely short and thick limbs. It bears a close resemblance to the modern day alligators and crocodiles; these creatures have changed little over millions of years. In some ways, alligators, crocodiles, and the Komodo Dragon (the largest living lizard, found only on Komodo Island in the Indonesian Archipelago) are the closest examples we have today of living, breathing dinosaurs.

There are several whole skeletons displayed at eye level: the Archaeopteryx, one of the earliest birds, yet with teeth and clawed fingers, and the Eohippus, a very small mammalian dinosaur about the size of a small domestic dog. Yet the Eohippus is believed to be the ancestor of the modern horse; the earliest horses are believed to be extremely small as well.

BONE QUEST[]

Where, you may ask, do all these dinosaur bones come from? A paleontologist locates fossils using similar methods as a prospector looking for minerals. The bone hunter uses his knowledge of geology to make a thorough study of the search area's landscape. Most often, he will follow sedimentary beds already known to contain fossils across the intervening strata to an unexplored outcropping.

As is true of the prospector, the bone hunter will use intuition and conversations with locals to locate promising fossil areas. For example, a section of uplifted strata, known as an anticline, is often a good area to search for fossils. To help matters, the top of the anticline is usually eroded. If bones have been found on one side of the exposed anticline, similar fossils can also be found on the other side. However, the other side of the anticline may not be nearby, and may in fact be several miles away. Expert bone hunters map out the intervening terrain, no matter how rough, to determine where that particular fossiliferous layer will emerge on the far side.

With large finds, excavation can be difficult and time-consuming. One Brontosaurus, whose right thigh bone weighed 570 pounds by itself, required the removal of enormous blocks of matrix (the stone in which a fossil is embedded), all of which were shipped to the Museum. It took another two years of chipping at the matrix in the Museum to expose the specimens, piece together the brittle bones, cement the bone fragments, and restore areas of missing bone. Missing bones needed to complete the skeleton were cast in plaster or replaced with fossils from other finds. Three more years were required to assemble and mount the skeleton for display.

This brings to a close our tour of the Leyendecker Dinosaur exhibit, which may be our most popular display. Somehow, children especially are drawn to this exhibit, and it is our sincere desire that some of these youngsters come away with a desire to continue their interest into the college and post-college years. We anticipate that this exhibit will greatly expand in the coming years, as new discoveries are being made on an almost daily basis. Surely time will bring us a greater understanding of these giants, and with it, a greater understanding of how all animal life evolved on this great blue sphere we call home.


"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made." - Robert Browning

WHITHER THE LEYENDECKER?[]

Built to endure the centuries, the Leyendecker Museum has already carved itself a niche in the history of civilization. No other depository, save perhaps Washington's Smithsonian Institution, has offered the breadth and variety of mankind's cultural and artistic endowment to the ages. Shall we presume, on this our 30th anniversary of the Leyendecker, to conjecture on the future's influence upon this glorious treasure trove? Let us look forward to the year of our Lord 1995, and what wonders we find there in regards this magnificent hall. Surely if any of us were to peer through a crystal ball, we would be goggle-eyed with stupefaction at the technological and artistic strides achieved in the 69 years betwixt our present and future Leyendeckers. True, what frippery to conjecture so, what a lark to close our eyes and imagine, but yet why cannot we look ahead and, making the most educated of guesses, foretell our own future?

Therefore, with the help of noted sociologist and futurian Dr. Dewey Tewitt, we have constructed this mise en scene of New York City, 1995. Sleek silver monorails transport commuters from their abodes to their offices. These monorails, powered by safe, non-polluting Atomic power, supplant the modern "aircars" that hover high above the city streets on cushions of forced air. Suitable for small families, these aircars will make traffic jams obsolete. For larger families, economical and attractive blimps will perform the same service, albeit at a slower pace. Down below, the streets, long abandoned by vehicular traffic, have been converted into open-air malls where strollers and passers-by can window shop or select items for purchase via pushbutton kiosks.

In inclement weather, pedestrians will turn to the elevated covered walkways that interconnect the skyscrapers. One of the covered walkways leads directly into the inviting lobby of 1995's Leyendecker Museum.

One of the first changes noticeable is the lack of security personnel; by 1995, our creditable penal institutions will have eliminated crime. Therefore the Museum is open 24 hours a day, allowing patrons to avail themselves of cultural history at any time of the day or night. Exhibits are no longer behind ropes or glass enclosures, as there is no longer a desire on the part of the public to deface or make off with the timeless artifacts on display. Motorized moving sidewalks, powered also by clean Atomic energy, propel art lovers at a leisurely pace past the exhibits and through the halls; in this way, patrons will have the opportunity to enjoy the entire Museum without the risk of missing any of its unique halls or exhibits.

