Numerous wings have been added over the years, including the main entrance pavilion (named for Theodore Roosevelt) in 1936 and the Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000.

[17] Before the museum was established, Bickmore needed to secure approval from Boss Tweed, leader of the powerful and corrupt Tammany Hall political organization.

[36][37] At this point, the AMNH's Manhattan Square building and the Arsenal could not physically fit any more objects, and the existing facilities, such as the 100-seat lecture hall, were insufficient to accommodate demand.

During the 1950s, the top floor was renovated into a library, being redecorated with what Christopher Gray of The New York Times described as "dropped ceilings and the other usual insults".

[112] In 2014, the museum published plans for a $325 million, 195,000 sq ft (18,100 m2) annex, the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, on the Columbus Avenue side.

Construction of the Gilder Center, which was expected to break ground the next year following design development and Environmental Impact Statement stages, would entail demolition of three museum buildings built between 1874 and 1935.

[140] It is flanked by two pairs of columns, which are topped by figures of American explorers John James Audubon, Daniel Boone, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark.

[159][168] Specimens for the Hall of Asian Mammals were collected over six expeditions led by British-born antiques dealer Arthur S. Vernay and Col. John Faunthorpe (as noted by stylized plaques at both entrances).

In contrast to the dramatic scenes that Akeley created for the African Hall, Chapman wanted his dioramas to evoke a scientific realism, ultimately serving as a historical record of habitats and species facing a high probability of extinction.

Notable exhibits include a Komodo dragon group, an American alligator, Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise, and poison dart frogs.

The entrance to the hall features a cross section from the Mark Twain Tree, 1,400-year-old sequoia taken from the King's River grove on the west flank of the Sierra Mountains in 1891.

The 2003 renovation included refurbishment of the famous blue whale, suspended high above the 19,000 sq ft (1,800 m2) exhibit floor; updates to the 1930s and 1960s dioramas; and electronic displays.

Notable exhibits in the Ancient Eurasian section include reproductions from the archaeological sites of Teshik-Tash and Çatalhöyük, as well as a full size replica of a Hammurabi Stele.

[216] In 1989, the Hall was renovated and reopened as a permanent exhibition, focusing on the technology and artistry of the ancient Andean and traditional Amazonian cultures, led by curators Craig Morris, Junius Bird, and Robert Carneiro.

[225] The exhibits in the Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples also include a fiberglass cast of an Easter Island moai statue and capes made of honeycreeper feathers.

[229][230] The hall now contains artifacts and exhibits of the tribes of the North Pacific Coast cultural region (Southern Alaska, Northern Washington, and a portion of British Columbia).

[242][243] The primary focus of this hall is the North American Great Plains peoples as they were at the middle of the 19th century, including depictions of Blackfeet (see also: Blackfoot Confederacy), Hidatsa, and Dakota cultures.

The exhibit features examples of indigenous basketry, pottery, farming techniques, food preparation, metal jewelry, musical instruments, and textiles.

The north section of the hall, which deals primarily with plate tectonics, is arranged to mimic the Earth's structure, with the core and mantle at the center and crustal features on the perimeter.

[108][109] Designed by James Stewart Polshek, the new building consists of a six-story high glass cube enclosing an 87 ft (27 m) illuminated sphere that appears to float, although it is actually supported by truss work.

This structure, a small companion piece to the Rose Center, offers a new entry way to the museum as well as opening further exhibition space for astronomically related objects.

The curvilinear façade contrasts with the earlier High Victorian Gothic, Richardson Romanesque, and Beaux Arts structures, but its Milford Pink granite cladding is the same stone used on the Museum's west side.

[292] [293] The Richard Gilder Center houses new exhibition and display areas devoted to insects, including an insectarium and butterfly vivarium, where visitors can walk among hundreds of live specimens as they flutter about in a lush tropical setting.

It also includes a visible storage structure that houses and displays scientific specimens; an expanded research library; classrooms and education areas, and laboratories.

In addition to the famous dioramas at its home museum and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the lab has also produced international exhibitions and software such as the Digital Universe Atlas.

[304][305] In the 1900s, the library continued to grow with donations from figures and organizations such as Egbert Viele, the American Ethnological Society, Joel Asaph Allen, Hermon Carey Bumpus, and Henry Fairfield Osborn.

[334] Osborn's friend, noted eugenicist Madison Grant, a member of the museum's executive committee, was the author of the 1916 book, The Passing of the Great Race.

[3][345] Famous names associated with the museum include the dinosaur-hunter of the Gobi Desert, Roy Chapman Andrews (one of the inspirations for Indiana Jones);[346] photographers Yvette Borup Andrews and George Gaylord Simpson; biologists Ernst Mayr and Stephen Jay Gould; pioneer cultural anthropologists Franz Boas and Margaret Mead; explorer and geographer Alexander H. Rice Jr.; and ornithologist Robert Cushman Murphy.

[353] A 2020 article by University of New Hampshire historian Julia Rodriguez contrasts the approaches respectively taken by the AMNH and the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, in terms of their human and cultural exhibits.

[355] Her essay was criticized by Samuel Abrams, who serves as a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, as a researcher at NYU, and as a Professor of Politics at Sarah Lawrence College.