Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History facts for kids
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is the official natural history museum for the State of Oklahoma. It is located on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. The museum started in 1899 thanks to a law passed by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature.
The museum's current building was finished in 1999. It was built under the leadership of Michael A. Mares, who was the director for many years. The museum holds over 10 million items, including fossils, artifacts, and specimens, in 12 different collections. The building is very large, with nearly 50,000 square feet of public space. This includes five permanent galleries and two temporary ones. These galleries show off Oklahoma's amazing natural and cultural history. The rest of the building is used to store collections, for labs, libraries, and offices. It is one of the biggest university-based natural history museums in the world!
Before 1999, the museum was much smaller and moved around to different buildings on campus. It was first called the Department of Geology and Natural History. Later, it became the Museum of the University of Oklahoma in 1943. In 1953, it was named the Stovall Museum of Science and History. This was to honor J. Willis Stovall, a paleontologist and professor who was the director from 1943 to 1953.
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Museum Awards and Recognition
The Sam Noble Museum has won many important awards from around the world.
- In 2004, it received a national award for taking great care of its collections.
- In 2014, it won the National Medal for Museums. This is the highest award a museum can get from the U.S. government! It means the museum makes a big difference for people and communities. First Lady Michelle Obama presented this award at the White House.
- In 2015, it won the Best in Heritage International Projects of Influence Award in Croatia.
- In 2017, it received the University Museums and Collections Award in Finland. This was for its special program that helps young Native Americans learn their traditional languages.
A Look at Museum History
The University of Oklahoma was founded in 1890. About 10 years later, the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature wanted to create a museum there. In 1899, they passed a law to start a Department of Geology and Natural History. This department would explore the Oklahoma Territory and find natural resources like plants, animals, and minerals.
Growing Collections and Challenges
As the university's collections grew in the early 1900s, people tried to build a special museum building. In 1920, the university even funded a trip to Alaska to collect large North American animals like grizzly bears and caribou. They hoped these amazing specimens would convince Oklahoma leaders to fund a new museum. Even though these specimens are still studied today, the governor at the time stopped the funding bill.
The museum's collections kept growing even during tough times like the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. During the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt started the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This program created jobs for many people. About 50 WPA workers were assigned to museum paleontologist J. Willis Stovall. Their job was to dig up dinosaur fossils across Oklahoma. They found many large and unique dinosaur and mammal fossils. This made the museum's fossil collection very important, but it also needed more storage space!
At the same time, university archaeologists led WPA teams to dig at sites in eastern Oklahoma. One very important site was Spiro Mounds, a major Native American center from AD 1000-1400. These digs helped us learn a lot about Native American history in Oklahoma before Europeans arrived. The artifacts found became the start of the museum's archaeology collection.
Uniting the Collections
J. Willis Stovall worked to bring all the university's scattered collections together under one museum. In the late 1930s, Stovall became the director of this early museum. He tried many times to get money for a dedicated museum building, but he couldn't before he passed away in 1953. Even though the collections were still spread out, Stovall's efforts helped unite them and get some storage space.
By 1980, the museum's collections were still in 10 different buildings. Some were in old places like a horse stable, a barn, and old army barracks. The main museum building was an old ROTC armory. After J. Willis Stovall's death, this building was officially renamed the Stovall Museum of Science and History.
A New Home for the Museum
In 1983, Michael A. Mares became the museum director. He started a campaign to show Oklahomans how important their natural and cultural treasures were. He also showed them the poor conditions where these items were stored. Over several years, Mares and his team talked to state leaders. They worked to create a new state law that would make the Stovall Museum a state resource, not just a university one. In 1987, the Oklahoma Legislature and the governor approved this law. It officially named the Stovall Museum as the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.
In the early 1990s, people in Norman, Oklahoma, started pushing for a new museum building. They wanted a better place to care for the state's collections. In 1992, the citizens of Norman voted to provide $5 million for a new museum. This was on the condition that the state and private donors would raise $30 million. A statewide vote then secured $15 million from Oklahoma. Soon after, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and its partners donated $10 million. This donation helped secure the museum's official name, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and most of the remaining funds.
Construction for the new museum began in 1996. The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History officially opened its doors to the public in May 2000.
Exciting Permanent Exhibits
The Sam Noble Museum has many amazing exhibits for visitors to explore.
Orientation Gallery
The Noble Corporation and Noble Energy Orientation Gallery is the first exhibit you see. It shows you what happens behind the scenes at the museum. You learn how museum collections are kept safe and studied. This gallery features items from almost all of the museum's 12 collections. You'll immediately spot a huge model of Sauroposeidon proteles when you enter. Sauroposeidon holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest dinosaur ever!
Hall of Ancient Life
The Siegfried Family Hall of Ancient Life takes you back in time, from when Earth formed all the way to the last Ice Age. This gallery has detailed models, interactive tools, and amazing scenes with fossil casts and real fossils.
- Clash of the Titans – This is the biggest exhibit in the Hall of Ancient Life. It shows Oklahoma's state fossil, the large meat-eating dinosaur Saurophaganax maximus. It's shown challenging a huge Apatosaurus (92 feet long!). The Apatosaurus was made by making smaller fossils bigger to match the largest known pieces in the museum's collection.
