In a panoramic series of vignettes, the New York State Environment Diorama illustrates the human transformation of Dutchess County from a wilderness landscape and forest ecosystem before colonization to a settled agricultural area. It is part of the Felix M. Warburg Memorial Hall which opened in 1951 at the American Museum of Natural History. Another diorama in this hall, “An October Afternoon Near Stissing Mountain,” invites the viewer to contemplate the beauty of the landmark site and at the same time gain knowledge about its biological richness as an ecosystem: “Every living thing, over a long period of time, has become adjusted to survive in a particular habitat.”

Habitat dioramas are “in situ” exhibitions, a form of ecological theatre in which many complex elements produce for the viewer an illusion of the natural world in place. Not only are the objects on display in a diorama inseparable from their surroundings in the larger ecosystem, but the diorama itself is dependent on a physical locality within a specific architecturally designed museum alcove.