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Utah Museum of Natural History
More than four decades ago the presidency of the University of Utah organized a committee directed to draft a plan to preserve the state's natural history.
Huntington Mammoth on display at Utah Museum of Natural History.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News |
The various academic departments decided to pool their collections of anthropological, biological and geological materials into one location. The committee convinced the Utah Legislature to fund a place to house the collection and designate it as the state's natural history museum.
A few years later the Utah Museum of Natural History was born in the university's George Thomas Building on President's Circle, which is the east end of 200 South in Salt Lake City. Constructed in 1932, the building was originally the school library.
Today the museum is home to more than 1 million specimens. They range from suites of dinosaur skeletons, to thousands of mounted animals and birds, to dried plant specimens by the roomful, to archaeological discoveries, trilobites, and minerals to make a rock hound swoon.
There are fossil animals that swam 530 million years ago, one of the world's best clusters of glittering pyrite crystals, and a spear point chipped 10,500 years ago.
The museum is open Monday-Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission if $4 for adults, $2.50 for senior citizens and $2 for children between the ages of 3 and 12.
For more information visit the museum Web site at www.umnh.utah.edu/
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