- Pentaceratops – You can also see a nearly complete fossil skeleton of a Pentaceratops. Some scientists call it Titanoceratops ouranos. This amazing specimen holds the Guinness World Record for the largest skull of any land animal known in history!
Hall of the People of Oklahoma
The McCasland Foundation Hall of the People of Oklahoma explores the 30,000-year history of Native people in Oklahoma and North America. The exhibits show the earliest signs of human activity in Oklahoma. They continue up to today, looking at what it means to be a Native American in Oklahoma now.
- Cooper Skull – A special highlight here is the "Cooper Skull." This is the skull of an extinct bison species, painted with a red zigzag pattern. At 10,000 years old, it is the oldest known painted object found in North America!
Hall of World Cultures
The Merkel Family Foundation Gallery of World Cultures displays traditional art and items from cultures around the world. These come from the museum's diverse ethnology collection. The gallery also has a large mosaic found in Antioch (which is now in Turkey). This mosaic is about 1,900 years old!
Hall of Natural Wonders
The Noble Drilling Corporation Hall of Natural Wonders shows off all the different kinds of plants and animals found across Oklahoma. You'll feel like you're right there with sights and sounds of unique environments native to the state. From the Ozark highlands and limestone caves to mixed grass prairies and the Black Mesa, Oklahoma's habitats come alive in this interactive exhibit.
Collections and Research
The Sam Noble Museum has many important collections that scientists use for research.
Vertebrate Paleontology
This collection has over 80,500 cataloged specimens of animals with backbones, like dinosaurs and mammals. It's a huge resource for studying the history of life. Many specimens were found during the WPA digs in the 1930s and 1940s. The collection has grown a lot since then. It's especially strong in early Permian animals, Jurassic dinosaurs, and mammals from the Miocene and Pliocene periods in Oklahoma. It also has unique dinosaur specimens like Tenontosaurus and Pentaceratops.
Invertebrate Paleontology
This collection holds over 1 million specimens of animals without backbones, like insects and shells. It's one of the most important collections in North America. Many specimens are from the Paleozoic era in Oklahoma. The collection also has a lot of Trilobites. It includes over 1,400 primary type specimens, which are the first specimens used to describe a new species.
Paleobotany, Micropaleontology and Mineralogy
This collection has over 3 million specimens! It includes plant fossils, tiny fossils (micropaleontology), and minerals. There are plant fossils, pollen slides, and even pieces of coal balls. It also has over 3,400 minerals, rocks, and meteorites, including the famous Keyes Meteorite. This collection helps scientists study Earth's ancient past.
Archaeology
With over 5 million artifacts, the archaeology collection is the largest in Oklahoma. It covers 11,000 years of human history. Key items include the Cooper Bison Skull, which is about 10,000 to 11,000 years old and the oldest known painted object in North America. The museum also has many artifacts from Spiro Mounds, a very important archaeological site in Oklahoma.
Ethnology
The ethnology collection has traditional art and cultural items from societies around the world. It's especially strong in Native North American and Central American items. The museum also has ancient artifacts from the Mediterranean and important art from East Asia. This collection helps researchers understand human cultures.
Native American Languages
Started in 2002, this collection has over 7,400 audio and video recordings, books, and teaching materials. It covers more than 175 Native languages. It's especially strong in languages from the central United States that are in danger of disappearing. It has the world's largest collection of Dhegiha language materials. The museum also hosts an annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair to help people learn about these important languages.
Mammalogy
This collection of mammalogy (mammals) started in 1899. It has about 66,000 specimens and is the 13th largest in the Western Hemisphere! It has the most mammal specimens from Oklahoma and Tennessee. It's also one of the 10 largest collections of specimens from Mexico and the biggest collection from Argentina outside of that country.
Ornithology
The ornithology (birds) collection began in 1899. It has 30,000 bird specimens from Oklahoma, Mexico, Texas, and other countries. The collection of bird skeletons is one of the largest in the central United States. It also includes many mounted birds, nests, and egg sets.
Herpetology
The herpetology (amphibians and reptiles) collection is the largest of Oklahoma's amphibians and reptiles. It also has specimens from 46 U.S. states and 54 countries, including Brazil, Nicaragua, Egypt, and the Galapagos Islands.
Ichthyology
With over 2 million specimens, the ichthyology (fish) collection is the largest and most complete collection of fish from Oklahoma. It has a huge number of fish species from the lower Great Plains. Many specimens were collected during expeditions in the 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. This collection helps scientists study how fish communities change over time.
Recent Invertebrates
This collection has over 500,000 specimens of invertebrates (animals without backbones) that are still alive today. While it focuses on Oklahoma invertebrates, it also has specimens from over 100 countries. It's strong in dragonflies, beetles, mosquitoes, spiders, crayfish, and mollusks.
Oklahoma Collection of Genomic Resources
This collection started in 2006. It's like a library of genetic information, storing biological tissue samples. It has over 55,000 tissue samples from more than 1,300 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and invertebrates. These samples help scientists study the genetic diversity of life.
Images for kids
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Titanoceratops
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Crystal boatstone atlatl weight, a Pre-Columbian artifact
