fossil Journeys

Hello, most of you probably know who I am, some of you may have even visited me at some point, either in London or on my more recent travels. I look down at you staring up at me with eyes full of wonder and excitement. You probably know me as Dippy the diplodocus, and I want to tell you, my story.

I want to start by saying I am not a real dinosaur, I am a cast based on a very important dinosaur, but I am also very important as I was the first full skeleton of a sauropod to be placed on display anywhere in the world. The specimen I am based on was found in 1898 by a railroad engineer known as William Reed in the Badlands of Wyoming. Andrew Carnegie was looking for new exhibits for his museums in Pittsburgh, USA and heard about the new discovery, of course he wanted to acquire it. The skeleton was only then identified as a Diplodocus and excavated during the summer of 1899, reaching Carnegies Museum a year later. Now I know what you’re thinking, this all sounds a little boring and when do we get to the bit that’s about me, well just hold on it gets better.

Whilst King Edward VII was visiting Carnegie he noticed a reconstruction of the dinosaur on the wall, he made a comment on how ‘marvellous’ it would be to have such an item in the British Museum, which by the way is the Natural History Museum.

This was easier said than done as the skeleton was a rare find and it would have been close to impossible to find a similar specimen with no more new discoveries. Now this is where I come in, this is when it was decided that I would be made as a gift to the king for his museum. So, in December 1902 the offer of a cast was made.

You might not know this, but I am based on more than one specimen. Do you know how many I am based of? No, well its five, are you surprised? I am mainly based on the specimen within the Carnegie Museum, but some missing limbs were based of a smaller specimen from sheep creek, my tail is from a third specimen. Finally, my skull is based on two specimens, one which was described by an important guy called Marsh and a broken specimen.

My first memories are of motion sickness and darkness, I didn’t really know what was going on till after it had happened. I travelled from the USA to England on a steamboat in 36 crates. Cartoons were made of me being put together to let the public know I was here. My first home was the reptile gallery (which is now the Human Biology Gallery) as there was no room for me in the fossil reptile gallery which is now the Creepy Crawlies Gallery. I stayed in this room till 1931.

 My grand unveiling happened on Friday, 12^th of May 1905, 300 people gathered around my feet! I was scared and didn’t know what was happening, but I released people were staring at me in awe, which made me feel proud, happy and like I meant something.

I made many friends within the reptile gallery including the crocodiles, tortoises and my best friend Tim the Triceratops who is a dinosaur like me!

I heard I sparked a lot of interest around the world leading to more casts like me being made and put in museums!

I enjoyed people coming to visit me, most of them were nice and were fascinated by me. Some weren’t so nice; some people stole bits of my tail! The museum had to keep a box of spare tailbones. Apparently, it was because they wanted to take a souvenir of me home with them, so they took a part of me, can you believe that!

One day out of nowhere the museum staff started moving me! I didn’t have a clue why, turns out they put me in the basement (April 1940)! I was scared and thought I wasn’t wanted anymore. Apparently, there was something called World War 2 that was going on, which meant bombs were being dropped that made such loud bangs that I even heard them all the way down in the basement. Turns out I got moved to keep me safe, but it didn’t stop the whole experience being the scariest thing in my life.

When the loud noises of the bombs stopped and it was safe, I was placed back on display, I thought I would just go back to the reptile gallery but no, this time they put me in the fossil reptile gallery (now the Waterhouse Gallery).

Not much really happened to me till 1979, people still came to stare in awe at me. The children’s mouths would sometimes drop open, which always made me chuckle. Anyway, in 1979 I was on the move again, I prayed that something else hadn’t happened that meant going down in that dark basement.

I was put in the main hall in front of the entrance (Hintze Hall)! I was able to welcome all the visitors into the museum! I felt so happy and honored to be the first thing people saw when they walked into the museum. The only downside was I was all by myself, which got lonely when visitors were not about. Tim did come and join me for a little bit, which I really liked and wish he could’ve stayed longer.

 In 1993 they took my tail off and replaced it with carboard! It felt so weird not having a tail. But they made my new tail lighter, supported above the ground to make a whip shape. It felt so good to have a tail again, even better than the last one. They changed my tail because scientists had done some research and found out we didn’t drag our tails on the ground but held them up and could swing the tips like a whip that could break the sound barrier. This would have acted as defence if I was being attacked.

Nothing much really happened after that, I continued to stand in the entrance and welcome visitors of all ages. The best part was always watching children and adults stare at the size of me and watching the imagination run wild inside their heads. I’ve heard I have helped inspire so many children to learn about dinosaurs and even become palaeontologists!

You may already know this part but in 2017 after 111 years since arriving at the museum and 37 years welcoming visitors into the museum, I was to leave the museum to go on tour!!! I was and still am on tour around the UK, I was so excited to see new places but also sad to be leaving my home.

It took more than 3 weeks to take me apart! Did you know I am made up of 292 bone casts made from plaster of paris and resin (not light at all!). As the museum took me down, they also gave me a well needed clean. This included brushing my teeth, even dinosaurs need to brush their teeth occasionally apparently. I didn’t like that part. The museum staff also made me two special cakes as good luck on my travels.

Since then, I have visited Dorchester, Birmingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cardiff, Rochdale, and Norwich. Two million people visited me across these locations! I’ve seen so many new things and made so many new friends.

Sources

Barrett P, Parry P, Chapman S. (2010) Dippy the tale of a museum icon. Natural History Museum, London. (Book).

Hendry S. (no date) Dippy the Dino Star. Natural History Museum. Available at: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dippy-the-dino-star.html (Accessed 24/04/2023).