Carnegie Safari

Page moved to an update dversion new Carnigie Safari

The Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh is one of the world’s foremost museums and justly famous for its work in Paleontology.  In 1987 Carroll Carmen, the Carnegie Shop Director, came up with the idea to create a line of scientific models - and not just of dinosaurs. She knew Burnie Rubel of Safari, and made a proposal that became one of the most successful partnerships in the toy figure business. Since Safari was primarily an importer, the Bullyland Company in Germany did the tooling for the original run. The first releases were Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, Apatosaurus juvenile, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, Allosaurus, Australopithecus male, Australopithecus female, Diplodocus, Euoplocephalus, Dimetrodon, Pteranodon, Protoceratops, and Smilodon. The Carnegie line is a microcosm of the changes in the study of dinosaurs of this period. Of the original dinosaurs, mostly are retired, replaced with new figures, or have had a face or tail lift to revise the figures, because of mold fatigue or changes in paleontology.  Another indispensable player is Forest Rogers, the sculpture for the Carnegie line.  In 1987 she was in Pittsburgh, working toward her MFA at Carnegie-Mellon University. An acquaintance, who was doing some mold making at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, contacted her about the museum’s dinosaur model plans. Little did she guess what a long lasting project it would be! The Carnegie 3D display elements were designed and originally sculpted by her mother, Lou Rogers. Dr. Mary Dawson, who has retired as Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Carnegie, still honors the dinosaur line with her attention, and new figures are added each year.