Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

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The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is the officially designated natural history museum for the State of Oklahoma, located on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. The museum was founded in 1899 by an act of the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature. Its current building was completed in 1999 under the leadership of Michael A. Mares, who was director from 1983-2003 and from 2008-2018. The museum contains more than 10 million objects and specimens in 12 collections. The current building is a 198,000-square-foot facility with almost 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of public space, with five permanent and two temporary galleries and exhibits that provide an in-depth tour of Oklahoma's natural and cultural history. The remainder of the facility is dedicated to housing museum collections, laboratories, libraries, and offices. It is one of the world's largest university-based natural history museums.

Before its 1999 relocation and expansion, the original museum chartered by the Oklahoma legislature in 1899 had occupied much smaller quarters in various buildings on campus. It was originally named as the Department of Geology and Natural History, renamed the Museum of the University of Oklahoma in 1943, and in 1953 named the Stovall Museum of Science and History, for J. Willis Stovall, a paleontologist and faculty professor who was director from 1943 to 1953.

The Sam Noble Museum has received a number of national and international awards, including the national award for Collection Stewardship and Heritage Preservation in 2004; the National Medal for Museums from the Institute of Museums and Library Services in 2014, the highest award from the U.S. government for a museum for being an institution that makes a difference for individuals, families, and communities, presented at the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama; the Best in Heritage International Projects of Influence Award from the European Heritage Association presented in Dubrovnik, Croatia in 2015; and the University Museums and Collections Award from the International Council of Museums presented in Helsinki, Finland, in 2017 in recognition of the museum’s Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair program.

Nearly 10 years after the founding of the University of Oklahoma in 1890, the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature became interested in establishing a museum at what was then the Territorial University. In 1899 the legislature passed a law (Chapter XVI) establishing the position of a territorial geologist and further addressed the collections that would be amassed from the geologist’s ongoing work. The law also established that a Department of Geology and Natural History would begin a scientific survey of the Territory of Oklahoma, and mandated the discovery and development of natural resources, including flora, fauna, and minerals.  

As the university’s collections grew during the early 20th century, several attempts were made to build a museum facility to house new collections, exhibit materials and specimens. The attempts were nearly successful in 1920 when university leadership funded an expedition to Alaska for the collection of North American megafauna specimens (grizzly bears, caribou, mountain goats, etc.). It was hoped that these specimens would excite Oklahomans and their legislators to provide funds for a new museum facility. Although those specimens are still preserved and studied even to this day, a museum funding bill was ultimately vetoed at the time by the governor.  

Museum collections continued to grow without a dedicated facility throughout the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. At the time, President Franklin Roosevelt and his Works Progress Administration (WPA) sought to ease mass unemployment during the Great Depression through federal jobs and careers. It was through this program that about 50 workers were assigned to museum paleontologist J. Willis Stovall, Ph.D. The workers were employed to strategically uncover and excavate dinosaur fossils across the state of Oklahoma. Discovering a number of large, unique specimens of dinosaurs and mammals, the museum’s vertebrate fossil collection quickly grew in prominence, while also demanding additional storage space.  

At the same time, university archaeologists supervised excavations throughout eastern Oklahoma with large teams of laborers supported by the WPA. Most notable were excavations at Spiro Mounds, an important center occupied primarily from AD 1000-1400. This intervention was initially oriented towards salvaging Craig Mound, which had been subjected to extensive looting in the mid-1930s. These WPA excavations deepened the understanding of Native American pre-contact history in Oklahoma and yielded cultural material that formed the basis of the museum’s early archaeology collection.  

J. Willis Stovall ultimately developed a plan to bring all of the university’s extensive collections together under a single museum umbrella. In the late 1930s, Stovall was named as the director of this early museum, which was largely scattered among numerous university colleges and departments. While Stovall made repeated attempts to obtain funding for a dedicated museum facility, he was unable to do so before his death in 1953. Though the museum collections remained scattered physically, Stovall’s work was instrumental in uniting the collections under a single administrative unit and securing limited storage space for a number of objects and specimens.  

By 1980, the museum collections remained scattered across 10 separate buildings, often substandard for specimen preservation, including a horse stable, a wooden barn, two wooden barracks constructed during World War II, various attics and basements, and an armory for the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) constructed in the 1930s that served as the museum’s main building. This building was officially renamed the Stovall Museum of Science and History following the death of J. Willis Stovall.  

