The Museum of Texas Tech University is part of

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

. It is made up of the main museum building, the Moody Planetarium, the Natural Science Research Laboratory, the research and educational elements of the

Lubbock Lake Landmark Lubbock Lake Landmark, also known as Lubbock Lake Site, is an important archeological site and natural history preserve in the city of Lubbock, Texas. The preserve is 336 acres and is a protected state and federal landmark. There is evidence of ...

, and the Val Verde County research site. It features collections in

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 ...

, fine arts, clothing and textiles, history,

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

and

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. The museum's galleries include the Diamond M Galleries with

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

ern artists and a second gallery that focuses on the works of

N.C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was the pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

; the Davies Gallery of Southwest Indian Art that displays Southwest Native American pottery and textiles; the Talkington Gallery of Art with 20th and 21st Century art of the Southwestern United States; a gallery about dinosaurs and other Mesozoic fauna; a gallery focused on the southern High Plain's prehistoric

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), 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 fina ...

megafauna In terrestrial zoology, the megafauna (from Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and New Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") comprises the large or giant animals of an area, habitat, or geological period, extinct and/or extant. The most common threshold ...

; and a gallery focused on biodiversity of the

Llano Estacado The Llano Estacado (), sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North A ...

. The museum also includes four galleries that displays temporary exhibitions throughout the year.

History

The Museum of Texas Tech University was established as the West Texas Museum in 1929. It was created by the Plains Museum Society. Original plans called for a three-story building to be constructed. In the summer of 1935, 67

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

counties agreed to pool their Texas Centennial money for a regional museum and for 35 historical markers. However, this provided only enough funds to construct a basement, which was formally dedicated on March 5, 1937. The museum called the basement home until 1950, when the entire building was finally completed thanks to $184,381 allocated to the project from the veterans' program surplus in 1948. The museum's first director was Dr. William Curry Holden. He remained in the position until his retirement in 1969. Holden identified the first Folsom projectile points from the Lubbock Lake area at the location now known as the

. For a time, the site was operated in conjunction with the

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state's parks and historical areas. Its mission is to manage ...

. In 1999, it was fully transferred to Texas Tech under the supervision and care of the Museum of Texas Tech University. In 1969, the museum assumed its present name. The following year, it moved into a new $2.5 million facility on a seventy-six-acre tract, and its former building, Holden Hall, was converted into classrooms and office space. Shortly after this expansion, the Natural Science Research Laboratory (NSRL) was added. Additions to the museum since 1970 include the establishment of the

National Ranching Heritage Center The National Ranching Heritage Center, a museum of ranching history, is located on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The NRHC features almost fifty authentic ranch buildings dating from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. ...

(1976), the construction of facilities at the Lubbock Lake Landmark (1990), the building of the Diamond M Wing to house the Diamond M Fine Art Collection (1995), the addition of the Helen Jones Auditorium and Sculpture Court Wing (2001), the building of the NSRL Addition (2004), and the construction of an educational space addition to the Nash Interpretive Center at the Landmark (2007). While the physical plant was growing, the museum continued to add objects and specimens. In 2000, its collection numbered about three million.

Accreditation and certification

The Museum of Texas Tech University was first accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(AAM) in 1990. In 1998, it received continuing accreditation. The AAM accreditation was renewed again in 2008 and is effective for ten years. Only 774 of the nation's 17,000 museums are AAM accredited and, of those, only 108 are university or college facilities. In May 2008, the

Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic La ...

gave the museum exemplary certification through the Curatorial Facility Certification Program. The museum is the first to have no deficiencies and no disabling factors during its evaluation prior to certification.

References

External links

Museum of Texas Tech University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Tech University Museum

Museum of Texas Tech University The Museum of Texas Tech University is part of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. It is made up of the main museum building, the Moody Planetarium, the Natural Science Research Laboratory, the research and educational elements of the Lubbock ...

Dinosaur museums in the United States Paleontology in Texas

History

Accreditation and certification

See also

References

External links