From the cabinet, fragments of real fossilized bone from Fruita, CO, belonging to a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur once referred either to Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus.
During the very early 1900s, a partial (back half) sauropod dinosaur skeleton, then referred to Apatosaurus, was mounted at what is today The Field Museum. In 1958, bones from another and more recently collected specimen (with a cast of a Camarasaurus skull) were added to the original mount, resulting in a complete skeleton (then re-labeled Brontosaurus). Presumably my fragments were originally part of that front-half specimen. The postcards below show both the original and 1958 mounts. During the 1970s the Camarasaurus cast was replaced with the correct skull. Based upon more recent information, this specimen may represent a new and as yet unnamed sauropod genus.
To see this 1930s view in 3D, just “reverse cross” your eyes. Bottom right, Field Museum postcard reproducing a mural of Apatosaurus painted by Charles R. Knight, based in part on the partial skeleton.
