The Michigan State University Museum most commonly referred to as the ''MSU Museum'' is

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

's oldest museum formed in 1857. It is the state of Michigan's first Smithsonian Affiliate. It was formed to support the work of the university and is also known for hosting the

Great Lakes Quilt Center The Great Lakes Quilt Center is the Michigan State University Museum’s center for quilt-related research, education, and exhibition activities. While the museum, established in 1857, has long held significant collections, its focus of activities ...

History

Past curators include

J. Alan Holman J. Alan Holman (1931–2006) was an American paleontologist, herpetologist, professor and Michigan State University Museum curator well known for his 1995 work called ''Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in North America'' which was published b ...

Collections

Cultural and Historical Collections

The MSU museum Cultural and Historical Collections include

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

, Folklife and

Cultural Heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

, and history.

Natural Science Collections

The MSU museum Natural Science Collections include

Mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part o ...

Ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

Ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...

, and Vertebrate Paleontology.

Exhibitions

The museum hosts exhibitions to highlight the collections and complementary programs and works some rotating some permanent spread over the three floors of the museum.

Exhibition Spaces

* Habitat Hall – Various dioramas of North and Central America's environments and animals as well as dinosaurs and Jurassic dinosaur skeletons. * Heritage Hall – Highlights the Great Lakes region's economic history. * Hall of Animal Diversity – Highlights different animals and their adaptions to their habitats. * Collections Connections – allows visitors to see some of the cultural artifacts and natural history specimens and show how these are stored to study and preserve for the future. * Hall of Evolution – A timeline of fossils from the

Cambrian Period The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

to the

Pleistocene Epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

. * Second Floor Landing – Exploring biodiversity of things big and small. It includes a skeletons of an

African Bush Elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body ...

as well as an

Asian Elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

and a skull of a Columbian mammoth.

Recent Exhibitions

* 1.5° Celsius – Explore the impact of climate on our planet. * We All Live Downwind – * Gameplay – Experience games developed at MSU's Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL Lab). * Science on a Sphere – A projection sphere of visualizations of Earth and other locations highlighting a variety of data visualizations an exhibit supported by the

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) is an American credit union headquartered in East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion ...

Past Exhibitions

* Kindred – featured Odawa arts and crafts including ceramics, basketry, and beadwork from the Waganakising Odawa aka Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. * Michigan Barns: Timber-framed, Plank and Polebarn – featured in July 1, 2003 – July 31, 2003

External links

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References

{{Michigan-museum-stub University museums Museums in East Lansing, Michigan