University of Iowa Museum of Natural History
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The University of Iowa Museum of Natural History is a
natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
on the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
campus in
Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
, Iowa. The museum was founded in 1858 by instruction of the
Iowa General Assembly The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Repres ...
as the Cabinet of Natural History. It is housed within Macbride Hall, located in the
Pentacrest The Pentacrest is the Old Capitol and a collection of four buildings on the campus of the University of Iowa that surround the Old Capitol — Jessup Hall, Macbride Hall, MacLean Hall, and Schaeffer Hall — on a four-block-sized parcel ...
area of the university campus. The museum's collections contain around 140,000 objects, including approximately 31,000 birds, eggs, and nests, 5,000
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
specimens, 41,000 insects, 44,000 other
invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s, 6,000 archaeological specimens, and historical documents and images from the museum's history. The museum includes several galleries on Iowa's geological and
cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
history,
biological diversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') lev ...
, and
environmental science Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...
, spanning four floors. Major research collections include the Kallam Collection of prehistoric stone tools, the Talbot and Jones Bird Collections, the Frank Russell Collection of
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
and Native Arctic artifacts, and the
Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
Collection of ethnographic materials from the
1904 World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...
.


History

The museum was originally founded by order of the Iowa General Assembly as a "cabinet" in which to house specimens from the State Natural History and Geological Surveys. This Cabinet of Natural History was housed in the Old Capitol, the university's only building at the time. Paleontologist James Hall was appointed as the cabinet's curator, though he abandoned this responsibility due to an earlier instance of bankruptcy at the university during his tenure as State Geologist. Historian and lawyer Theodore S. Parvin was appointed as the Cabinet of Natural History's second curator in 1859. During this period, much of the cabinet's efforts were focused on building geological collections. After its fourth curator, geologist
Samuel Calvin Samuel Calvin (July 30, 1811 – March 12, 1890) was a Whig Party (United States), Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Biography Samuel Calvin was born in Washingtonville, Pennsylvania. He attended the comm ...
, successfully requested more funding for its
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
, bird, and mammal collections, the Cabinet of Natural History was moved to the Science Hall—now Calvin Hall—in 1885. Two years later, it was renamed the Museum of Natural History. Under zoologist
Charles Cleveland Nutting Charles Cleveland Nutting (May 25, 1858 – January 23, 1927 in Iowa City, Iowa) was an American zoologist, born in Jacksonville, Illinois. He graduated from Blackburn University (1880) and received the M. A. degree from the same institutio ...
, who had been appointed curator in 1876, systematic glass displays of specimens were installed as popular attractions on the university's campus. Nutting also organized several significant expeditions to
Dry Tortugas Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's c ...
,
The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
, and Laysan Island, among other localities. By 1895, an influx of specimens prompted Nutting to request a larger building in which to house the museum. In response, a new Natural Sciences Building—now Macbride Hall—was completed in 1908 by the architectural firm
Proudfoot & Bird Proudfoot & Bird was an American architectural firm that designed many buildings throughout the Midwest region of the United States. Originally established in 1882, it remains active through its several successors, and since 2017 has been known as ...
. After zoologist Homer R. Dill succeeded Nutting as curator in 1926, the Museum of Natural History's level of collecting fell. In 1965, in response to higher enrollment, a proposal was made by university president Howard R. Bowen to eliminate the museum. However, due to protests from student, faculty, and alumni, this proposal was unsuccessful. As part of an effort to revitalize support to the museum, university alumnus George D. Schrimper was appointed as curator in 1972. Schrimper emphasized the redesign of the museum's exhibits for a more modern audience; these plans included the creation of a new gallery, Iowa Hall, in 1985. By 1992, the Museum of Natural History received approximately 60,000 visitors per year.


Permanent Exhibits

* Diversity of Life, featuring historic exhibits from the museum's past on ecology, geology,
taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...
, and biodiversity, with a highlight on notable animal phyla. * Iowa Hall, featuring the history of life in Iowa on the first floor of the museum. Dioramas of a
Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...
and a Pennsylvanian
coal swamp Coal forests were the vast swathes of wetlands that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. (2005). "Palaeozoic tropical rainforests and their ...
are featured, along with a model of Jefferson's ground sloth (''Megalonyx jeffersonii)'' and exhibits on Paleoindians and the
Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, the ...
tribe. * Mammal Hall, showcasing taxidermied specimens and skeletons of various mammals collected by University faculty and students on the third floor of the museum. A skeleton of an Atlantic
right whale Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...
is on display, along with a taxidermied specimen of a
giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...
. * William and Eleanor Hageboeck Hall of Birds, also called "Taking Flight: The World of Birds”, is located on the third floor of the museum. It features displays on the life, ecology, and
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
of birds and over 1,000 specimens, including those of nearly all avian species that live in or regularly visit Iowa. The historic
Laysan Island Laysan (; haw, italics=no, Kauō ), located northwest of Honolulu at , is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It comprises one land mass of , about in size. It is an atoll of sorts, although the land completely surrounds a shallow ...
Cyclorama A cyclorama is a panoramic image on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to give viewers standing in the middle of the cylinder a 360° view, and also a building designed to show a panoramic image. The intended effect is to make vie ...
is highlighted in this gallery, featuring a 360-degree view of the bird
fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
of Laysan Island during the early twentieth century. * Biosphere Discovery Hub, the museum's newest exhibit (opened in 2007), is located inside the Hageboeck Hall of Birds. The exhibit describes interactions between humans and their environment, highlighting manmade environmental concerns. File:Pennsylvanian Diorama UIMNH.jpg, Diorama of a Pennsylvanian
coal swamp Coal forests were the vast swathes of wetlands that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. (2005). "Palaeozoic tropical rainforests and their ...
in Iowa Hall File:Paleoindian Display UIMNH.jpg, Displays on Paleoindian artifacts in Iowa Hall File:Gigantopithecus UIMNH.jpg, Replica of a ''
Gigantopithecus blacki ''Gigantopithecus'' ( ; ) is an extinct genus of ape from roughly 2 million to 350,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene of southern China, represented by one species, ''Gigantopithecus blacki''. Potential identifications have als ...
'' jaw on display in Diversity of Life File:Dunkleosteus UIMNH.jpg, Fossil jaw of ''
Dunkleosteus ''Dunkleosteus'' is an extinct genus of large armored, jawed fishes that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It consists of ten species, some of which are among the largest placoderms to have ever lived: ...
'' on display in Iowa Hall


Tarkio Valley sloths

From 2002 until 2010, the museum coordinated excavations of at least three ''Megalonyx jeffersonii'' individuals along the West Tarkio Creek near
Shenandoah, Iowa Shenandoah is a city in Page and Fremont counties in Iowa, United States. The population was 4,925 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Once referred to as the "seed and nursery center of the world," Shenandoah is the home to Earl May Seed Compan ...
. Most recently, a fourth
ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbe ...
of a different species, ''
Paramylodon harlani ''Paramylodon'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Mylodontidae endemic to North America during the Pliocene through Pleistocene epochs, living from around ~4.9 Mya–11,000 years ago. It is also known as Harlan's ground sloth. ...
'', has been identified from the excavation site. This is the first confirmed specimen of the genus to be discovered in Iowa.


References


External links


University of Iowa Museum of Natural History
{{authority control Native American history of Iowa University of Iowa Museums in Iowa City, Iowa Natural history museums in Iowa University museums in Iowa University of Iowa campus 1858 establishments in Iowa Paleontology in Iowa Museums established in 1858