Venue / September 13, 2012:
The American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 77th Street
(click on picture to enlarge)
The American Museum of Natural History is this year's venue location for C3 Summit. Located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, the Museum is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world. Situated in park-like grounds across the street from Central Park, the Museum is considered one of the world's preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. Comprised of 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories, and its renowned library, the Museum's collections contain over 32 million specimens.
According to the travel magazine, Travel + Leisure, the Museum is ranked seventh in its list of "the most-visited museums in the world." Also, T&L ranked it as the fourth most-visited museum in America. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret and disseminate information about human cultures, the natural world and the universe through a wide-ranging program of scientific research, education and exhibition. The Museum is renowned for its exhibitions and scientific collections, which serve as a field guide to the entire planet and present a panorama of the world's cultures and considered one of the world's preeminent scientific and cultural institutions.
Famous for its exhibition halls, since its opening in 1936, the Akeley Hall of African mammals has been considered by many to be one of the world’s greatest museum displays. The Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites contains some of the finest specimens in the world including Ahnighito, a section of the 200 ton Cape York meteorite which was found at the location of the same name in Greenland. The meteorite's great weight—at 34 tons, makes it the largest meteorite on display at any museum in the world—requires support by columns that extend through the floor and into the bedrock below the Museum. The hall also contains extra-solar nanodiamonds (diamonds with dimensions on the nanometer level) more than 5 billion years old. The Hall of Human Biology and Evolution, opened on February 10, 2007. Originally known under the name "Hall of the Age of Man", at the time of its original opening in 1921 it was the only major exhibition in the United States to present an in-depth investigation of human evolution. The displays traced the story of mankind, illuminated the path of human evolution and examined the origins of human creativity.
Other notable exhibits include the Hall of Ocean Life opened in 1933 which is where luncheons will be served under the 94-foot (29 m)-long blue whale model. Suspended from the ceiling behind its dorsal fin, it is considered one of the most visited exhibits in the Museum. Other notable exhibits in this hall include the Andros Coral Reef Diorama, which is the only two-level diorama in the entire Western Hemisphere.
Venue / September 14, 2012:
The Union League Club
38 East 37th Street & Park Avenue
Founded in 1863 by a group of concerned citizens to help preserve the Union, the Union League Club of New York has built, over ensuing years, a record of distinguished service to our country. Members of the Union League Club were instrumental in establishing The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870 as well as the Sanitary Commission, a predecessor organization to the American Red Cross. It helped erect the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor and the Lincoln Monument in Union Square.
Its members were instrumental in bringing down the “Boss” Tweed ring and in raising funds to outfit American soldiers in several conflicts. Many prominent civic, state and national leaders have enjoyed the fellowship of the ULC. Theodore Roosevelt managed his early political career from the Club’s chambers. J. Pierpont Morgan was a regular, along with John Jay, William Cullen Bryant, Chester A. Arthur, and Thomas Nast. Fifteen Presidents, seven Senators, many Congressmen, diplomats, cabinet members, and scores of chief executive officers of major corporations have been members of the Club during the past hundred and forty years and have participated in its programs.