Early Photos of The Field Museum (1919-1922)

The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational and scientific programs, and its extensive scientific specimen and artifact collections. The permanent exhibitions, which attract up to 2 million visitors annually, include fossils, current cultures from around the world, and interactive programming demonstrating today’s urgent conservation needs.

The museum is named in honor of its first major benefactor, Marshall Field, the department-store magnate. The museum and its collections originated from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the artifacts displayed at the fair.

In 1921 the Museum moved from its original location in Jackson Park to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown where it is part of a lakefront Museum Campus that includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.

These vintage photos from The Field Museum Library that show interior of The Field Museum from 1919 to 1922.

Corner of new Field Museum building showing railroad car with spiral at end, train tracks used in move from Field Columbian Museum, 1920

Female Caryatid statue with her right knee bent (sculptor was Henry Hering) shown prior to installation on Field Museum Exterior of building, 1919

Statue representing Knowledge by Henry Hering, female figure holding baby, for Northeast corner of Stanley Field Hall, 1919

Statue representing Science by Henry Hering, female figure holding a skull and a book, for Northwest corner of Stanley Field Hall, 1919

Caryatid statues and porch by Henry Hering, Field Museum of Natural History exterior, 1920

Second floor Hall 32 looking south towards shipping elevator before any exhibits have been installed in the new Field Museum building, 1920

Colonnade, second floor Hall 24 or Hall 32, overview of exhibit area. Field Museum of Natural History interior, 1922

Exhibit Hall 27 Botany, empty, showing detailed doorway entrance. Overview of second floor exhibit area in new Museum building, 1922

Hall 28 Economic Botany, overview of second floor exhibit area, New Museum building, 1922

Hall 37 Geology, overview of second floor exhibit area in new Museum building, 1922

Hall 38 with Irish Deer skeleton in new Museum building, 1922

James Simpson Theater from the stage towards the projection booth and exit doors (before chairs and seating were installed) shows heating ducts on floor, Field Museum of Natural History interior, 1922

James Simpson Theater towards the stage from the exit doors (before chairs and seating were installed) shows heating ducts on floor new Museum building, 1922

Stanley Field Hall from balcony. Overview of exhibit cases, Roman bronzes including bathtub, elephants, looking south towards Chinese Gateway under stairway, Field Museum of Natural History interior, 1922

Stanley Field Hall looking south from North balcony. Elephants, Chinese Gateway, Roman bronze artifacts in cases, including bathtub. Overview, Field Museum of Natural History interior, 1922

Stanley Field Hall looking south, overview of exhibits including the Charging Elephants by Carl Akeley, Field Museum of Natural History interior, 1922

Vegetable Raw Minerals and Products cases, Hall 28 Economic Botany exhibits overview, New Museum building, 1922