Excavating dinosaur skeleton, Morrison Formation, 1934B. Brown/© AMNH
Today’s find really highlights that science and science communication are two different skills.
In 1934, while out on an expedition for dinosaur bones in the Big Horn Bad Lands, Barnum Brown and team produced a film "Dr. Brown Leaves to Search for Prehistoric Animals” and sent it to Paramount News for possible distribution. Safe to say, Paramount did not hold back on their thoughts and feedback.
The feedback slip criticizes the film as sounding “too much like a scientific lecture.” That the speeches are “dull” and “when they bring ‘em back alive, maybe we’ll use (it).”
Dr. Brown was spared this critique by friends in the museum and other plans were made for expedition publicity.
This entry was written by Lauren VanDenBerg, Shelby White & Leon Levy Project Archivist.