Talk:Natural History Museum of Utah

Updates required

In November 2011 the museum reopened in the new Rio Tinto Center, and the article requires updating (especially the exhibits section). I have yet to visit, perhaps someone who has can update that information.--Mangoman88 (talk) 03:23, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Description of exhibits in former building

The "Previous exhibits" section below is not pertinent to this article. It describes exhibits in the now closed former home of the the Museum.

Previous exhibits

The museum's former exhibit areas occupied almost 23,000 square feet (2,100 m²) on the first and second floors of the George Thomas Building, located on the University of Utah campus. The exhibits targeted three broad areas of the natural sciences: geology/paleontology, anthropology, and biology.

Part of the paleontology exhibit in the old building

Exhibits in the new building

Cooper Hall of Anthropology

• 3,850 square feet (358 m²)
• Renovated in 2003 to include Utah’s First Nations exhibit components originally developed for the 2002 Cultural Olympiad
• Ethnographic highlights include pieces of the Tony Taylor collection and objects purchased by UMNH Collectors Council
• Archaeological interpretation of Utah’s prehistoric cultures and sites in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau
• 60-foot (18 m) replica of the 4,000-year-old pictograph panel from Utah's Horseshoe Canyon

Earth science galleries

Geology/paleontology hall

• 6,500 square feet (600 m²)
• Four cast skeletons of Jurassic dinosaurs from central Utah
• Allosaurus (dinosaur brain endo cast)
• Two large murals, many sculptures, and 11 skeletons of fossil mammals
• Depictions of geological phenomena and the formation of rocks with touch specimens

Paleontology collections

Paleontology was NOT part of the museum until 1977 when the Geology Department was to move into a new facility and did not want to move the collections. Jim Madsen was leaving the university to become the State Paleontologist and on June 20, 1977, sent a memo on Dept. of Geology letterhead to "Interested parties" in which he made recommendations for the disposition of the collections to various institutions, especially to BYU and to the State Historical Society. Only the dinosaur track collection, White River fossil mammals, Eocene fossil mammals, fossil turtles, Pleistocene mammals, Green River fossil fishes, and fossil plants were to go to what was then the Utah Museum of Natural History. The huge Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry collection was transferred from the State Historical Society to BYU in 1985 then back to the UMNH in 1990 -- Miller, W.E., Horrocks, R.D. and Madsen, J.H., 1996. The Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry, Emery County, Utah: A US natural landmark (including history and quarry map). Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 41, pp.3-24 Carpenter, Kenneth (talk) 19:10, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

Norton Hall of Minerals

• 2,240 square feet (208 m²)
• 450 mineral specimens, including touchable amethyst geode and coal
• "Romney Mine," a walk-in recreation of a 19th-century Park City lead-zinc-silver mine
• Mining heritage of Utah, spotlighting mining areas and districts
• Workable Geiger counter

Life science halls

• 6,320 square feet (587 m²)
• Marsh and mountain dioramas
• Displays of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates of Utah

Dumke Gallery

• 2,700 square feet (250 m²)
• Changing exhibit gallery

Quinney Dinosaur Discovery Hall

• 2,240 square feet (208 m²)
• Hands-on dinosaur dig
• Working fossil preparation lab
• Wall mural of prehistoric life painted by children from Utah

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