Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History
Encyclopedia
The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History is a located in the Brazos Center in Bryan, Texas
.
The focus of the Museum is science and natural and cultural history. The museum also maintains memberships in American Association of Museums
, Natural Science Collections Alliance, and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.
Each year, the Museum reaches about 50,000 children and adults with stimulating science programs, exhibits, special events, and affiliated programs such as the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, Center for the Study of the First Americans and the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collections.
The museum preserves of artifacts and natural specimens, provides educational programming and maintains cooperative partnerships with arts and cultural organizations, community oriented entities, and academic institutions throughout the Brazos Valley. In cooperation with the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, the Museum exhibits "nature art" and conducts programs on art and archaeology. Through activities at the Museum and through outreach to schools and other community organizations, the Museum teaches respect and appreciation for the region's natural and cultural history.
The museum sought to display one of the four space shuttle orbiters made available by NASA at the end of the space shuttle program to its new Museum of Science and History Former president George H. W. Bush
, whose presidential library is several miles from the museum, has expressed his support. Museum officials were initially very positive on their chances to be selected with the museum executive directory saying ""I definitely think that we are going to get one of the shuttles," but in the end, the museum was not among those selected to receive an orbiter or simulators. Nearby Texas A&M University was selected to receive a full motion shuttle simulator used by astronauts in training.
The Museum houses the complete skeletons of Psittacosaurus, an early ancestor of Triceratops, and a complete Confusiusornis, a relative of both the raptor-like dinosaurs and modern birds. Rare, virtually complete skeletons of early mammals, fish, and reptiles are also available for viewing.
Bryan, Texas
Bryan is a city in Brazos County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 76,201. It is the county seat of Brazos County and is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley . It shares its border with the city of College Station, which lies to its south...
.
The focus of the Museum is science and natural and cultural history. The museum also maintains memberships in American Association of Museums
American Association of Museums
The American Association of Museums is a non-profit association that has brought museums together since its founding in 1906, helping develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and advocating on issues of concern to the museum community...
, Natural Science Collections Alliance, and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.
Overview
The museum hosts tours, lectures and classes. Educational programs for children include Nature Camps, Game Day Learn & Play programs, Birthday Parties, and school field trips. It provides guides to the adjacent Carter’s Creek Nature Trail, picnic area, and restored wildlife habitats to all visitors and Discovery Kits to teachers, home schoolers, scouts and others for their own use.Each year, the Museum reaches about 50,000 children and adults with stimulating science programs, exhibits, special events, and affiliated programs such as the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, Center for the Study of the First Americans and the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collections.
The museum preserves of artifacts and natural specimens, provides educational programming and maintains cooperative partnerships with arts and cultural organizations, community oriented entities, and academic institutions throughout the Brazos Valley. In cooperation with the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, the Museum exhibits "nature art" and conducts programs on art and archaeology. Through activities at the Museum and through outreach to schools and other community organizations, the Museum teaches respect and appreciation for the region's natural and cultural history.
Collections
The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History maintains collections in the fields of:- ArchaeologyArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
- BotanyBotanyBotany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
- ConchologyConchologyConchology is the scientific or amateur study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs, however malacology studies molluscs as whole organisms, not just their shells. Conchology pre-dated malacology as a field of study. It includes the study of land and...
- Cultural HistoryCultural historyThe term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
- GeologyGeologyGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
- MammalogyMammalogyIn zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems...
- OrnithologyOrnithologyOrnithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
- PaleontologyPaleontologyPaleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
The museum sought to display one of the four space shuttle orbiters made available by NASA at the end of the space shuttle program to its new Museum of Science and History Former president George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, whose presidential library is several miles from the museum, has expressed his support. Museum officials were initially very positive on their chances to be selected with the museum executive directory saying ""I definitely think that we are going to get one of the shuttles," but in the end, the museum was not among those selected to receive an orbiter or simulators. Nearby Texas A&M University was selected to receive a full motion shuttle simulator used by astronauts in training.
Frithiof Fossil Collection
The Frithiof Fossil Collection includes a 15-inch Paleozoic trilobite and complete skeletons of an Ice Age cave bear, early wolf, sabertooth cat, along with numerous other partial skeletons. Dinosaurs are represented by the skull, vertebrae, femur, arm, an enormous tail of a hadrosaurid dinosaur, teeth and various bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex and Albertosaurus, and parts of a gigantic Camarasaurus, Triceratops, and Maiasaura. The hadrosaurid tail is unique in that it is one of the few fossils with fossilized skin.The Museum houses the complete skeletons of Psittacosaurus, an early ancestor of Triceratops, and a complete Confusiusornis, a relative of both the raptor-like dinosaurs and modern birds. Rare, virtually complete skeletons of early mammals, fish, and reptiles are also available for viewing.