Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History facts for kids
_(49184855698).jpg) |
|
| Established | 1916 |
|---|---|
| Location | 2559 Puesta del Sol Santa Barbara, CA |
| Type | Natural history museum |
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a cool place in Santa Barbara, California. It helps over 150,000 people every year connect with nature. This includes 5,700 members who love learning about the natural world!
The museum is located right next to Mission Creek in the beautiful Mission Canyon area. Inside, you'll find ten amazing exhibit halls. They teach you all about the nature around Santa Barbara. You can learn about space, birds, insects, rocks, mammals, ocean animals, dinosaurs, plants, and even the history of the Chumash people. The museum also has a special library and an art gallery. Plus, it's the only museum on the Central Coast with a full-dome planetarium!
Contents
Museum's Early Days
The idea for the museum started way back in the 1880s. A group of scientists and nature lovers, like botanist Caroline Bingham, created the Santa Barbara Natural History Society. They even had a small museum downtown.
Later, in the early 1900s, an expert on birds named William Leon Dawson came to Santa Barbara. He helped restart the effort! Dawson and other important people founded the Museum of Comparative Oology. This museum first opened in two small buildings on Dawson's property. It started with his huge collection of bird eggs and other collections from the community. Dawson believed studying bird eggs could reveal secrets about life itself!
Growing the Collections
Even though it began with bird eggs, the museum quickly started collecting other things. The next director, Ralph Hoffmann, was a smart educator who studied plants and birds. After him, Paul Marshall Rea, who had led other big museums, took over.
Important people helped the museum grow. For example, Dr. Caroline Hazard, who was president of Wellesley College, gave part of her land for a new museum building. This building opened in 1923 and was paid for by Mrs. Rowland G. Hazard, in memory of her husband.
New Leaders and Big Ideas
In 1937, Arthur Sterry Coggeshall became the museum's director. He had worked at famous museums in New York City and Pittsburgh. He convinced Max Fleischmann, whose family made Fleischmann Yeast, to build the Fleischmann Auditorium. Coggeshall also helped start groups for museums in California.
Later directors included Dr. Vertress L. VanderHoof, a geologist, and Dr. Frederick H. Pough, who studied volcanoes and minerals. In 1972, Dr. Dennis Power became director. He was an expert on birds and stayed for 22 years, the longest of any leader!
From the 1960s to the 1990s, the museum played a huge role in protecting the environment. Museum scientists helped create a network to help stranded whales. They also worked on the California condor project, helping to save these giant birds. Museum staff also studied nature and history for the National Park Service. Their work helped create the Channel Islands National Park.
Even Albert Einstein visited the museum with his wife in 1931. He said, "I can see that this museum has been built by the work of love."
Amazing Exhibits
The museum is famous for its detailed displays called dioramas. These show birds, mammals, and different habitats from Southern California. Famous artists painted the backgrounds for these displays in the 1930s and 1960s. One cool exhibit is the Bird Habitat Hall, with real mounted birds and beautiful paintings by Ray Strong.
You can also explore halls about ocean life, geology (rocks and earth), and the Chumash Indian people. There's an art gallery with old nature prints too. The museum has over 3 million specimens! Scientists there actively study ocean animals, land animals, insects, people's history, and natural history art.
Right when you walk in, you'll see something amazing: a huge skeleton of a blue whale! It's 72 feet (about 22 meters) long and is a symbol of the museum and Santa Barbara.
Special Shows and Planetarium
The museum often has temporary exhibits. These cover all sorts of nature topics, like dinosaurs, sharks, and even live butterflies in the "Butterflies Alive" exhibit! Another special show, "Bringing the Condors Home," tells the story of how the California condor almost disappeared and how it's now recovering.
The museum's Gladwin Planetarium was updated in 2005. It uses cool technology to show you distant planets, stars, and galaxies. The museum also started a big renovation project in 2016, beginning with the butterfly pavilion.
Sea Center on the Wharf
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center is another cool spot run by the museum. It's located right on Santa Barbara’s historic Stearns Wharf! It first opened in 1986 and was updated in 2005.
At the Sea Center, you can see a life-size model of a gray whale and its baby. There's a tide pool where waves crash in every minute. The Wet Deck lets you get close to the water below. You can also visit the Channel Theater, the Workshop, and even try Whale Karaoke!
Chumash Basketry
The museum has one of the largest collections of historical Native American baskets. These were made by talented Chumash basket weavers.
See also