Beginning in 1983 under the leadership of museum director Michael Mares, Ph.D., the Stovall Museum began a campaign to make Oklahoma citizens aware of the fragility of their state’s most valuable natural and cultural treasures, and the substandard conditions in which these artifacts were being stored. Over several years, Mares and museum staff would also share this message with state representatives and state senators and work to develop a new state law which recognized the Stovall Museum as a state resource, not only a university organization. In 1987, the Oklahoma Legislature and governor approved a law (70 OK Stat §70-3309.1) that designated the Stovall Museum as the official Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.  

In the early 1990s, a group of concerned citizens in Norman, Oklahoma, began to lobby for a new museum facility to better care for the state’s collection of natural and cultural artifacts. The group ultimately secured a special election in 1992, which concluded with the citizens of Norman pledging a $5 million bond commitment for the construction of a new museum facility, contingent on the state of Oklahoma and private donors raising $30 million. A statewide bond election passed, securing the state of Oklahoma’s $15 million financial commitment. Shortly after, a $10 million donation from the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and affiliates secured both the facility’s official name, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and most of the remaining funds needed for the facility’s construction with help from other key donors and supporters.  

Groundbreaking for the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History took place in 1996, and the new museum building was officially opened to the public in May 2000.  

The Noble Corporation and Noble Energy Orientation Gallery is the first permanent gallery space visitors encounter in the museum’s public exhibit hall. The gallery showcases the museum’s behind-the-scenes work and teaches visitors about how museum collections are preserved and studied. The gallery features objects and artifacts from nearly all of the museum’s 12 collections, including a representation of Sauroposeidon proteles, which is immediately visible upon entering the museum’s exhibit hall. Sauroposeidon holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest dinosaur.

Stretching back into the prehistory of Oklahoma, the Siegfried Family Hall of Ancient Life extends from the formation of Planet Earth up to the most recent Ice Age. The gallery features detailed models, interactive tools, detailed dioramas of cast fossil specimens and original fossil specimens.

• Clash of the Titans – The Jon Rex and Ann Jones & Jonny and Brenda Jones Clash of the Titans is the largest exhibit featured in the Hall of Ancient Life. It depicts Oklahoma’s state fossil, the large carnivore Saurophaganax maximus challenging a representation of the largest known Apatosaurus (92 ft), reconstructed by upscaling smaller apatosaur fossil specimens to match the largest known pieces currently preserved in the Sam Noble Museum’s vertebrate paleontology collection.
• Pentaceratops – The Hall of Ancient Life also features an original, nearly complete mounted fossilized skeleton of Pentaceratops, arguably classified by some as Titanoceratops ouranos. This specimen currently holds the Guinness World Record for the largest skull of any known land animal in recorded history.  

The McCasland Foundation Hall of the People of Oklahoma traces the 30,000-year history of Native inhabitants of Oklahoma and North America. Exhibits detail the earliest known evidence of human activity in Oklahoma, continuing up to the present, and examining what it means to be a Native American in Oklahoma today.

• Cooper Skull – Highlights within the Hall of the People of Oklahoma include the “Cooper Skull,” a skull of a now extinct bison species, painted with a red zigzag pattern. At 10,000 years old, it is the oldest known painted object in North America.  

The Merkel Family Foundation Gallery of World Cultures features objects and artifacts of traditional art and material culture from around the world, chosen from the museum’s diverse ethnology collection. The gallery also includes a large section of mosaic found in Antioch (modern Turkey) and dating to around 100 CE.

The Noble Drilling Corporation Hall of Natural Wonders highlights the biodiversity found across Oklahoma. Immersion-style dioramas aim to surround visitors with both the sights and sounds of unique biomes and environments native to the state. From the Ozark highlands, limestone caves, mixed grass prairies, to the Black Mesa, the habitats of Oklahoma all come together in some of the most recent and interactive additions to the Sam Noble Museum.  

