Museum restoration features Teddy Roosevelt statue

September 29, 2012 | Modified: September 29, 2012 at 2:00 pm
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In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 photo, a sculpture of Theodore Roosevelt remains partially wrapped before it is permanently installed on a bench at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The AMNH is reopening the two-story Theodore Roosevelt Memorial after a three-year, $42.1 million restoration project. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

NEW YORK (AP) — Theodore Roosevelt had a lifelong association with the American Museum of Natural History. It began when he was a young boy and donated 12 mice, a bat and turtle to the New York institution that his father helped found.

To newly honor that partnership, the museum is reopening its Theodore Roosevelt Memorial on Oct. 27 after a yearlong restoration.

A new life-size bronze statue of the 26th president and 33rd governor of New York will be unveiled during the dedication ceremony. The event will launch a yearlong celebration of Roosevelt's role in fostering the American conservation movement.

The Hall of North American Mammals, one of the museum's most popular exhibitions of re-created habitats of large and medium-sized species, also underwent major restoration.