Innovative Mounts and Monographs
Struthiomimus Panel Mount, 1916
The 1916 volume of the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History includes three gems in the history of dinosaur restoration: Barnum Brown's article on Corythosaurus, Osborn's article on the new T. rex mount, and, in the same article as the T. rex restoration, Osborn's unveiling of the panel mount of Struthiomimus. We have included all three in the exhibition (for the first two, see item 29 and item 34 respectively), even though it creates severe problems for display.
The first ornithomimid bones were discovered by Marsh expeditions in 1888-89, but the family remained rather incompletely known for decades. Lawrence Lambe in 1901 had found a leg and several other bones of a new species that he named Ornithomimus altus. But in 1914, the splendid and nearly complete specimen shown here was discovered by Barnum Brown at the Red Deer River site in Alberta. It was quite similar to the known parts of Lambe's species, but because it came from an older formation, and seemed more primitive than Ornithomimus, Osborn renamed it Struthiomimus altus.
The panel mount, presenting the specimen more or less as found, was prepared by Peter Kaisen. The beautiful illustration is not specifically credited; at first glance it has the appearance of a photograph, but it has many signs of being an exquisitely fine wash drawing. If so, it could only have been done by Erwin Christman (see item 39).
Osborn also gave some thought in this article to the probable life habits of Struthiomimus, with some pen restorations.
Struthiomimus Restored, 1916
In his article on Struthiomimus, Osborn included some sketches that suggested how the dinosaur might have moved and behaved in real life. Osborn himself thought that Struthiomimus probably ran like a modern iguana or agama, and browsed on tree leaves. The top images in each pair reflect Osborn’s views. G. William Beebe thought that Struthiomimus might have been an insectivore and fed on ant hills. Barnum Brown proposed that it might have lived along the shore and fed on small crustaceans. These proposals are portrayed in the bottom set of images.