The Sam Noble Museum vertebrate paleontology collection is a major international research resource and constitutes one of the most important records of vertebrate history and evolution in the southern plains. With over 80,500 catalogued specimens, all geological time periods in which vertebrates occur are represented. The nucleus of the collection was made under the Works Projects Administration in the late 1930s and early 1940s, led by the museum’s first director, J. Willis Stovall (1891–1953). The collection has roughly tripled in size since the late 1980s, and the numbers of type and figured specimens have increased accordingly. Growth continues as the museum maintains an active collecting program. Spanning more than 300 million years geologic time, the collection is notably strong in Early Permian tetrapods, Jurassic dinosaurs, Miocene-Pliocene mammals of Oklahoma, as well as vertebrate faunas from the Cretaceous of the Western Interior. Noteworthy individual fossils or assemblages include diverse and well-represented fauna from Early Permian fissure fills, a collection of baby sauropod bones from the Morrison Formation, large samples of Miocene horse species, a large and diverse collection of Cretaceous microvertebrates (such as mammals and lizards) from the western United States, and some relatively complete or unique specimens of Cretaceous dinosaurs (such as Tenontosaurus and Pentaceratops). The collection holds a total of 118 holotype specimens, 61 paratypes, and almost 1,500 figured specimens. Notable curators include J. Willis Stovall, David B. Kitts, and Richard L. Cifelli.

More than 1 million specimens representing every major invertebrate fossil group are found in the collection of invertebrate paleontology, which is one of the most scientifically important collections in North America. Much of the collection comprises Paleozoic age specimens from Oklahoma and contiguous states, with significant material from Alaska. Holdings from other countries include specimens from Canada, Britain, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Poland. Trilobite collections have grown significantly in recent years with additions from Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, the Upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Basin and Wyoming. The collection includes over 1,400 primary type specimens and about 9,000 figured specimens that are of particular scientific importance. The Amoco donation consists of significant holdings of fossils related to oil and gas exploration that were collected by the company prior to its merger with BP. Notable curators include George G. Huffman, Patrick K. Sutherland, and Stephen R. Westrop.

The collection of paleobotany, micropaleontology and mineralogy contains more than 3 million specimens. These specimens include 50,000 overall slabs and plant macrofossils that are categorized as single taxon specimens, or taxa, on slabs, over 50,000 palynological slides and residues, over 18,500 coal ball peels (free and mounted on microscope slides), over 5,000 kg of cut and uncut coal balls, over 8,300 ostracods in micromounts, over 3,000 unprocessed reserves, over 3,400 minerals, rocks and meteorites, including the Keyes Meteorite, and 550 herbarium sheets containing modern plants from which a pollen reference collection has been made. The collection maintains exceptionally large holdings of specimens from Oklahoma, but also contains specimens from all 50 states and more than 50 countries. The collection documents the paleobotany, palynology and micropaleontology of sediments from the Proterozoic to the Pleistocene and represents a significant research source for comparative paleobotanical and/or paleoecological studies and for new, innovative investigations into the world’s geologic past. The collection contains more than 1,047 verified type and figured specimens representing over 104 verified type taxa. Notable curators include Leonard R. Wilson.

With over 5 million artifacts spanning 11,000 years, the archaeology collection at the Sam Noble Museum is the largest in Oklahoma. The collection’s most notable artifacts include the Cooper Bison Skull, one of the oldest painted objects in North America at roughly 10,000 to 11,000 years old, and the Burnham Bison Skull with associated artifacts, which provide evidence of human presence in North America prior to 11,000 years ago, and pre-dating Clovis culture. The museum also houses an extensive collection of artifacts from Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma’s most famous archaeological site. Apart from a core collection of material from Oklahoma, the museum also maintains smaller collections from the American Southwest, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, and Japan. Notable curators include Robert E. Bell and Donald G. Wyckoff.

The Sam Noble Museum ethnology department curates extensive collections of traditional art and material culture from societies around the world with the goal of providing researchers with resources needed to explore human cultures and societies. The ethnology collection is notably strong in areas of Native North America and Central America. The museum also preserves an extensive number of classical artifacts from the Mediterranean region and important ethnographic arts from East Asia. The Fine Art Collection includes a growing collection of 20th and 21st century works by established and emerging Native North American artists, and works by natural history artists (e.g., George Miksch Sutton). Research in this collection focuses on collaborative projects with contemporary Native American communities across the United States. These projects include topics such as traditional arts, folklore, ethnobotany and music. Notable curators include Edward E. Dale, Sidney D. Brown, Arrell M. Gibson, and A. J. Heisserer.