There will be no further need for the Museum Gift Shoppe. Reproductions of exhibits will be available simply by crying out one's name and address while viewing the original exhibit; the information will be recorded and sent directly via radio wave to an automated shipping and billing warehouse, where your order will be whisked into the mail in a trice. Imagine: a seamless reproduction of the very painting or statue you were admiring at the Museum will be waiting for you upon your return home! In this manner, homes may be tastefully and artistically decorated simply by visiting the Leyendecker.

Should even the silent motorized walkways of the Museum prove too much for your feet, a quick stop at any of the Museum Refreshment Vendors will turn the trick. At the press of a button, a small pill will automatically be dispensed by these machines, the pill containing all the nourishment and satisfaction of a full 5-course meal. Instant refreshment and energy to perk up the Museumgoer!

Truly, the Leyendecker of the Future will be all of the above, but more as well. We can only begin to guess at the marvels the future will bring. God willing we will all be there to see it, as Medical Science will shortly be eliminating aging and death, ensuring lifespans of hundreds of years -- yea, perhaps thousands -- for us all. Eureka!

Credits[]

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ken Williams

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Bill Davis

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Bruce Balfour

GAME DESIGNER: Bruce Balfour

CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Roberta Williams

PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Andy Hoyos

ART DESIGNER: Bob Gleason

LEAD PROGRAMMER: Brian K. Hughes

COMPOSER: Chris Braymen

ANIMATORS: Barry T. Smith Deena Krutak Donald Waller Dennis Lewis Teresa D. Tidd Suzi Livengood

Jerry Jessurun Gloria Garland Terrence C. Falls Eric Kasner Dana M. Dean

BACKGROUND ARTISTS: Maurice Morgan Dennis Lewis Suzi Livengood Terrence C. Falls

PROGRAMMERS: Kim Bowdish Steve Conrad Cynthia L. Goff John Wentworth

DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS: Jeff Stephenson Mark Wilden Jack Magne Dan Foy Christopher Smith Ken Koch Larry Scott J. Mark Hood Brian K. Hughes

MUSIC DIRECTOR: Mark Seibert

ADDITIONAL MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS: Orpheus Hanley Dan Kehler

WRITER: Josh Mandel

ADDITIONAL WRITTEN MATERIAL: Lorelei Shannon

ORIGINAL DRAWINGS AND STORYBOARD: Jane Cardinal

ADDITIONAL ART: Cheri Loyd

QUALITY ASSURANCE: Judy Crites

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Stuart Moulder Tammy Dargan

DOCUMENTATION DESIGN Nathan Gams Mark Empey

DOCUMENTATION ILLUSTRATIONS Bob Gleason Ruben Huante Donald Waller Timothy Loucks Darlou Gams

BIBLIOGRAPHY[]

If you've enjoyed this game, and want to read further on the topics of Archaeology, Anthropology, Criminology, Dinosaurs, Egyptology, Hieroglyphics, Murder, Museums, and the Roaring ‘20s, we can recommend the following books, many of which should be available at your local Public Library. We found them invaluable in providing background information both for the game and for the documentation.

Budge, E.A. Wallis. An Egyptian Reading book for Beginners. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1976

Budge, E.A. Wallis. Egyptian Language: Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1971. Budge, E.A. Wallis. The Mummy. New York: Collier Books, 1972

Carruth, Gorton. What Happened When - A Chronology of Life & Events in America. New York: the Penguin Group, 1991.

Dixon, Franklin W. the Hardy boys' Detective Handbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1959.

Everett, Susanne. London: The Glamour Years 1919-39. New York: Gallery Books, 1985.

Exeter Books. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Western Art. New York: Exeter Books, 1979.

Gardner, Helen. Art Through the Ages. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1926.

Held, Julius S. and Donald Posner. 17th and 18th Century Art. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. and Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

James, T.G.H. Ancient Egypt: The Land and its Legacy. Austin: University of Austin Press, 1990

Mercantante, Anthony S. Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology. Canada: General Publishing Company Limited, 1979.

Nelson, John G. Preliminary Investigation and Police Reporting: A Complete Guide to Police Written Communication. Beverly Hills: Glencoe Press, 1970.

Preston, Douglas J. Dinosaurs in the Attic. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986.

Reeves, Nicholas. The Complete Tutankhamen. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1990.

Roth, Martin. The Writer's Complete Crime Reference Book. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1990.

Stevens, Serita Deborah with Anne Klarner. Deadly Doses: a writer's guide to poisons. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1990.

Tompkins, Peter. Secrets of the Great Pyramids. New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1978.

Treasures of Tutankhamen. New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976.

WGBH, Boston. NOVA: Adventures in Science. Boston: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1982.

Winn, Dilys. Murder Ink. New York: Workman Publishing Company, Inc. 1984.

Wynne, Barry. Behind the Mask of Tutankhamen. Los Angeles: Pinnacle Books, 1972.

External Links[]