University of Michigan Museum of Natural History

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University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9055.JPG
The Hall of Evolution
Location1109 Geddes Avenue,
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Part ofUniversity of Michigan Central Campus Historic District (ID78001514[1])
Designated CPJune 15, 1978

The University of Michigan Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The museum recently moved to a new location at 1105 North University Avenue, in the University of Michigan Biological Sciences Building. It will reopen in April 2019.[2]

A unit of the university's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the current building is located on the university's Central Campus and has 22,000 square feet of exhibit space in a building that it shares with three research museums (Anthropology, Zoology, Paleontology).[3] The University Herbarium is administered through the same organization. The natural history collections began in 1837, and the current building, the Alexander Ruthven Museums Building, dates to 1928. The public exhibit museum was founded in 1956,[4] and today has more than 100,000 visitors annually.[3]

The museum is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization.[3] It employs 11 full-time staff and between 40-50 paid student docents, and has an annual budget of more than $900,000.[3]

Exhibits[]

The museum has four major permanent exhibits:

  • The Hall of Evolution on the second floor displays exhibits on evolution and prehistoric life, including fossils, models, and dioramas of dinosaurs, ancient whales, mastodons, and other organisms. It is the largest collection on prehistoric life in Michigan.
  • The Michigan Wildlife Gallery on the third floor displays exhibits on birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, plants, and fungi native to the Great Lakes. There are taxidermy specimens, exhibits on habitats, and displays about regional environmental problems. A mastodon trackway, the largest on display in the world, is part of this exhibit.
  • The Anthropology Displays feature exhibits on anthropology, and include artifacts from human cultures around the world.
  • The Geology Displays on the fourth floor feature a collection of the several rocks and minerals.

Two galleries display exhibits on "Evolution & Health" and archaeological research work in the U-M Museum of Archaeological Anthropology. The first floor Rotunda Lobby currently displays "The Invisible World of Mites."

Gallery[]

  • Lobby rotunda

  • The Michigan Wildlife Gallery

  • The Michigan Wildlife Gallery

  • The Michigan Wildlife Gallery

  • The Michigan Wildlife Gallery: Opossums

  • The Hall of Evolution: Permian Period

  • The Hall of Evolution: Triassic Period

  • The Hall of Evolution: Cretaceous Period

  • The Hall of Evolution: Oligocene Epoch

  • Replica of an Archaeopteryx fossil

References[]

  1. ^ "NPS Focus". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  2. ^ Barry, Lisa. "A Sneak Peek Inside U Of M's New Museum Of Natural History Before It Opens To The Public". www.wemu.org. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Museum Facts, University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.
  4. ^ "History". University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. The University of Michigan. Retrieved 10 April 2015.

External links[]

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