Founded in 2002, the Native American Languages collection at the Sam Noble Museum provides invaluable resources to researchers, educators and students. The collection includes more than 7,400 audio and video recordings, manuscripts, books, journals, ephemera and teaching curricula, including lesson plans, from more than 175 Native languages. The collection is especially strong in its representation of Native North American languages, particularly the severely to critically endangered languages of the central United States. The collection houses the world’s largest collection of Dhegiha language materials, as well as pedagogical materials in Navajo and other languages of the Southwest.  

The collection is intended to be a resource center where scholars and community members develop mutually beneficial relationships by preserving language resources, conducting research, providing services to Native American communities and educating the community about the importance of Native American languages and cultures. Through outreach programs like the museum's annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair, the collection also fosters public education opportunities so that visitors can develop an awareness, appreciation and understanding of Native American languages. Notable curators include Mary S. Linn.

Dating back to 1899, the collection of mammalogy at the Sam Noble Museum has developed into a significant global resource for research, museum exhibits and science education programs. Containing roughly 66,000 cataloged specimens, it is the 13th largest collection in the Western Hemisphere. In 2011, the mammal collection from the University of Memphis was transferred to the Sam Noble Museum with funding from the National Science Foundation. The collection contains the largest number of mammalian specimens from Oklahoma and Tennessee; specimens from all 50 U.S. states are represented. This collection covers a wide geographic range; it is one of the 10 largest collections of specimens from Mexico and it is the largest collection of specimens from Argentina outside of that country. Notable curators include J. Keever Greer and Michael A. Mares.

The Sam Noble Museum ornithology collection was established with the museum’s original charter in 1899. The collection includes 30,000 specimens from Oklahoma, Mexico and Texas as well as other countries throughout the world. The collection of bird skeletons is one of the largest in the central United States. Other highlights include over 950 mounts, 630 spread wings, 490 nests, and 5,100 sets of eggs. Notable curators include George Miksch Sutton and Gary D. Schnell.

The Sam Noble Museum herpetology collection is the largest repository of Oklahoma amphibians and reptiles. Additionally, the collection’s geographic diversity covers 46 states and 54 countries, including specimens from Brazil and Nicaragua, as well as collections from Egypt and the Galapagos. In addition to physical specimens, the collections preserve specimen records, field notebooks, and audio and visual materials from collectors spanning roughly 60 years, including those of Charles C. Carpenter. Notable curators include Arthur N. Bragg, Arthur I. Ortenburger, Charles C. Carpenter, Janalee P. Caldwell, and Laurie J. Vitt.

With more than 2 million specimens in over 56,000 catalogued lots, the Sam Noble Museum ichthyology collection houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of fishes from Oklahoma. One of the collection’s greatest strengths is an extensive sample of species from the lower Great Plains, particularly from Oklahoma streams and reservoirs. Under the direction of A.I. Ortenburger, specimens were collected during expeditions in the 1920s. Other periods of extensive collecting include the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s. The collection grew during the 1990s, thanks to area conservationist Jimmie Pigg, and during the early 2000s, due to the efforts of the Department of Environmental Quality, which continued Pigg’s work. The availability of these long-term samples of specimens from statewide sites provides an important opportunity to assess natural variation in fish communities. Notable curators include Carl D. Riggs, William J. Matthews and Edie Marsh-Matthews.

The Sam Noble Museum collection of recent invertebrates, with more than 500,000 specimens, represents a wide diversity of invertebrate species. While the focus of the collection is Oklahoma invertebrates, it also contains specimens from more than 100 countries and territories, especially the Neotropics and the Philippines. The collection includes specimens collected and studied by Harley P. Brown, renowned as a world authority on water pennies and riffle beetles. Taxonomic strengths include dragonflies, beetles, mosquitoes, spiders, crayfish and mollusks. Notable curators include Howard P. Clemens, J. Teague Self, Harley P. Brown, and Cluff E. Hopla.

The Sam Noble Museum established the Oklahoma Collection of Genomic Resources in 2006. As an archive of biological tissue samples, this collection functions as a library of genetic biodiversity. The collection currently holds over 55,000 tissue samples representing over 1,300 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and invertebrates. Most of the samples have voucher specimens that are also housed in the Sam Noble Museum. There is a strong representation of mammals from Argentina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee; amphibians and reptiles from the United States and the Philippines; birds from the Great Plains; and fish from Puerto Rico.  

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  Dunkleosteus
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  Titanoceratops
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  Gomphotherium
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  Crystal boatstone atlatl weight, a Pre-Columbian artifact

• Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History official website