The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is a "hands-on"

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The museum is largely aimed at families, and focuses on science, technology, and history. The museum is operated by

Kalamazoo Valley Community College Kalamazoo Valley Community College is a public community college in Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo ...

, and admission to the facility is free. The museum's collection dates to an 1881 gift to the Kalamazoo School Board of corals, shells, and rocks from Horace M. Peck, a local banker. In its early years, the museum acquired natural history specimens, ethnographic materials, and antiquities. Currently, the collection includes over 50,000 items. The museum has a state-of-the-art, 109-seat

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

that screens a variety of presentations and programs for school groups and other public audiences.

Exhibits

The museum, whose special exhibitions galleries feature an ever-changing variety of traveling exhibits, also features several permanent exhibits. These include: *The Mystery of the Mummy: Centered on an unnamed 2,300-year-old

Ptolemaic Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter * Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

-era ancient Egyptian mummy originating from the

Akhmim Akhmim ( ar, أخميم, ; Akhmimic , ; Sahidic/Bohairic cop, ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Khemmis or Chemmis ( grc, Χέμμις) and Panopolis ( grc, Πανὸς πόλις and Π� ...

region. It was donated to the museum in 1928. This exhibit also features the results of

carbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

, CT-scans, X-rays, and forensic reconstruction done on the mummy. This exhibit also includes artifacts from the museum's ancient Egyptian collection. *Science in Motion: The hands-on exhibits in this gallery's three sections, Energy, Human Body, and Technology, invite visitors of all ages to participate in science by seeing, touching, feeling, hearing, and discovering. *On the Trail of History: The history and heritage of the city of Kalamazoo. *Kalamazoo Direct To You: Kalamazoo products, including Gibson guitars, Kalamazoo stoves, Upjohn pharmaceuticals, Stryker orthopedic equipment and many more.

References

External links

Website

Kalamazoo Valley Community College
{{authority control Planetaria in the United States Children's museums in Michigan University museums in Michigan Science museums in Michigan History museums in Michigan Museums in Kalamazoo, Michigan Museums established in 1881 1881 establishments in Michigan