The United States' open-door policy toward Chinese immigrants triggered a domestic backlash, ultimately leading to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a disgraceful page in American history.
When the museum opened in 1881 as an osteology exhibition hall, the center of the hall displayed specimens of animals such as Père David's deer, hippopotamuses, and rhinoceroses, and the glass cabinets on the walls were also packed with various specimens, later earning it the reputation of a palace of higher mammals.